I am just amazed on how many people have e-mailed me with a request that I write a review of Divine Divinity. So, I decided to post this late review right now. Divine Divinity is an isometric role-playing game from CDV and little known Belgium-based developer Larian Studios. Before I even started to play the game I went to the Larian's website to look for the official patch (the original CD installation has many bugs), and I happened to run into the forum there. I was really surprised that quite a few of the game designers frequent the board and really try there best to help people with various problems with the game, everything from bugs to system requirements to quest help. That's rare nowadays for the actual designers, look at Electronic Arts :) The game combines the classic play style of the best of the Ultima series with the fast-paced action of titles like Dungeon Siege and Diablo. Well, the game may look like a Diablo 2 clone to you, especially for the first 15-20 minutes of gameplay. However after spending a couple of hours with this action-RPG, I realized that Divine Divinity is not just a hack-and-slash RPG.

In Divine Divinity you take control over either a male of female character (warrior, mage, or survivor /rogue/) whom you guide through a highly interactive fantasy world. Each class has a special move available only to them but otherwise any starting class can learn any skill from any tree. A warrior can cast spells and a wizard can master a sword for example although neither will ever master another class' tree as well as that class. Your goal is to develop your character by making him/her better in a variety of skills, discover mysteries, combat enemies and save the day. So, is it more hack-n-slash or more role-playing? I'd say for the first three quarters of the game, it is about sixty percent of hack-n-slash with the rest dedicated to adventuring, questing, talking to important characters, etc. There's is really a great balance between a Diablo-like hack and slash, and an actual role-playing experience. It will take you hours to explore the numerous dungeons, buildings, caves, and surface world. Divine Divinity features 3 (6) classes of characters, 32 skills per class (total 480 skill levels: 96 skills with 5 levels each), over 100 monsters and creatures, over 150 NPCs with different intelligent patterns of behaviour, interesting background plot with many strands and sub-quests and more.

Divine Divinity is easy enough to jump into and enjoy, but there are several things that took a while to learn. For instance it took me a while to figure out the trading system. Also the combat options are a bit tricky because regardless of which one you choose, you will be dependent on stamina or mana for the more powerful attacks. Each time you use up your mana or stamina on special skills, you'll have to rely on basic melee or archery. This isn't so bad if you are a warrior but running out of mana for a mage is most times deadly.

I'd say the open-ended and interesting set of skills is what really adds some interest to the game. As I mentioned above, you are not restricted to a specific set of skills. You can make almost any combination of skills work in the game. However it also can be a frustrating exercise when you discover the redundancy of certain skills in comparison to others. Also the story in the game is very nicely implemented, good enough to keep you wondering what's next. Even more surprising to me was the amount of humor in the game, which, as far as RPGs go, is actually quite entertaining.

Overall Divine Divinity is an expansive and quite enjoyable RPG. Assuming you aren't one of those people who must have a 3D engine to get any sense of enjoyment out of the game, do not hesitate to go out and purchase this game. You will not be disappointed. There have and will alot of sleepless nights with this one. You can download an older playable demo (400MB).


System requirements: CPU: Pentium II 233MHz or better, 64 MB Ram, Video Card: DirectX 8.0 Compatible, 8 MB Min. , 800 x 600 Minimum Resolution, Soundcard: 100% Direct Sound Compatible, CD Rom: 4xSpeed or faster, Hard Drive: 2.5 GB of free disk space