Divinity: Original Sin is an isometric, single player and co-op multiplayer RPG with tactical turn based combat, featuring an innovative co-op dialog system, a highly interactive, systemic and reactive world, classless character development, and lots of choice and consequence situations.
Shipped with the powerful editor the game was made with, allowing you to create your own single player and multiplayer adventures, and publish them online.
FAQ
Q: When will this be out?
A: We are currently aiming for November 2013.
Q: Will there be a physical release?
A: Yes.
Q: Will this be DRM free?
A: Yes.
Q: What engine is this?
A: This is our own in-house engine. It's pretty powerful. It's also running Dragon Commander.
Q: Do we get to create our own characters?
A: Yes. When you start a new game, you will have to create two heroes. You choose their sex, appearance, and you customize your starting builds by distributing stat points and by choosing their first skills.
Q: What about character development?
A: Character development follows the philosophy of the game: it's very free. Just like other Divinity games, Divinity Original Sin is classless. We are still playing around with the balancing, but there are currently 6 primary stats, a whole lot of secondary stats, and social stats that you gather throughout the game. At the moment, you get one statpoint per level-up. You also get one skillpoint per level-up, and you can freely choose any skill from any school. There are 6 schools: 4 schools of magic (earth, wind, fire, water).
Q: Can you change the characters' appearances?
A: Yes, the equipment they wear changes their 3D model in game.
Q: Combat is turn-based, huh? So what are the rules?
A: Participants in combat act when it's their turn in a round. Turn order is defined by initiative. When it's your turn, you spend action points to move around the battlefield, and perform actions such as attacking, casting spells, using items, changing equipment... At the moment, we have rules such as flanking, backstabbing and attack of opportunity.
Q: Turn based with 2 characters... I thought this was party based. With, like, a bigger party...
A: Each hero can hire a henchman. And you can summon elementals. So party size can grow up to four. If you're feeling really bold, you can try to take on combat without henchmen, but good luck with all that!
Q: Henchmen, eh?
A: Yep. And you get to equip them, level them, and manage their inventories.
Q: Is there friendly fire?
A: Yes. You'd better watch what you're doing.
Q: So you could be a complete donkey about it?
A: Yes. Also concerning loot drops: they just scatter on the floor, so first come, first serve.
Q: Are there races in the world other than orcs and humans?
A: Yes.
Q: Is it possible to talk your way out of combat?
A: Where it makes sense, yes it is possible.
Q: Is it possible to sneak past enemies?
A: Not in our current build, but yes, we are working on that.
Q: Is it possible to flee combat?
A: Yes. You'll have to successfully flee, which is a feature/rule we're still working on, but there are safe havens you can define to flee to.
Q: Will this be on [insert device/OS here]?
A: It may be. But we're first focusing on the PC version. And no, we're not letting console limitations (memory...) and specific console design (UI/controls...) have an impact on current development.
Q: What languages will this be translated to?
A: At the moment we're planning on German, French, Polish and Russian.
Q: How does coop work?
A: It's drop in/drop out coop (over LAN or internet). So you can join a friend who's already playing. This makes him the host (or server) and you just jump right in. You take over one of his two heroes. The host will be able to decide what you will can do to them (e.g. level up, sell items...). The game is saved on his computer.
Q: Why is it called Original Sin?
A: Hey, no spoilers! The title will become clear as you play through the main story.
Q: Is choice and consequence important?
A: Your choices have an impact on the world, and on your party. Sometimes immediately, sometimes it will become clear only after a couple of hours. Choice and consequence for us is important, because it makes the world feel alive, real, and it makes you feel like you have an impact on the world, its inhabitants and its stories. It adds to the replayability. To you, as a player, it will often be hard to make a choice, because it will not always be clear what right or wrong is, or how it will affect the world.
Q: How big is the game? How long does it take to finish it?
A: This is always a tough question. Depends on who's playing: are you any good at combat? Do you read everything you see, leave no stone unturned? Do you want to see every pixel on the map? Do you want to try out different dialogue options and quicksave and reload after trying different things? We think we are making a game that should take on average 40 hours to finish. We also thought this of Divine Divinity, and certain people can finish that in 20 hours, while others spend more than 100 hours in one playthrough...