It is a shame when a game is released and it leaves you with a feeling that it is incomplete. Such was the reaction when the first game, Divine Divinity, was released. Many people felt that the game, while it was a blast to play, was lacking depth. So the development team decided to go back to the drawing board to attempt to create a game that fulfilled the player’s expectations. Two years have passed and we now have Beyond Divinity, but how good is it? Read on to find out.

Beyond Divinity takes place twenty years after the original game concluded. You are a student of the Divine, a paladin who hunts sorcerers and other evildoers. The only purpose of your entire existence is to hunt and kill anything that is evil. One day you get into battle with a particularly menacing necromancer, and when you are in the cusp of beating him, he takes you to his universe. In this universe, the “higher powers” decided to taunt you so in an act that will consume you forever, they “soul forged” to a Death Knight, a creature of great evil.

To your surprise the Death Knight is as upset as you are about this soul forge, so you two make a pact. From this point on the two of you will find a way to undo this curse and find out how to get back to your universe. Will you be able to succeed, because if you don’t you will despise yourself for all eternity for being stuck in this situation.

If you have ever played games such as Diablo, Dungeon Siege, or Baulders Gate, than the gameplay mechanics should be very familiar to you, but this game has a very interesting twist. When players first start the game, they are to create a character. There are myriads of options, from the appearance, body type, and even what class of character (warrior, wizard, or survivor). There is nothing to fret about since; you can mix different character skills to make the character represent you to the best of your ability.

The twist comes in here, unlike many other RPG games, you immediately start with two characters, your hero and the Death Knight. While you do have two members in your team, if one dies they both die, due to the soul forge. What is really unique about this game is the Summoning Doll, which actually boils down to another character for your group. Each “Act” has a different summoning doll, but they will immediately die if they leave the range.

Another new feature in this game is called “battlefields.” These are portals that take players away from the main stream of the game, and they go into villages. In these villages, players will be able to take up many different tasks, and gain new skills to build your characters up. This offers a nice break of the game, and helps prevent some repetition that these games are well known for.

As mentioned before there are different “Acts” that the players must go through to get to the end of the game. The first Act is one that introduces the players to the game, such as interacting with the NPCs, doing sub missions, and getting used to how the game is played. The acts that follow the game will impress you as you dive deep into this games heavy storyline. It leaves you wanting more till you have time to complete the act that you are currently playing.

What is different about this game is that in order to complete all of the objectives you will have to learn that going in head first with a sword is not your best bet. At times it will be in your best interest if you take your time, develop a strategy in order that you might live to fight in another battle. The game throws you many different gameplay tactics in order to keep the game from getting repetitive. At times you will have to sneak past guards, solve different puzzles, or just go in and take anyone down that comes in your way. All of these different gameplay features help make the game fun, without going through the same monotonous scheme that many games have today.

Beyond Divinity is rated M for Mature for blood, violence, and gore.

The system requirements for this game are:
800 MHz or better Processor
256 MB of RAM
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
4X CD-Rom
Direct X 9
Direct X compliant video card with 64 MB of VRAM
Direct X compatible soundcard
2 GB of Hard Drive Space
Keyboard and Mouse.

Gameplay: 8.2
If you have ever played Diablo, Dungeon Siege, or Baulders Gate, than this game will become second home to you. The game has a very similar pace, but it does have a different flare to it by some of the gameplay additions such as solving puzzles and sneaking around. This helps break up some of the repetition that these games are well known for.

Overall: 8.0
If you like this genre of games, then Beyond Divinity will be something that you will thoroughly enjoy.