Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition brought to Xbox One one of the most ambitious classic RPGs of the past decade, in a reworked form with rebuilt combat, adjusted storytelling, and controls designed specifically for a gamepad. The player begins as a Sourcerer, a user of forbidden magic, whom the Order of Magisters transports to a prison colony, and from there unfolds a story about gods, immortality, and who has the right to decide for the entire world of Rivellon. The character can be created from scratch or chosen from among origin characters with a ready-made past and their own agenda, which fundamentally changes the dialogue and the reactions of those around you.

Combat is turn-based, built on action points and, above all, on environmental interaction. Oil can be set alight, water electrified, smoke used to block a shot, poison detonated. Every encounter is thus a small physics exercise, in which a creative solution often beats brute force. Freedom outside combat is unusually strong as well: most quests can be completed in several ways, important characters can be killed, robbed, persuaded, or bypassed entirely, and the game accepts this without complaint. The whole story is also playable in co-op with up to four players, who need not share the same goals and can cross each other's plans, which turns a single campaign into a different story every time.

The console version deserves praise for its interface: radial menus, a clear inventory system, and split-screen support for co-op play make sense even without a mouse. The price paid is longer loading times and occasional framerate drops in the biggest battles. Visually it's a colorful, detailed isometric world, the music works with violins and ethnic motifs, and each race has its own version of the main theme. Reception was extremely positive, and the game quickly took its place among modern classics of the genre; Larian later built their subsequent, even bigger project on its foundations. Today it remains one of the deepest and most generous RPGs playable on a console.