Divinity: Original Sin II Kickstarter Campaign Launched

Divinity: Original Sin already felt like a game that was designed for multiplayer but also happened to work very well as a single player game, but its sequel seems poised to take this design philosophy one step further, judging by the information Larian has included in the Kickstarter campaign for the title, which launched today.

Divinity: Original Sin II will feature 4 player co-op multiplayer, but what’s more interesting is that, in some cases, the multiplayer might turn competitive, as different players can potentially have conflicting agendas that will set them against each other. In the Kickstarter video, Larian CEO Swen Vincke offers the example of two players with drastically different opinions regarding dwarves.

To get the upper hand on his rival, Vincke ratted him to the guards with information on his smuggling activities he obtained while they were co-operating. Vincke also took advantage of the weakened state of his companion after a fight to attack him, which is arguably a much more classic backstabbing method. These are interactions that would happen in a normal multiplayer session, rather than a separate mode, and Vincke argues that their existence will also enhance single-player. By having to keep into account all the possible different interactions between players, the designers are forced to offer more options, which can be used both in multi and single-player.

Here’s a few more words on the multiplayer from the Kickstarter page:

In multiplayer, up to 4 players can play together, either cooperatively or competitively.

During competitive questing, you’ll pursue different plot-lines from other players, often because your personal motivations are in conflict with those of the party.

There’s no obligation to compete, of course. Many party members will manage to balance their own interests with those of the party. Should you find yourself in conflict, know that it’s always possible to make up afterwards.

The important thing here is that it’s you who gets to make that choice.

There’s more than just the improved multiplayer. Divinity: Original Sin II will apparently also feature a deeper dialog system, a skill crafting system that lets players combine skills and spells, push/pull mechanics and a cover system for combat, Source skills, and more talents, abilities and spells than the original title.

Interestingly, Larian is also promising a more grounded story this time around. While they won’t completely abandon the comedic tone that has always characterized their work, they are apparently aware of the criticism that their writing received in the past and are investing heavily in that segment, with new specialized hires and a renewed focus:

Divinity: Original Sin 2 aims to change the way we work with narrative in RPGs. We’ve invested heavily in our writing team, hiring new writers with extensive experience in everything from screenwriting and narrative design to role-playing and table-top RPGs.

Our aim is to create a world that reacts naturally to your character, and we want your characters to be unique, alive, and important to you. Most importantly, we want you to feel the consequences of your choices.

While for the original title Larian had to enlist the financial aid of some investors, this time the project is completely self-financed. The company is using Kickstarter for two reasons: because with a bigger budget they can expand the scope of the game, and because they’ll obtain some valuable feedback on the game’s mechanics and interface, just as with the original title. For that reason, all backers will get alpha and beta builds of the title:

We are financing Divinity: Original Sin 2 ourselves, but the ideas that we have can be stretched a lot further than what our current budget allows for.

Our hope is that your pledges will enable us to increase the freedom and depth that will be present in the final game.

Increasing player freedom means increasing the number of options we give you, which means extra development and thus extra budget. The same goes for adding extra depth. Adding additional layers of content means additional development which, again, requires additional budget.

To ensure that we can get as much feedback as possible, we’re going to give all backers Alpha and Beta access via Steam, and if the same thing happens that happened with Divinity: Original Sin, we’ll be spending many months integrating all of the feedback we’ll receive.

That too means extra development, but it’s development we’re looking forward to, because it’ll mean the game will get better and better.

We will invest everything we receive on Kickstarter into refining the RPG experience we’ll offer you, and by backing now, you’ll be adding to the fun you’ll have when the game is ready.

Of course we’ll keep you posted via regular updates about what’s going on on the development front, and we honestly can’t wait to start discussing all the features that we are planning.

Currently, the campaign has already raised $433,122 of its $500,000 funding goal, so the question isn’t whether it will succeed, but how successful it will be. At the very least, we can expect a number of stretch goals to be revealed in the next couple of days.