Divinity: Original Sin 2 is already a very good game – easily one of last year’s best, and in the running for any shortlist of RPGs. Never ones to sit on their laurels, Larian Studios has made significant improvements to Original Sin 2 to prepare for the game’s console release, and just about all of them will benefit PC players.
The Definitive Edition will launch August 31st, and it’ll be a free update for everyone who owns Divinity: Original Sin on PC. In a recent Kickstarter update post, Larian have provided some details on what that includes, and it’s a substantial list.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is on our list of the best RPGs on PC.
For one thing, they’re making the experience a little more welcoming to RPG newcomers by reworking the tutorial and explaining more of the game’s core concepts. They’ve also added a Story Mode, which de-prioritizes combat by making it more forgiving than the existing Explorer Mode and lets players focus entirely on “the dialogue, reactivity, and atmosphere in Original Sin 2.” You’ll be able to switch between Classic, Explorer, and Story mode at any point in the game as you see fit.
Across the board, Larian said the combat difficulty curve has gotten some attention, to make the ramp up to difficult fights smoother. That’s not to say everything’s gotten easier; in fact, it seems they’ve added new combat encounters in a couple areas.
Larian says the narrative team has changed 150,000 words in Divinity: Original Sin 2’s story, and recorded some 130,000 words’ worth of new lines, fleshing out key characters’ story arcs and improving the ending. That’s a pretty staggering number of edits, especially when you consider that the average paperback novel weighs in at just 100,000 words.
The Definitive Edition also includes some economy and skill adjustments, additional music (your personal theme music will develop over the course of the story), and there’s even a squirrel knight, Sir Lora, who you’ll be able to recruit into your party and take on his own questline. Lora is a pre-order bonus for console players, but for PC players who already own the game, he’ll show up for free as soon as the update is live.
The full post is available on the Divinity: Original Sin 2 Kickstarter page. It’s worth noting that the Definitive Edition will be a distinct entry in your Steam library when it arrives, and Larian has confirmed that saves from the original version won’t be compatible with the Definitive Edition.