Divinity (series)

Last updated
Divinity
Genre(s) Role-playing
Developer(s) Larian Studios
Platform(s)
First release Divine Divinity
13 September 2002
Latest release Divinity: Original Sin II
14 September 2017

Divinity is a role-playing video game series developed by Larian Studios. The franchise was introduced in 2002 with Divine Divinity . The franchise received more mainstream attention following the critically and commercially successful release of Divinity: Original Sin (2014). [1]

Contents

Main games

Release timeline
2002 Divine Divinity
2003
2004 Beyond Divinity
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009 Divinity II: Ego Draconis
2010 Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga
2011
2012
2013 Divinity: Dragon Commander
2014 Divinity: Original Sin
2015
2016
2017 Divinity: Original Sin II

Divine Divinity (2002)

Development of Divine Divinity started as Divinity: The Sword of Lies. The game was based on developer Larian Studios's cancelled project, The Lady, the Mage and the Knight, and it was inspired by Diablo . According to studio founder Swen Vincke, the publisher rushed Divine Divinity's development and released the game while Vincke was still on press tours promoting it and did not know that the game, which required more work, was released. [1] The game received generally positive reviews upon release and it sold very well. However, the contract agreement with the publisher meant that Larian did not earn any money from the game as the game was not commercially successful enough. Larian nearly closed its doors following the release of the game. [2]

Beyond Divinity (2004)

Vincke reassembled the development team to make a sequel to Divine Divinity, and the main goal for this release was financial profit. The development for the game was also rushed, with quests being rewritten and features being removed so that the game could release on time. [1] The game received generally mixed reviews upon release, and it is considered to be one of the weaker games in the series. [1]

Divinity II (2009)

While the first two instalments in the series were 3D perspective role-playing games, the team wanted to step up and make a 3D action role-playing game. The team was impressed by the production value behind Xbox 360 games and decided to make a game for that platform. Bethesda Game Studios agreed to license their Gamebryo engine for Larian to make the game. Divinity II: Ego Draconis was released in 2009, and the publishers rushed the game's development again as they were under the pressure of bankruptcy during the 2009 financial crisis. The game received mixed reviews upon release. [3] [4] An updated version for the game, titled The Dragon Knight Saga, was released in 2010 and published by Focus Home Interactive. [2] The Dragon Knight Saga received generally positive reviews, a significant improvement over Ego Draconis. It also sold fairly well. [5]

Divinity: Original Sin (2014)

Using the funds from venture capitalists, the team wanted to create a turn-based strategy game for Xbox Live Arcade. The team saw the opportunity of making a 3D third-person view role-playing game since there were not a lot of these games on the market. However, despite the team wanting to expand the game's scope, many of its staff were reassigned to finish Dragon Commander, which was not very profitable for the company. As the studio was working on the game, they wanted to expand its scope, but the studio was slowly running out of money. According to a studio member, Original Sin was the do-or-die project for Larian. A crowdfunding campaign was launched on Kickstarter on 27 March 2013 so that the team would have additional budget to polish the game. [1] The Kickstarter was successfully funded by 26 April, raising almost $950,000, with donations from other sources bringing the total to over $1,000,000 of the game's final budget of €4 million. [6] The game was made by about 35-40 people. The game received very positive reviews when it was released in 2014, and an Enhanced Edition for the game was published by Focus Home in the following year for consoles. [2]

Divinity: Original Sin II (2017)

Following the success of Original Sin, the studio decided to expand their team to about 130 in order to make a sequel. [2] Larian returned to Kickstarter to secure additional funds for the game's development. Despite being financially stable, Larian returned to crowdfunding again so that they can gather community opinion and further expand the scope of the game. Ultimately, the Kickstarter campaign was a big success, with over 2 million dollars collected in total. [7] The game was released as an early access title in 2016, and the full release came in the following year. The game received critical acclaim upon release, and it was regarded as one of the best role-playing games of all time. [8]

Spin-offs

Divinity: Dragon Commander (2013)

Following multiple unpleasant experiences with publishers, the team decided to approach venture capitalists directly to fund the game's development. Dragon Commander is a spin-off title, which expanded the dragon combat featured in Divinity II. It is a real-time strategy game and it received generally mixed reviews from critics. [9] Dragon Commander was not a very profitable game, according to Vincke. [1]

Divinity: Fallen Heroes (cancelled)

A spin-off sequel to Original Sin II titled, Divinity: Fallen Heroes was announced in March 2019 via a trailer, and would have been co-developed by Larian Studios and Logic Artists. [10] The game would have used the same engine as Original Sin II and also let the player influence the story. It would have been considered a spin-off due to moving focus away from exploration, RPG elements and interactions with NPCs, instead toward a shorter experience with battle turns alternating between all player units and all enemy units turn (rather than the individual initiative mechanic featured in Origin Sin II). Other new gameplay additions would have included parties of six characters (up from Divinity II's limit of four), guns and gunpowder as weapons, and a new element called Sulfurium; two-player cooperative play would have been featured, with both players controlling three characters. [11] [12] [10]

Fallen Heroes was to be set two years after the end of the previous game and follow the Original Sin II ending in which the Godwoken purges all Source from Rivellon. It would have featured eight main playable protagonists, including the six pre-made playable characters of Original Sin II, Beast, Fane, Ifan, Lohse, the Red Prince (now named the Red Emperor) and Sebille, as well as Malady, a key non-playable character from the first game. [10] [11] [12] The story would have followed the characters in a world now devoid of Source, except for the player's party whose ship the Lady Vengeance was preserved from the Source purge by Malady. The characters would have led the fight against the Bloodless (an undead-like force decimating Rivellon) while travelling across the map in the Lady Vengeance. [10] [11]

Originally scheduled to be released in November 2019 on multiple platforms, it was put on hold indefinitely on October 15, only a month before its announced release, with Larian Studios claiming that the game required "far greater development time and resources than are available now to bring it to fruition". [13] After years without follow-up, Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke confirmed in a July 14, 2023 interview with GamesRadar+ that Fallen Heroes had been cancelled, stating "That didn't work out [...] It's gone for good." [14] In the same interview, he claimed that another, unannounced Original Sin II spin-off, which he called "DOS2 with new mechanics", had been cancelled "quite far" into development. [15]

Other media

Larian partnered with Lynnvander Studios to make Divinity: Original Sin the Board Game. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Baldurs Gate</i> Franchise of fantasy role-playing video games

Baldur's Gate is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. The series has been divided into two sub-series, known as the Bhaalspawn Saga and the Dark Alliance, both taking place mostly within the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga extends to Amn and Tethyr. The Dark Alliance series was released for consoles and was critically and commercially successful. The Bhaalspawn Saga was critically acclaimed for using pausable realtime gameplay, which is credited with revitalizing the computer role-playing game (CRPG) genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Avellone</span> American video game designer

Chris Avellone is an American video game designer and comic book writer. He worked for Interplay and Obsidian Entertainment before becoming a freelance designer and writer. He is best known for his work on role-playing video games such as Planescape: Torment, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and the Fallout series.

<i>Baldurs Gate II: Throne of Bhaal</i> Expansion pack

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is a 2001 expansion pack for the role-playing video game Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. It adds a multi-level dungeon called Watcher's Keep to the game and completes the main plot. There are several new weapons, a higher level cap, a further refined Infinity graphics engine, and new class-related features and magical skills. The novelization of the game was written by Drew Karpyshyn and released in September 2001.

<i>Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance II</i> 2004 video game

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II is a 2004 hack and slash action role-playing game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment, with distribution handled by Vivendi Universal Games in North America and Avalon Interactive/Acclaim Entertainment in Europe. It is the sequel to the 2001 game Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

<i>Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn</i> 2000 video game

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate and was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2000. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Powered by BioWare's Infinity Engine, Baldur's Gate II uses an isometric perspective and pausable real-time gameplay. The player controls a party of up to six characters, one of whom is the player-created protagonist; the others are certain characters recruited from the game world.

Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minsc</span> Fictional character from Baldurs Gate

Minsc is a fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing video games developed by BioWare and Larian Studios. He originated from the pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons sessions held by the lead designer of Baldur's Gate, James Ohlen, and was expanded upon by the game's lead writer, Lukas Kristjanson. His video game debut was in Baldur's Gate as a companion character who can join the player's party. He also appears in the sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the expansion, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the 2015 game Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, the 2023 game Baldur's Gate 3, as well as in promotions relating to the titles. Minsc is voiced by Jim Cummings in his original video game appearances, and by Matt Mercer in Baldur's Gate 3.

<i>Divine Divinity</i> 2002 video game

Divine Divinity is an action role-playing game developed by Larian Studios and published by cdv Software Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, which was released in September 2002. It has three sequels, Beyond Divinity, Divinity II, and Divinity: Original Sin II. It also has a prequel, Divinity: Original Sin, and a spin-off, Divinity: Dragon Commander. The game was released for Mac OS X on 15 November 2013.

<i>Beyond Divinity</i> 2004 video game

Beyond Divinity is an action role-playing game by Larian Studios released in 2004. It is a sequel to Divine Divinity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Mearls</span> American game designer

Michael Mearls is an American writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. He was the senior manager for the Dungeons & Dragons research and design team. He co-led design for the 5th edition of the game. He also worked on the Castle Ravenloft board game, and various compendium books for 3rd, 4th, and 5th editions Dungeons & Dragons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larian Studios</span> Belgian video game developer and publisher

Larian Studios is a Belgian independent video game developer and publisher founded in 1996 by Swen Vincke. Headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, Larian focuses on developing role-playing video games but has previously worked on educational games and casino games. It is best known for developing the Divinity series and Baldur's Gate 3.

<i>Divinity II</i> 2009 video game

Divinity II is an action role-playing game developed by Larian Studios. Its first release in 2009 was subtitled Ego Draconis and was published by dtp entertainment and in the United States by cdv Software Entertainment. The updated 2010 re-release The Dragon Knight Saga which included the expansion Flames of Vengeance, as well as the final 2012 release as Divinity II: Developer's Cut, were published by Focus Home Interactive.

This article is about the video game market and culture in Belgium.

<i>Divinity: Original Sin</i> 2014 video game

Divinity: Original Sin is a role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. The fourth main entry in the Divinity game series, it is a prequel to the original game Divine Divinity, and to the other main games in the series. It was first released on Microsoft Windows on 30 June 2014.

<i>Divinity: Dragon Commander</i> 2013 video game

Divinity: Dragon Commander is a real-time strategy video game developed by Larian Studios as part of the Divinity series of fantasy role-playing games. The game features a hybrid of gameplay styles and has single-player, competitive multiplayer and cooperative multiplayer modes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swen Vincke</span> Belgian video game designer, programmer and director

Swen Johan Vincke is a Belgian video game designer, programmer and director. He is the founder and CEO of the video game company Larian Studios, where he has led the development of the Divinity series and Baldur's Gate 3.

<i>Divinity: Original Sin II</i> 2017 video game

Divinity: Original Sin II is a role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. The sequel to 2014's Divinity: Original Sin and the fifth main entry in the Divinity series, the game was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2017. The player controls a "Godwoken", a Sourcerer who can harness and use a powerful magic known as Source, and becomes a pivotal figure in the fight against the Voidwoken, monstrous creatures who wreak havoc in the medieval fantasy world of Rivellon.

<i>Baldurs Gate 3</i> 2023 video game

Baldur's Gate 3 is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment to the Baldur's Gate series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing system of Dungeons & Dragons. A partial version of the game was released in early access format for macOS and Windows in October 2020. It remained in early access until its full release for Windows in August 2023, with versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S releasing later that year.

<i>The Waylanders</i> 2020 video game

The Waylanders is a role-playing video game developed by Spanish team Gato Studio. It was released in early access for Microsoft Windows on June 16, 2020, with the full version of the game released on February 2, 2022. The game is played from a third-person perspective that can be shifted to a top-down perspective.

<i>Expeditions: Rome</i> 2022 video game

Expeditions: Rome is a tactical role-playing game developed by Danish developer Logic Artists and published by THQ Nordic. It is the third game in the Expeditions series, which includes Expeditions: Conquistador and Expeditions: Viking. It was released for Windows on January 20, 2022. The game is an RPG that combines gameplay in local, tactical battles with other types. In the game, the player controls a legatus who investigates the death of their father and travels throughout the Roman Republic and nearby nations as they expand Roman influence across the world.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chalk, Andy (October 1, 2018). "Hour-long documentary looks at the history of Divinity's Larian Studios". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Brown, Fraser (April 6, 2018). "How Larian Studios skirted bankruptcy before making Divinity: Original Sin". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Divinity II: Ego Draconis for PC Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  4. ↑ "Divinity II: Ego Draconis for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  5. ↑ "Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2019-04-27. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  6. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (3 July 2014). "Divinity: Original Sin Larian Studios' fastest-selling game ever". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  7. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 13, 2015). "Larian heads back to Kickstarter for Divinity: Original Sin 2". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  8. ↑ Schreier, Jason (January 30, 2018). "Divinity: Original Sin 2 Is One Of The Best RPGs I've Ever Played". Kotaku . Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Divinity: Dragon Commander for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2013-08-10. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Divinity: Fallen Heroes - Announcement Trailer". YouTube . March 27, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 Watts, Rachel (May 9, 2019). "Divinity: Fallen Heroes takes a series detour in the form of a short, punchy RPG chronicle". PCGamesN . Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Divinity: Fallen Heroes Preview - A Mixture of the Best Divinity Has to Offer". 10 April 2019.
  13. ↑ Brown, Fraser (October 15, 2019). "Divinity: Fallen Heroes has been put on hold indefinitely". PC Gamer . Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Baldur's Gate 3 dev discusses the Divinity: Original Sin 2 spinoff that never was". 14 July 2023.
  15. ↑ "Baldur's Gate 3 dev discusses the Divinity: Original Sin 2 spinoff that never was". 14 July 2023.
  16. ↑ Hall, Charlie (November 20, 2019). "Divinity: Original Sin board game on Kickstarter is worth it just for the pitch video". Polygon . Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.