Divinity Original Sin 2 Review — Verdict, Scores and How It Holds Up in 2026

Divinity Original Sin 2 is a turn-based tactical RPG from Larian Studios, released on PC on September 14, 2017, with the Definitive Edition arriving on August 31, 2018. The short verdict: it is one of the most acclaimed RPGs ever made — a 93 Metascore on PC, a GameSpot 10/10, a BAFTA for Best Multiplayer, and a Steam rating that still sits around 95% Overwhelmingly Positive from over 94,000 reviews — and nearly a decade later, it is still the easiest recommendation in the genre. This review covers what critics scored it, what the game actually does that nothing else does, what the Definitive Edition changed, every piece of paid content, and whether it still deserves your money in 2026, when the new Divinity announcement and the December 2025 next-gen ports have put it back in the spotlight.

Official resources: Steam store page · Larian — official DOS2 history page · IGN review of the Definitive Edition (9.6) · Metacritic — PC critic reviews (93) · Wikipedia

The Verdict in One Table

If you only read the scoreboard, here is how the critics landed:

Official source: Larian's Divinity: Original Sin 2 history page — "DOS 2 remains one of only 15 games to receive a 10/10 on GameSpot, and since then we've earned a BAFTA as well as numerous other awards and nominations. By November 2017, we'd sold over one million units."

What Kind of Game Is DOS2, Really?

DOS2 is a party-based CRPG with fully turn-based combat, played from an isometric camera. You control a party of up to four characters — one of six pre-written origin characters (Ifan, Lohse, Sebille, the Red Prince, Beast or Fane) or a fully custom hero — through a four-act story that runs roughly 60-100 hours. The headline mechanics, all of which are explained in depth in our DOS2 build guide:

• A classless character system. Your starting class preset is a head start, not a cage; everything except race and origin is fully rebuildable later at a free respec mirror.
• The armour system. Every enemy carries physical and magic armour, and crowd-control effects only apply once the matching armour bar is stripped. This single rule dictates party building and is the reason DOS2 parties specialise in one damage type.
• Elemental surface combat. Fire, water, blood, oil, poison, electricity — surfaces react with each other, with spells, and with the terrain. A puddle of water can be frozen, electrified, turned to steam, or used by an elf with the right build to power up.
• Total systemic freedom. Nearly every quest has multiple solutions, most NPCs can be killed without breaking the story, and you can talk to animals with the Pet Pal talent. The classic example is teleporting a glob of lava onto a boss.

This is the game that trained Larian for Baldur's Gate 3, and playing it back explains half of what makes BG3 work. If you have never played a Larian game, this is still the cleanest on-ramp to their design philosophy — and our characters guide breaks down who you can play and what each story adds.

Story and Writing: Choices That Actually Matter

The premise: the Divine is dead, the Void approaches, and you are a Source-user (a "Godwoken") imprisoned by the Magisters on a prison ship. What follows is a four-act epic — Fort Joy, Reaper's Coast, the Nameless Isle, and Arx — where your race, tags, origin and dialogue choices quietly rewrite the world around you. The opening act is a genuinely famous piece of game design: a prison island that functions as a full open area with multiple escape routes, dozens of quests, and a level curve that punishes rushing.

Two things separate the writing from the genre pack:

1. The origin system. Each of the six origin characters has their own personal quest, their own god, their own romance, and their own view of the main plot. Fane's story is effectively the game's secret history of the world; Lohse's is a possession story that many players call the best personal arc in the game. Playing with them as companions is good; playing as them changes the entire read on the story.
2. Consequences at the systemic level. The game remembers who you killed, who you saved, which Source masters you sided with, and what you did on previous acts — and it pays those choices off in Act 4 in ways most RPGs would never track.

The voice acting is a story of its own. The game contains over 1 million words of dialogue — Larian originally planned not to voice it at all, then hired around 80 actors and recorded everything anyway. The cast includes Harry Hadden-Paton (Downton Abbey, Dragon Age: Inquisition), Alix Wilton Regan (Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition) and Alec Newman (The Witcher 2, Assassin's Creed). That production commitment is a big part of why the game won the BAFTA for Best Multiplayer — the writing and performances make co-op sessions feel like a shared story, not a shared grind.

Combat and Co-Op: Why It Won a Multiplayer BAFTA

The BAFTA category surprised a lot of people in 2018 — DOS2 beat Fortnite for Best Multiplayer at the 14th British Academy Games Awards. What the award recognised is how completely the co-op is woven into the design. Up to four players control the party, each player running their own character with their own agenda; in some story moments, two players are literally on opposite sides of a dialogue and can make contradictory choices that both stick.

The combat itself is the deepest turn-based system of its generation: 12 skill schools, over 200 skills, height-based ranged damage, elemental combos, and the armour/status loop described above. It is also genuinely hard — the community consensus is that Classic difficulty is the right first-time setting, with Tactician reserved for players who want the game to fight back, and Honour Mode (single save, permadeath) as the legendary self-inflicted challenge. We cover the full difficulty ladder in the FAQ below.

For anything about how the multiplayer modes and platforms work — split-screen, online lobbies, cross-saves, and the fact that there is no crossplay between platforms — see our cross-platform guide.

The Definitive Edition: The Free "Remaster"

On August 31, 2018, Larian released the Definitive Edition as a free upgrade for every PC owner, alongside the PS4 and Xbox One launches. It is the only version sold today on all platforms, and it is the version everyone should play. The headline changes, per Larian's own announcements:

• A rewritten Act 3 (the Nameless Isle), which was widely considered the weakest act in the original.
• A new Story Mode difficulty for players who want the writing without the fights.
• Four official Gift Bags — free toggleable content packs including the 8 Action Points mode, a Fort Joy magic mirror for early respecs, new talents and cosmetics. Enabling them disables achievements, and the saves carry the settings with them.
• Thousands of balance changes, reworked fights (including a now-fightable Kraken in Act 3), an improved journal, and the game's current level cap of 22 (up from 20).

The Switch guide on this site covers the Switch version of the Definitive Edition in detail, including the free Switch 2 upgrade that arrived in December 2025 alongside the native PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions — see our PS5 version guide for the current-gen details.

DLC and Paid Content: What Is Worth Buying

DOS2 has only three pieces of paid content on Steam, and none of them are expansions:

• Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Divine Ascension — a digital-only "prestigious upgrade" pack. It contains the 1,200+ piece concept art book (An Essential Compendium of Notable Rivellonian Artwork), the lore book (Modern Chronicles of Reapers' Coast), the 35-track official soundtrack by Borislav Slavov, and a collection of bonus music added in a later update (including Lohse's "Sing for Me"). It adds zero in-game content — no items, no quests, no skills. It is a collector's item for lore and music fans, and the community consensus is that it is skippable for everyone else.
• Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Companion: Sir Lora the Squirrel — a free companion DLC that adds a knightly squirrel and his undead cat to Fort Joy, with his own quest chain, new recipes and a story about the Knights of Drey. It is free, so just claim it.
• Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Official Soundtrack — the standalone soundtrack purchase, same 35 tracks as the Divine Ascension bundle. Handy if you want the music without the art books.

The "The Source Saga" bundle on consoles packages DOS2 Definitive Edition with Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition — the first game — plus both add-ons, which is the best-value way in if you want the full series. Our review of where the series goes next covers the newly announced Divinity game that makes this a great moment to play the back catalogue.

How Hard Is It? The Difficulty Modes Explained

Difficulty is chosen at campaign creation and, with one exception, is changeable anytime from the pause menu. The exact stat differences come from the community wiki's difficulty breakdown:

The trap: Tactician and Honour lock your choice permanently, while the three lower modes can be switched freely mid-campaign. Most first-time players who bounce off the game do it on Tactician — the armour system punishes underprepared parties brutally, and the game's difficulty curve in Acts 1-2 is famously spiky. Classic is the right call for a first run.

Patches, Updates and Where the Game Stands in 2026

DOS2's content era ended years ago — the Definitive Edition's Gift Bags were the last major content addition, and the game has sat on a stable build since. But the game is very much alive:

• December 15, 2025: native PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2 versions launched as free upgrades for last-gen owners, with 60 FPS on modern consoles, faster loading and cross-generation save compatibility — a direct result of the new Divinity announcement the week before.
• The mod scene never stopped. The Steam Workshop has tens of thousands of mods, from the Epic Encounters combat overhaul to party-size mods, new skills and full class packs. Mods remain PC-exclusive.
• Player counts spike every sale. The game routinely charts on Steam's top sellers during discounts, and GameSpot reported that the Divinity announcement drove DOS2 to its best sales month since 2017.

Criticisms: What the Reviews Leave Out

No review section is honest without the cons. The recurring complaints, from both critics and the player community:

• The first act is overwhelming. Fort Joy throws systems, factions, quests and a punishing level curve at you simultaneously. Many players quit in the first ten hours — this is why the Definitive Edition added the tutorial and Story Mode.
• Inventory and journal management. The journal is famously obtuse, and the inventory UI (especially the barter screen) has never been great.
• Difficulty spikes. Even on Classic, several fights (notably in Act 2) are infamous walls.
• The armour system polarises. Some players love the physical/magic armour split; others find it makes status effects feel gated and builds feel rigid.
• Character animation and cinematics are behind the Baldur's Gate 3 standard — this is a 2017 game with a pulled-back camera, and the writing carries scenes that the presentation doesn't.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Divinity Original Sin 2 worth buying in 2026?

Yes — it is one of the best-value RPGs on the market. The Definitive Edition regularly goes on sale for under $25 on PC and consoles (it launched on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S at a $14.99 introductory price in December 2025), and it remains a 100-hour-plus game with a 93 Metascore, a massive mod scene, and full 60 FPS versions on current hardware. The only caveats are that it has no crossplay and its presentation is dated next to Baldur's Gate 3.

What score did Divinity Original Sin 2 get from critics?

93/100 on Metacritic for PC, 10/10 from GameSpot (one of only 15 games ever), 9.6/10 from IGN for the Definitive Edition, 9.75/10 from Game Informer, and a BAFTA for Best Multiplayer in 2018. Steam users rate it around 95% positive from over 94,000 reviews.

Is DOS2 better than Baldur's Gate 3?

It depends what you want. DOS2 has a tighter, more interactive combat sandbox with its elemental surface system and classless build freedom, and its co-op is more deeply woven into the story. BG3 has modern presentation, cinematic cutscenes, full voice acting throughout and the D&D ruleset. Most players who love one enjoy the other; if you came from BG3, DOS2's combat depth and choice reactivity are the reasons to go back.

What does the Definitive Edition add over the original release?

A rewritten Act 3, a new Story Mode difficulty, four free Gift Bags, the level cap raised from 20 to 22, thousands of balance changes, an improved journal and tutorial, and reworked fights including a fightable Kraken. It was a free upgrade for existing owners and is the only version sold today.

Is Divinity Original Sin 2 still being updated?

The last content update was the December 15, 2025 release of native PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2 versions with 60 FPS and cross-generation saves. The Definitive Edition's core build has been stable for years, and further balance patches are unlikely — Larian's team is now fully on the new Divinity game.

Related Guides

• Divinity Original Sin 2 Characters — All Six Origin Heroes Explained
• Divinity Original Sin 2 PS5 — Free Upgrade, 60 FPS and Cross-Save Explained
• How Long Is Divinity Original Sin 2? — Playtime by Playstyle
• Divinity Original Sin 2 Build Guide — Best Builds & Stats
• Is Divinity Original Sin 2 Cross-Platform? — Crossplay and Co-Op Explained
• Divinity Original Sin 3 — Release Date, News and Everything We Know

Last updated: August 13, 2026.