Divinity: Original Sin Board Game

By: Larian Studios   Players: 1-4     Ages: 14+     Time: 45-120 mins

The Divine is dead, the Void approaches, and the powers lying dormant within you are soon to awaken.

Players embark on a journey through the Divine Atlas, an interactive book that charts the various realms and locations of Rivellon. Adventurers will make key decisions about where to go and how to respond to the world around them.

Based on the award-winning video game Divinity: Original Sin II, this board game adaptation expands Divinity in new directions, offering new characters, stories, side quests, skills, items, and monsters in this brand-new tabletop experience.

What Is Divinity: Original Sin?  

Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game, is based on the role-playing video game series of the same name. Developed by Larion Studios, the franchise saw the first game of the series released in 2002, but it wasn’t until 2014 that the series garnered mainstream attention with the release of Divinity Original Sin Board Game and the commercial and critical reception it received. An equally successful sequel and nine years later, a Kickstarter campaign was launched for an analogue iteration of the game that saw it generate close to two million dollars from over ten thousand backers. Just like it’s electronic predecessors, Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game, was very well received and garnered plenty of positive praise.   

D:OS is an immersive campaign that can be played over many sessions, taking around twenty hours to complete. Up to four players can take part in a playthrough, played via an interactive book charting the realms and locations of Rivellon. The game sees players venture across dozens of locations and take part in exploration and combat, finding magical items and runes along the way and gaining skills as the game progresses, allowing them to perform powerful attacks. All choices matter and can significantly influence the story and course of the adventure, offering plenty of ways to finish the game and many diverging paths for replayability.

Divinity Original Sin Board Game Set-Up

The game is played in the Divine Atlas, a book containing all locations in the game. Each location comes with a set of location cards which are placed near the map. A time tracker is set on the starting space along with all players origin figures. Each map also comes with flavour text and when starting an adventure, the intro text should be read aloud, along with any special rules for the location.

Each player also has their own personal play area where each player keeps track of their characters progress as they level up. It comes with a HP dial to monitor their health and an action point tracker, as well as space to store any item or skill cards they acquire along the way. There is also a space for the players origin card which lists useful information about the character like their max HP, actions points, keywords and special abilities. 

Gameplay Mechanics

Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game features a unique blend of exploration, combat, and character development, making it an epic adventure game that captures the essence of its video game counterpart. Each round represents a day in the world of Rivellon, where players take turns exploring locations, completing quests, and battling enemies. The game’s mechanics are designed to be intuitive and easy to learn, making it accessible to new players while still offering depth and complexity for experienced gamers.

At the heart of the game are action points, which players use to perform various actions such as moving, attacking, and using skills. This system adds a layer of strategy, as players must carefully manage their action points to maximize their effectiveness each turn. Skill cards further enhance the gameplay, allowing players to perform powerful attacks and abilities. These skill cards can be combined in creative ways, enabling players to develop complex and strategic combinations that can turn the tide of battle.

Character Creation and Development

Character creation in Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game is a key part of the game’s appeal, offering a brand new tabletop experience that allows for deep customization. Players can choose from a variety of unique origins, each with its own abilities and skills, ensuring that no two characters are the same. The game features a classless system, allowing players to tailor their characters to fit their preferred playstyle, whether they favor brute strength, cunning tactics, or magical prowess.

As players progress through the game, they can develop their characters by acquiring new skills, items, and abilities. This dynamic character development system encourages experimentation with different builds and strategies, making each playthrough a fresh and exciting experience. The ability to evolve and grow your character over time adds a layer of depth and replayability that fans of the original sin series will appreciate.

Story and Exploration

Set in the enchanting world of Rivellon, Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game immerses players in a land of ancient magic and forgotten lore. Players take on the roles of heroes tasked with exploring this rich world, completing quests, and battling formidable enemies. The game’s story is branching and dynamic, with player choices significantly affecting the outcome, ensuring that each playthrough offers a unique narrative experience.

The game features a unique location card system, which allows players to explore different locations and encounter various challenges and quests. Each location card features a two-page spread, with one page detailing the location’s lore and challenges, and the other page featuring a map of the location. This system not only enhances the exploration aspect of the game but also adds depth to the storytelling, making each location feel alive and full of possibilities.

Party Dynamics and Management

Designed for up to four players, Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game emphasizes the importance of party dynamics and management. Players must work together to overcome challenges and defeat enemies, using their unique skills and abilities to complement each other. This cooperative gameplay fosters a sense of camaraderie and teamwork, making each victory feel earned and rewarding.

The game features a variety of party management mechanics, including the ability to share items and resources, and to coordinate attacks and abilities. Players can also use their skills and abilities to support each other, creating complex and strategic combinations. This focus on party dynamics ensures that every player has a role to play and that their contributions are vital to the success of the group.

Boss Battles and Challenges

One of the highlights of Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game is its challenging boss battles and encounters. Each boss comes with its own unique mechanics and challenges, requiring players to use all of their skills and abilities to emerge victorious. These epic battles are designed to be memorable and intense, providing a true test of the players’ strategic prowess.

The game’s challenge system is flexible and dynamic, allowing players to adjust the difficulty level to suit their preferences. This ensures that both newcomers and seasoned gamers can enjoy the game at their own pace. Whether you’re facing off against a powerful foe or navigating a tricky scenario, the game’s challenges are designed to keep you on your toes and provide a satisfying sense of accomplishment when overcome.

By maintaining the same tone and style as the existing article, these new sections should seamlessly integrate and provide a comprehensive overview of what makes Divinity Original Sin Board Game a must-play for fans of epic adventure games.

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How To Play

Each session of the Divinity board game is made up of a number of rounds that let players explore the location their playing in, fight enemies they encounter, and try to discover the way to the next location before they run out of time. 

When no enemies are on the map, players will be exploring or resting. Exploring is the primary way to progress through a location and discover a new one. Players may also uncover dangers and enemies, or treasures and advantages to help them on their adventure. As players explore different locations on the map they’ll reveal a location card matching the numbered space they occupy or take one from the holding area. Once read aloud, the party decides the order in which to resolve the cards, and does so one at a time. These cards could result in many things like encountering enemies, finding items, forcing a player to make a challenge roll, or finding the exit, so choosing carefully the order in which to resolve these cards is important!

When enemies make their way onto the field, this initiates a combat round which continues until all enemies or players are defeated. There are both ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ enemies who takes turns in that order, with players going in-between the two. Enemies will move towards the closest hero and roll dice to determine their actions and if their attacks land. Players actions are dictated by how many action points they have and can take more than one action as long as they can afford it. They can move, equip items, taunt foes to draw their fire, and use action cards, which in turn will allow them to use skills and items. As the campaign presses on they’ll not only have more options during combat, but more points to use too. 

As long as no enemies are present, players may choose to use a Rest round to heal, adjust their inventory, and use skills and items out of combat. Everyone may heal two HP and any status conditions, revive and transfer any HP to a downed party member, equip or trade items, and use a skill or item. Once everyone is rested the time tracker moves by one. 

Regardless of what players choose to do, at the end of each round, the time tracker ticks down towards the end of the scenario. When the tracker reaches an event icon, the party must reveal and resolve the location card with the indicated letter from the deck. If the tracker reaches the bottom and the players still haven’t uncovered the next location, they must draw a special card from the Location deck and resolve it’s effects. These aren’t always negative, but can potentially end the scenario immediately and end the campaign then and there. 

Players will need to find the ‘Exit’ card in the Location deck in order to move onto the next map and will name the page number and location for players to move to. Sometimes there are certain conditions players must meet however, such as defeating a boss, before they’ll be able to move on. Additionally, some locations may offer multiple exits to be discovered, leading players to a different subsequent location.

After the party has successfully exited a location, they’ll have the opportunity to level up, recover HP, and purchase new items before moving on to the next location. Players can also end the game after completing a map and effectively save their progress in order to come back to where they left off when they next play. 

Summary

• Lengthy campaign

• Plenty of replay value

• Great adventure game

• Offers an immersive experience

• Solo or Co-op mode

Who Should Buy This Game?

We think you should buy this game if:

You’re a fan of the video games: The game translates well from digital to analogue and fans of the franchise and board games should enjoy it.

You like lengthy games: Players can play each map at a time or several in one go. Either way, you’ll be playing for a minimum of thirty minutes or a couple of hours, depending on how much you want to tackle 

You enjoy seeing characters progress: Like the video game, a players character will evolve and grow as the game progresses, so if you enjoy seeing your character become more powerful with each playthrough, this is one for you. 

You like solo games: D:OS offers both a multi and single-player experience, so if you don’t have enough people to get together for a session, or want to start one separate from the one with your friends, this is a good choice.   

You might not like this game if: 

You’re not a fan of RPGs: Like most RPG board and video games, D:OS requires a degree of commitment to get the most out of it. If you’re more of a fan of ‘pick-up and put-down’ games, this might not be the one for you

You don’t like long setup times:  With all the components the game comes with, this can take a while to set-up before you can dive into the action.

You don’t want a game with lots of rules: Although not the most complicated game, it does boast a 50+ page rulebook and has some very specific rules, so those who don’t want to do a lot of reading may want to skip this one.  

Final Verdict

Divinity: Original Sin – The Board Game (is a mouthful) and offers a robust experience for gamers who enjoy immersive, adventure games. It offers plenty to do and many different locations to explore, providing an RPG-like feel as players make their way through the campaign, advancing their hero and making them more powerful. It comes chock full of components and offers a ton of replayability. The game is certainly one that will keep gamers busy with plenty of customisation of characters, items to collect, and locations to explore.  

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