Thank you Larian Studios for sending us this game to review!

I previously reviewed and was impressed with Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition on the PS4. It’s no surprise that Divinity: Original Sin 2 was successfully Kickstarted and met all of its stretch goals bringing the final pledges to over two million dollars. There is much to be praised in this game with the high quality audio and visuals, but like the first game, there are many moral issues to note as well. Since this game has not been released on consoles yet, it does not have an ESRB rating. I imagine that it will receive a mature rating like its predecessor. If you haven't played the previous title, you may miss some references, but the story in this one is independent from the prequel.

When creating your character you can choose an origin character with a backstory, or customize your character from the ground up. I went with the origin character Lohse, who is a female bard that is demon possessed. With all of the females hitting on my character early on in the game, I figured that her sexuality was predefined as well. Thankfully, I was able to pursue romance with males and even one of my mysterious party members. Having the narrator describe sexual encounters in detail was interesting, but thankfully, nothing was shown other than my character being in her bra and underwear afterwards. Her “getting lucky” carried over a lucky status that temporarily boosted her luck attribute.

The voices in this game are phenomenal and every line from NPCs and main characters alike is fully voice acted by top-notch actors. The world is beautiful as well and you’ll get to explore numerous islands and the great beyond. There are several gods in this game and you can pay homage at their shrines and use them to teleport to different areas quickly. Because of your character’s magic abilities, they are referred to as a godwoken.

In the beginning of the game, you’ll have a couple of strikes against you. A collar preventing source/magic is around your neck and if/when it gets removed, you’ll initiate a battle between any magisters who see you collarless. Magisters are not the only ones after you; voidwokens will attack your party as you explore the various islands.

Up to four members can be in your party at any given time. You can split your party up and the teleport pyramids make a welcome comeback in this game. Playing alongside real people is also possible with the local co-op and online matching making. Secondary players will need to use controllers, but I still prefer keyboard and mouse.

The battles are turn-based and are not easy. You’ll have to use your environment wisely. When attacking your enemy, blood will spill and you can use it to conduct electricity with a shock attack. There are many schools of magic including elemental and necromancy types. You can summon a swarm of mosquitoes to attack your foes or hack at them with enchanted weapons. Characters are not limited to RPG stereotypes and you can customize them as you see fit. Sure, some weapons, spells, and armor have requirements that need to be met before equipping them, but you can allocate the needed points as you level up.

If you increase your persuasion, you may be able to sweet talk your way out of some tricky situations. Automatically reflecting damage back to the enemies is nice too. There are so many great skills available and you can fully customize your party members to get all your bases and/or elemental attacks covered.

The inventory is shared among the party, but objects are usually carried by the person who picks it up. Some items you’ll want to have on hand include resurrection scrolls, healing potions, a magnifying glass for identifying items, a shovel for digging up treasure, and a repair hammer for fixing equipment.

There is plenty to do in this game and the islands you visit are pretty sizable. Lots of side quests are available to keep you busy. Besides the main story, you can attempt to become the champion at different underground fighting arenas. By becoming a champion and completing this game on various difficulty levels, you’ll earn Steam achievements. There are ninety-seven Steam achievements available and close to a hundred hours of playtime for a single run through the game.

While there is much to like, there is also much to be wary of from a moral standpoint. Like the first game, there is a lot of unavoidable magic. Pentacles are seen on some spell books and the floor below the spell caster. There’s quite a bit of language too so you won’t want to play this game around children within earshot. I already touched on the blood and sexual content earlier in this review.

If the moral issues bothered you in the previous game then you’ll want to steer clear of this one as well. However, if you enjoyed the first Divinity: Original Sin, then you’ll definitely want to add this one to your library. The game is reasonably priced and provides a lot of bang for the buck. I did experience a crash or two but thankfully the game auto saves often so not much progress was lost. Hopefully, console gamers will get to enjoy Divinity: Original Sin 2 someday soon.