Original Sin 2 After Baldur’s Gate 3—And I’m Struggling

When Divinity was announced at The Game Awards, nothing could un-glue me from the TV. The bacchanalia on the screen enticed me in typical Larian fashion: excess, gore, high fantasy, and just a snippet of debauchery. I didn’t participate in the collective pearl-clutching that afflicted a portion of the audience. It looked perfect for me. More importantly, it made one thing very clear: I wanted to play the game that came before it in the franchise.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was my first Larian title. I’ve written, at length, about how completely it captured me. It isn’t just a favorite—it’s the game for me. It is the one game that has recalibrated my expectations for gaming entirely. When the studio behind what feels like a digital piece of my heart promised something even bigger, even more ambitious with Divinity, I couldn’t look away.

Part of the thousands of BG3 players flocking to the Divinity games, I finally booted up Divinity: Original Sin 2 on my Steam Deck (docked and connected to my TV). No release date in sight and curiosity at an all-time high, I expected to find the same magic in a different shape. What I found instead was something a little more complicated.

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Divinity: Original Sin 2 Isn’t Clicking For Me The Way I Had Hoped

I feel awful typing that out. Divinity: Original Sin 2 isn’t a bad game. Far from it—I can see the craftsmanship everywhere I look. The systems are deep, the world of Rivellon is lovingly constructed, and there’s a clear confidence in how much freedom the game gives the player. But every time I sit down with it, I feel like I’m doing homework for a class I desperately want to love. I admire it more than I enjoy it. Progress feels earned, but rarely exhilarating, and moments that should feel triumphant often leave me more exhausted than excited. I didn’t bounce off the game immediately. Instead I linger, hoping the “click” will come. At this point, I’m not sure whether it’ll ever arrive.

What’s Affecting My Experience With DOS2?

• The Difficulty: I’m a big advocate of playing a game on Normal or Easy difficulty. Whatever helps you experience the story at your own pace or skill level is best. However, even in Classic mode, DOS2 feels absolutely unforgiving. TPWs happen so easily, the enemy AOE attacks are suffocating, and the combat has teetered on inconvenient rather than a challenge.
• Quest Design: I’m a bit directionally impaired. I’m not against spending a good chunk of time talking to NPCs, learning more about the lore, and simply exploring. However, when multiple DOS2 quests are begging for my attention, I’ve depended on quest markers to ensure I don’t miss anything. DOS2 lacks meaningful quest markers, which gives me huge FOMO—except literally.
• Dense Lore, No North Star: Every game with a new or unfamiliar setting has huge weights on its shoulders. They must communicate the stakes, world-build, and engage simultaneously. Divinity’s lore is vast, complex, and rich. However, I feel like a supporting character joining a show halfway through its sixth season. Everybody knows what’s going on except me. I often find myself pausing to read a Wiki rather than playing the game continuously. Perhaps I should have started playing with an earlier Divinity title, but alas, this is my life now. These are my choices.
• My Party: I live for RPGs like Mass Effect or open-world games like RDR2, where characters stay with me even years after I’ve played them. That being said…I like my party in DOS2. I think their stories, in theory, are compelling. However, I’ve yet to have a party member that I’d call my ride or die.

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I’m Struggling with Divinity: Original Sin 2, and It’s Baldur’s Gate 3’s Fault

Baldur’s Gate 3 spoiled me. It presented me with a narrative that I was hooked on from the get-go and never let me go. I consider it a masterpiece through and through. When I learned about the similarities between BG3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2, I set aside the 2017 title for a later date. Now that the “later date” has come, I feel myself inching back to Baldur’s Gate 3 more and more every day. Simply put, BG3 set expectations way too high.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Might Do These Things Better Than Divinity: Original Sin 2

• Narrative framing: To speak to an NPC in Baldur’s Gate 3, the camera will focus on the character model before dialogue triggers. When a player walks into a critical area, a cutscene will play. These narrative framing tools allow the story to breathe, but this cinematographic drama does not exist in Divinity: Original Sin 2. There are no cutscenes. You will never get a good look at a character, and it frankly feels detached from the story because you’re never a part of it. You’re just stuck at an angle where you are simply observing instead of experiencing.
• Stronger Party: Baldur’s Gate 3 is only as strong as its weakest party member. And for me, it’s not weak at all. From Shadowheart to Minthara, there isn’t a single BG3 companion whose absence wouldn’t be felt. Meanwhile, I can’t say I’d particularly miss some characters in Divinity: Original Sin 2.
• Combat/Ability Variety: While Divinity: Original Sin 2 benefits from a wide variety of encounters and enemy types, the way to beat those enemies and “solve” situations can begin to feel quite repetitive. On the other hand, Baldur’s Gate 3 rewards creative problem-solving. It presents players with a huge toolkit to approach every encounter, even bigger than DOS2, keeping gameplay fresh, engaging, and rewarding even after 100s of hours.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 Isn’t For Me, But Divinity Might Be

At this point, I can admit something that feels borderline sacrilegious: I wish I had played Divinity: Original Sin 2 before Baldur’s Gate 3. Experiencing Larian’s design philosophy in reverse has made the older game feel harsher, denser, and less emotionally generous than it likely would have otherwise. Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t just raise the bar; it rewired my instincts as a player. It reshaped how I connect to characters, how I tolerate friction, and how quickly I expect a game to meet me halfway.

Image via Larian Studios

And yet, that isn’t a condemnation of Divinity so much as it is a testament to Baldur’s Gate 3’s impact. If BG3 taught me anything, it’s that Larian is capable of evolution on a staggering scale. So if the next Divinity is “bigger and better than BG3” then I’m not apprehensive. I’m impatient. Divinity: Original Sin 2 may not be my perfect entry point, but it has made one thing clear: wherever Larian goes next, I’ll be there on day one, expectations changed forever.