Divinity: Original Sin 2 is one of the best RPGs ever made. Basically, it’s only flaw is that it has so much to offer that it can be overwhelming. The definitive edition added new story elements, dialogue options, characters, and generally improved the overall balance. In light of the rerelease of the physical, Limited Run game cart on Switch, we thought we’d take a closer look at the game. So let’s get right to it.
Since the Divine passed away, the Magisters have been rounding up anyone who can use Source magic to ship them to Fort Joy. The sourcerers are rounded up and left to fend for themselves. Since you don’t like being held prisoner, you and three friends escape. Along the way, you discover you’re a Godwoken: someone who can become the next Divine. Only one of you can ascend to divinity to hold the void at bay.
Original Sin 2 starts off with an intriguing premise, but it just gets better. Each side quest has its own deep, complex dilemma you can engage with however you want. Be a goody-two-shoes, a right evil bastard, or anything in between. Divinity has a lot of choices that matter, which is rare for a game. Even two or three multiple playthroughs won’t be enough to see everything in this 100 hour epic.
As for the Switch port, it’s fine. There’s a lot of loading and saving time, but the visuals are still pretty good. The controls are probably the biggest problem. While the gamepad menus and controls are good enough, I can’t help but feel that they could be better. If you’ve played Baldur’s Gate III Early Access, they’re essentially the same, but more polished. The left analogue stick controls your character instead of clicking. If there are multiple items in front of you that can be accessed by the A button, they’ll be highlighted in white.
There are a few issues with the Switch version, like the camera. Although I haven’t played the other console versions, the maximum zoom on Switch feels a little close. Presumably, this is for performance reasons, along with the reduced visual quality and 30 frame rate. There are narrated descriptions and your imagination doing the heavy lifting in this game, so the latter two aren’t much of an issue. It’s hard to keep track of everything in combat and you may miss some things while exploring with the cramped camera.
With that in mind, the portable version of Divinity is still a great companion to the PC version. Transferring saves between Switch and Steam is handy since you can’t play multiplayer between the two. I’m not able to test this because you can’t transfer saves between Switch and GoG. Let Larian know I’d like to play this game at least seven more times if he reads this. Original Sin 2 on Switch isn’t a bad way to play one of the best games ever, even if it’s not ideal. Sure, I wish I could play with PC players and zoom out further, but it’s still fun as hell any way you look at it. You owe it to yourself to check out this modern masterpiece if you haven’t already.
