Divinity: Original Sin the Board Game
While Larian Studios may be commonly known these days as the developer behind last year’s mega-hit Baldur’s Gate 3 (a game we really liked), Divinity: Original Sin is what put them on the map. Back in November of 2019 – in the before times – Larian launched a Kickstarter for the board game adaptation of Original Sin that would go on to great success. After a bit of a tumultuous development, Larian’s first foray into the board game realm has started reaching backers and is up for pre-order for everyone else. As someone who finished up a cooperative campaign of Original Sin 2 last year and loved it (I was the suave kleptomaniac undead rogue that absolutely pulled off a pompadour, Barnaby Bickerbacker), I was excited to see if Larian would be able to successfully adapt the heart and charm of the game in this new medium.
If you get excited over large and imposing-looking board games, then Divinity Original Sin: The Board Game will be right up your alley. Opening the box for the first time can be rather imposing with the sheer amount of stuff Larian Studios has managed to fit in the game’s box. Packed inside a box rivaling the size of Gloomhaven, you will find it filled with miniatures, dual-layered player boards, some fancy player miniatures, three large booklets (one serving as the game board, another for bosses, and the instruction booklet), more than 1,000 cards adorned with gorgeous Larian artwork that looks to have been pulled straight from the video games, and more.
Everything is neatly stored in two separate organizers that help bring some order to the chaos that comes from component-heavy games like this. These organizers are great for storing the game when it isn’t in play but are less helpful when the game is being played. The box – and subsequently the inserts – are large, and when you have the player boards and all required components splayed out, Divinity takes up a lot of space. Many of the card types are used with some frequency, and you will reach into the organizer repeatedly. Unless you have a considerably large table you are playing on, finding a place to put said organizer can be tricky. I would have loved to see smaller modular inserts for these cards, almost deck box-like, so you could spread them around the play space more efficiently.
Players start by choosing their origin, what Divinity calls its characters, either from four premade ones or creating one of their own. For the latter, the process is reasonably straightforward – first, pick your “template” origin (which dictates your background, starting stats, and eventual Source skills), then choose your four starting skill cards, a talent perk, a weapon, and a set of armor, and off you go. With 12 different schools of skills to choose from, with seven options each (two level 1, two level 2, and then a single level 3 through 6), you have plenty of customization options to pick from. However, the choices are lacking if specializing in a single school is more to your liking, as there aren’t enough options to do so. There also aren’t enough physical cards for more than one player to take the more advanced skills in a school. I would love to see both of these issues remedied, perhaps in purchasable card packs or expansions down the road.
Instead of opting for maps constructed from a mess of tiles you need to sort through (looking at you, Gloomhaven, Resident Evil, and Cthulu: Death May Die), Divinity has thankfully gone the booklet route with the Divine Atlas. Inside this sizeable ringed book, you will find every Location (Divinity’s term for the level or scenario you are playing) within the base set of Divinity. When paired with each location’s respective small deck of cards, you will have your gameboard. This single decision, saving me from the tedium of trying to find the specific tile I need to make the next level I am supposed to play, has made the prospect of playing Divinity so much more enticing.
The game’s general flow involves exploring different areas around the given location by reading its card(s) and doing what it says until you find an exit that leads you to a new location. Cards can cause a variety of things to occur. They can reveal an exit like previously mentioned, present you with a challenge that could earn you items, story info, and other goodies, or (and perhaps the most exciting/stressful) spawn enemies for the party to deal with.
Once enemies appear, exploring goes out the window, forcing you to deal with them before you can return to discovering new things in the location. Depending on the number of characters that your party consists of, it will determine the number and type of enemies. All of this is conveniently presented to you on the location card.
Larian has devised a simple yet tactical combat system that, much like other aspects of the game, is relatively easy to pick up – though there is a bit of a learning period. When enemies spawn, the encounter on the location card will specify the speed of the foes; fast enemies will act before the players turn, and slow will act after. Each enemy will behave similarly, moving towards a target based on what they roll on a special die and then performing the action listed on their specific card.
Once enemies appear, exploring goes out the window, forcing you to deal with them before you can return to discovering new things in the location. Depending on the number of characters that your party consists of, it will determine the number and type of enemies. All of this is conveniently presented to you on the location card.
Players have far more tricks up their sleeves, thanks to their hands of special skills and equipment. Folks who have played the Divinity: Original Sin video games will find similar systems incorporated in its board game counterpart, including Action Points (AP), cooldowns, and elemental interactions – a mechanic that the developers prioritized adapting.