Choosing Your First Larian Divinity Game: A Practical Guide to the Divinity Series and Where to Start

Selecting your entry point into Larian Studios’ acclaimed Divinity series can be daunting. This guide provides a practical framework to help you choose your first game, exploring the nuances of each main entry and offering a clear path forward.

Understanding the Divinity Series Entries

Larian’s Divinity series is known for its deep RPG mechanics, player freedom, and engaging combat. For newcomers, the choices typically narrow down to a few key titles:

• Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Definitive Edition): This is widely recommended as the optimal starting point for most newcomers. It excels due to its built-in origin stories, an accessible user interface, and a depth that scales well with player experience.
• Divinity: Original Sin (Enhanced Edition): A solid, shorter entry that offers a more classic isometric RPG experience. It’s a good option for those who prefer a more streamlined campaign.
• Divinity: Dragon Commander: This title is an RTS-RPG hybrid. It’s generally not ideal as a first entry if you’re seeking a traditional Divinity RPG experience, as its core gameplay loop is significantly different.

The Appeal of Origin Characters in Original Sin 2

Choosing an Origin character in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a powerful way to engage with the game’s narrative. These pre-made characters are not just avatars; they serve as built-in guides to the world. There are six available:

• Ifan ben-Mezd: A battle-scarred mercenary with a murky past. His origin quest introduces his history and sets up early moral choices.
• Lohse: A gifted musician haunted by a demon. Her starting quest focuses on understanding this inner conflict and its impact.
• Sebille: An elven slave turned assassin seeking freedom and vengeance. Her arc explores her past and drive for agency.
• Red Prince: A proud lizard prince with royal blood and a sense of destiny. His quest delves into lineage and court intrigue.
• Beast: A mysterious figure with hidden depths. His path invites players to uncover his past and learn the game’s rhythm.
• Fane: An ancient undead explorer from a vanished civilization. His quest unpacks deep lore about lost histories and religions.

Opting for an Origin character provides guided narratives and unique quests, significantly reducing the need for early improvisation and helping new players grasp the world-building more quickly. The Definitive Edition further enhances this with an updated UI and pacing, making the game’s systems more beginner-friendly from the outset.

Combat Depth and Cooperative Play

Divinity: Original Sin 2, in particular, transforms combat into a strategic playground where every decision counts. Its depth is built upon three core pillars:

Turn-Based Combat with Action Points

Actions cost Action Points (AP), encouraging players to pace their moves, reposition effectively, and target carefully each turn. AP resets per round, inviting strategic planning for longer sequences. This system encourages deliberate play, tactical positioning, and creative tool use, allowing players to offset small missteps with clever chaining of actions.

Environmental Interactions

The environment is a critical component of combat. Terrain and objects play a significant role: standing in water can spread electricity, oil on the floor can be ignited, barriers can be manipulated, and even weather or breezes can alter battle outcomes. This turns battles into dynamic puzzles, often solvable with skill combos and environmental awareness, which can drastically shift the odds mid-fight.

Synergy System for Party Combos

Coordinated skill usage across party members unlocks amplified effects and extra benefits. Pairing abilities in the right order magnifies their impact, rewarding teamwork and experimentation across different character builds. This encourages players to think beyond their individual character and explore cross-class tactics.

When playing cooperatively, supporting up to four players online or locally, the experience becomes a collaborative puzzle. Teams can discuss strategies, test plans, and adjust on the fly as conditions change. The freedom to try different roles and approaches is integral to both the fun and the learning curve.

The dialogue system also benefits from this approach, utilizing skill checks and soft consequences that reward experimentation with party composition and skill usage. Conversations adapt based on your party members and the skills they possess. You can leverage skills like Persuasion, Intimidation, or Lore, and outcomes are rarely all-or-nothing, with smaller, human-like consequences shaping future options and relationships. This means unconventional skill mixes and party setups can unlock new dialogue paths, loot, or quest directions.

Where to Start: A Practical Playthrough Path

For those wondering where to begin their Divinity journey, here’s a breakdown:

Starter Toolkit: Practical Setup for Your First Run

• Starting with Divinity 2 (Definitive Edition): Offers deep character and origin stories, strong co-op potential, and a long campaign with high replay value. It does have a steep learning curve, and combat requires time to master.
• Starting with Divinity 1 (Enhanced Edition): Provides a quicker-to-pick-up isometric RPG with simpler early quests and a classic Divinity feel. However, it features older UI and mechanics with fewer modern quality-of-life improvements.
• Starting with Dragon Commander: Presents a unique blend of real-time strategy and RPG with refreshing pacing. It is not a traditional Divinity RPG and may misalign expectations for a first-timer.