Criticism
If there is any criticism against the narrative, it is in the way the members of the group interact with each other. To put it simply, they don’t. The player can have long and often engaging conversations with the members of his party. But communication between party members is almost non-existent.
Compare this to Dragon Age: Origins where everyone talks to each other and expresses an opinion about everyone else. Meanwhile, the group members in Divinity: Original Sin II barely acknowledge each other’s existence.
As a result, I have never felt part of a team for even half of five unrelated collaborations. While this isn’t a problem at all, it’s a strange omission in a story-based RPG with an emphasis on individual characters.
Game
The gameplay is split between free exploration and turn-based combat reminiscent of games like the original Fallout. Each action in combat consumes a variable number of action points, with the unused points being carried over to the next round.
What sets combat in Divinity: Original Sin II apart from other turn-based games is its emphasis on the ground. While this includes things like line of sight and elevation bonuses for ranged attacks, the most significant impact comes from how the game handles surfaces. Floors can be covered in oil, water, toxic slime, or blood, and all of them can interact in some way. Oil and mud can burn. The fire can be extinguished with water to create a blackout vapor wall. Wet or bloody floors can be frozen or electrified. Bloody floors can also be cursed, dealing damage and reversing the effect of healing spells on players standing on them.
The interaction goes beyond just manipulating the battlefield, as most objects can be picked up, moved, or even thrown. This ability can be used in combat, for example by throwing a lit candle at an oily surface. But it can also be used to solve puzzles around the world and adds further depth to exploration. Can’t find a key? A barrel of oil and a fire grenade will do the job just as well. While players can’t learn how to dress up as a set, the world featured in Divinity: Original Sin II boasts a responsiveness that few other games can match.
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