Verdict

Perhaps just a little ostentious.

Barring a couple of caveats that I will get to in a moment, Divinity Original Sin is an RPG that I would heartily recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in the genre. It’s big, it’s beautiful, and an absolute blast to play alone or with a friend.

But while I would not, as others have, suggest that this Original Sin is exclusively a game for old-school RPG players—because I think it has so much more to offer than mere nostalgia—I can certainly foresee some gamers experiencing frustration with the very aspects of the game that have made it such a hit with the RPG old guard.

The first of these is the lack of hand-holding in the game. Nowadays, even “open world” RPGs like Fallout 3 and Skyrim go to great pains to remove any ambiguity regarding what the player is expected to do next if she wants to advance the main story. Specific quest objectives are spelled out in log books and journals, or displayed directly on screen, and there are usually markers of some sort pointing the way to said objectives. Original Sin has none of these things, and for very good reason: It doesn’t want to tell you how to go about doing whatever it is you want to do. For players who aren’t used to games providing constant feedback about what it is they should be doing, and/or they happen not to pay attention to the information the game does provide, the whole experience will likely seem very confusing indeed.

It won't only be the monsters defending their loot from you.

Secondly, I personally know a lot of gamers who immediately dismissed Original Sin as a “Diablo clone”, merely because of the isometric camera. The reason for this is simple enough: It has been a good long while since the last big isometric RPG, whereas we have had more than a few Diablo-esque games in the interim, along with a third entry in the Diablo series itself. And while it won’t take long for this impression to be dispelled by anyone who actually takes the trouble to play the game, I still anticipate that a lot of modern gamers in particular will find the top-down perspective less engaging or immersive than the third-and-first person games they are accustomed to.

“Accustomed” is, I believe, the key word here, though. Neither of the caveats I just mentioned concern flaws in the game, and with a little persistence I believe that any genuine fan of RPGs will learn to not only adapt to them, but to love them. And from there, I have little doubt that they will love the game itself.

Final verdict: 9/10