Thinking Outside The Box In 'Divinity: Original Sin 2'

Larian Studios is nearing the finish line on the development of Divinity: Original Sin 2. However, the studio still managed to have a presence at PAX West this weekend, where it showed a new build of the upcoming game.

The demo we saw focused on one of the game's major features: multiple approaches to solving a problem. In this case, it was finding out information about an attack on a small convoy. The only survivor was a female dwarf, and she was traumatized by the event. The leader of the player’s party, who was the newly announced undead character, talked to the dwarf but was unable to extract any important information. The group had to use a different method to find out what happened to the convoy.

Each character in the party could harness Source power, which in this case helped out because it allowed the protagonists to see the ghosts of those who died in the ambush. One particular creature of interest among the specters was a bull. With the Pet Pal perk, the undead leader questioned the animal about the convoy attack. This wasn’t helpful either, because the bull opted to play the role of a fortune teller rather than being the witness the party needed.

With those options wasted, the party had to take a more radical approach to solve the predicament. We were told that the traumatized woman would have better responses if she talked to a fellow dwarf. Unfortunately, none of the characters in the party were of the dwarven race, so a wardrobe change was in order, so to speak. One of the characters carried a strange mechanism called a Face Ripper. As the name suggests, it can tear off the face of any dead person. By using the device on a dead dwarf, one of the characters carved out the dwarf’s face and combined it with a Source orb to craft a mask. This mask was powerful because it now allowed any character to shapeshift into a dwarf (Valar morghulis, Game of Thrones fans). As it turns out, this tactic actually worked, and the female dwarf finally revealed that the attackers were Voidwoken, terrifying beings who appear only in the wake of the use of a Source-based power.

This type of quest solving is different than the usual methods you see in today’s games. Usually, even though there are multiple ways to complete a mission, those paths are already revealed to you. Divinity: Original Sin 2 also provides different avenues for you to succeed (or fail) a mission, but some of these ideas require you to think outside the box. It never occurred to us that talking to the ghost of a bull or ripping the face off of a dead dwarf was an acceptable method of retrieving intel. Neverthless, Larian Studios placed it in the game in order to allow players to experiment with their party’s abilities, talents, and items throughout the journey.

You won’t have to wait long to try the full version of the game for yourself. Divinity: Original Sin 2 will be available on September 15.