Divinity (series)

Divinityis arole-playing video gameseries developed byLarian Studios. The franchise was introduced in 2002 withDivine Divinity. The franchise received more mainstream attention following the critically and commercially successful release ofDivinity: Original Sin(2014).
Development ofDivine Divinitystarted asDivinity: The Sword of Lies. The game was based on developerLarian Studios's cancelled project,The Lady, the Mage and the Knight, and it was inspired byDiablo. According to studio founderSwen Vincke, the publisher rushedDivine 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.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.
Vincke reassembled the development team to make a sequel toDivine 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.The game received generally mixed reviews upon release, and it is considered to be one of the weaker games in the series.
While the first two instalments in the series were3D perspectiverole-playing games, the team wanted to step up and make a 3D action role-playing game. The team was impressed by the production value behindXbox 360games and decided to make a game for that platform.Bethesda Game Studiosagreed to license theirGamebryoengine for Larian to make the game.Divinity II: Ego Draconiswas 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.An updated version for the game, titledThe Dragon Knight Saga, was released in 2010 and published byFocus Home Interactive.The Dragon Knight Sagareceived generally positive reviews, a significant improvement overEgo Draconis.
Using the funds from venture capitalists, the team wanted to create aturn-based strategygame forXbox Live Arcade. The team saw the opportunity of making a 3Dthird-person viewrole-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 finishDragon 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 Sinwas the do-or-die project for Larian. A crowdfunding campaign was launched onKickstarteron 27 March 2013 so that the team would have additional budget to publish the game.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.The game was made by about 35-40 people. The game received very positive reviews when it was released in 2014, and anEnhanced Editionfor the game was published by Focus Home in the following year for consoles.
Following the success ofOriginal Sin, the studio decided to expand their team to about 130 in order to make a sequel.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.The game was released as anearly accesstitle 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.
Following multiple unpleasant experiences with publishers, the team decided to approach venture capitalists directly to fund the game's development.Dragon Commanderis aspin-offtitle, which expanded the dragon combat featured inDivinity II. It is areal-time strategygame and it received generally mixed reviews from critics.Dragon Commanderwas not a very profitable game, according to Vincke.
A spin-off sequel toOriginal Sin IItitled,Divinity: Fallen Heroeswas announced in March 2019 via a trailer, and would have been co-developed by Larian Studios and Logic Artists.The game would have used the same engine asOriginal Sin IIand 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 inOrigin Sin II). Other new gameplay additions would have included parties of six characters (up fromDivinity 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.
Fallen Heroeswas to be set two years after the end of the previous game and follow theOriginal Sin IIending in which the Godwoken purges all Source from Rivellon. It would have featured eight main playable protagonists, including the six pre-made playable characters ofOriginal 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.The story would have followed the characters in a world now devoid of Source, except for the player's party whose shipthe Lady Vengeancewas 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 inthe Lady Vengeance.
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".After years without follow-up, Larian Studios founderSwen Vinckeconfirmed in a July 14, 2023 interview withGamesRadar+thatFallen Heroeshad been cancelled, stating "That didn't work out [...] It's gone for good."In the same interview, he claimed that another, unannouncedOriginal Sin IIspin-off, which he called "DOS2with new mechanics", had been cancelled "quite far" into development.
Larian partnered with Lynnvander Studios to makeDivinity: Original Sin the Board Game.