The latest work from Larian Studios should be recognized in almost every way better than its predecessor. Maybe giving Divinity Original Sin 2 title of RPG of the year is a bit too much, it's a statement that now it's the main candidate for this name fits perfectly. And that's what's beautiful! It's not a game focused on action and explosions, where the word RPG appears only as an advertising trick, but just released in an old, good style, like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, with an isometric view, as it's customary to say - "old school".
As it happens in RPGs, we start our adventure with a character wizard, in which we usually choose her gender and race. There are people, elves, dwarves and humanoid lizards at your disposal, nothing unusual in a county, they serve it in every fantasy game. True, but to play undead equivalents? A bomb for me! Once we decide, we can start cosmetic treatments, all so that our virtual self does not arouse a sense of disgust. These undecided developers gave at their disposal ready-made characters with their own story, it is worth mentioning that it was very well written.
And so, after going through the creator, we get to the real gameplay and slowly become familiar with the world. We are on a ship that takes us on a lovely holiday under a pear tree, on a beautiful island with golden beaches. The only drawback of this is the fact that the island is a penal colony and we are not going to visit a friend. We are, and how can we be, prisoners with a beautiful, shiny collar on our necks, which does not allow us to use the full potential of the avatar we control.
Remember when I mentioned NPCs in the character creation menu? If you have decided to play the created by you people, you will also meet them on this ship. I will not be a second Columbus, stating that they are our future brothers and sisters in the journey. Those who decided on the developers' variant don't have to worry, the rest of the companies can still join the team.
Once we reach our destination, we meet a whole bunch of people, and with them we will learn their history, tragedy and drama, trying to break the magical bonds that bind us and escape as far away from the island of social outcasts as possible. And although we are dealing with a beautiful, colorful, even fairy-tale world, don't be fooled, especially by temptation, because in reality Rivellon is a dark place, full of prejudice, racism, wickedness and meanness, where you will have to choose between evil and evil... for me poetry!
There are also many lighter themes in the game, thanks to which you can smile from ear to ear more than once or twice. And also for romantics there is something interesting, because what kind of RPG would it be without love?
Despite the fact that various creators stand on their heads, so that the player can not recognize whether the image that we see is a recorded film, or the real gameplay, still does not weaken and this approach, where the accent is accentuated as much as possible fantastic elements. Strong vivid colors, lush fauna, exaggerated, like Tolkien's prose, beautiful and tall elves. The visual setting is at the highest level, until I want to pat on the back of people responsible for creating such imaginative views. High resolution and excellent texture is a feast for the eyes, there's no place I don't like.
I have already mentioned the creation of the character, it is also worth noting the selection of features that our virtual alter ego can have. It's nothing obliging, but thanks to them we will have an additional dialog option, special for our character. Of course, we have here from the metre of different passive or defensive skills. However, their size makes us limit ourselves to a few most suitable ones anyway, and rather rarely use others. I don't really have anything to write about here. Everyone who played in the previous installment will get everything that was before, only one level higher. An interesting and original move was to add to the story the ability to talk to animals, thanks to which we will have to revise our views on various topics more than once.
Such an excellent production as Divinity Original Sin 2, however, has one very serious minus, or even accusation, in which I accuse the developers of laziness and bizarre privacy. But, what is it about, will you ask? It's all about treating all the players from the Vistula River in the same way. No Polish language version! And although I understand that the production of games on such a scale is governed by its own rules, and this is business and no one will add to the interest, I dare doubt that the investment in polishing the subtitles would expose Larian Studios to losses. It's a pity, because the title often operates in difficult and complex, even poetic, English. This fact may scare off many lovers of the genre who are not fluent in English. A sad fact, because it is a great piece of RPG. Admittedly, the creators do not deny that in the future such a polyphony may appear, but I might as well tell you: Maybe there will be, maybe not, that's what it will be.
The fight takes place in turn-based system and although I prefer real-time battles, here it is quite nicely done. It is nice to know that someone has devoted more work and effort to this issue. The only thing that irritated me about it was that there were far too few traffic points. It was probably to make the fights more unpredictable and dynamic, although it was nerve-wracking.
I mentioned the NPCs prepared by the creators, you can play one of them, and the rest can be found in the game, in the form of travel companions. Although each of them has a profession they specialize in, nothing stands in the way of reclassifying them. Thus, a dwarf or a warrior can suddenly wield magic and throw lightning from his hands, and the skeleton of a magician takes over the role of a short, bearded friend. This procedure is not only interesting and even revolutionary, but also extremely useful. When you see that there is no one in our ranks who can cure you, a squeal! A few clicks and you're ready, the healer is here.