Larian Is Leaving Dungeons and Dragons Behind
After the huge success of Baldur’s Gate 3, many players assumed Larian Studios would stay in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. Instead, the studio is going back to its roots with a brand new RPG simply called Divinity. This time it will return to Larian’s own original world and the long running Divinity series.
If you only know Larian through Baldur’s Gate 3, the Divinity name might sound familiar but confusing. There are multiple games, spin offs and very old school entries that can feel a bit intimidating to dive into. The good news is you do not need to memorize a giant lore wiki or play a dozen ancient RPGs to be ready for the new game.
Here is a clear guide to what Divinity is, which games are worth your time today and how it all connects back to Baldur’s Gate 3 style RPG goodness.
The Best Order To Play The Divinity Games
Instead of going in release order or following the internal timeline, the easiest way to approach Divinity is to go backwards from the newest and most polished games. That way you start with the smoothest modern experience and only push into older titles if you are hungry for more.
The recommended order is:
- Divinity Original Sin 2
- Divinity Original Sin
- Divinity Dragon Commander if you like strategy games
- Divinity 2 Ego Draconis
- Beyond Divinity for completionists only
- Divine Divinity if you enjoy very old school RPGs
You can think of it as a difficulty curve in terms of age and clunkiness. Original Sin 2 is still fantastic in 2025 and easily stands beside Baldur’s Gate 3. Go further back only as far as your tolerance for janky interfaces and retro design allows.
Original Sin And Original Sin 2: The Closest To Baldur’s Gate 3
If you loved Baldur’s Gate 3, start with Divinity Original Sin 2. It is the game where Larian fully refined its formula before applying it to Dungeons and Dragons.
Original Sin 2 features:
- Turn based combat that is deep, tactical and very combo focused
- Drop in co op, letting you tackle the campaign with friends
- A highly reactive world where elements, surfaces and status effects constantly interact
- Strong build crafting and party synergy choices
While Baldur’s Gate 3 leans harder into cinematic storytelling, motion capture, and huge amounts of fully voiced dialogue, Original Sin 2 trades some of that big budget gloss for a denser mechanical sandbox. Combat puts a heavier emphasis on chaining elemental effects like fire, poison, ice and electricity across the battlefield.
On top of that, it uses a distinctive armor system. Enemies have separate physical and magical defenses. Crowd control will not affect them while their defenses hold, but once you break through you get a guaranteed effect. When you knock someone down or freeze them, there is no random failure chance. For theorycrafters and tacticians, this can feel even more satisfying than Baldur’s Gate 3’s dice rolls.
Original Sin 1 is a step older but still approachable. Its tone is lighter and more comedic, almost like an irreverent fantasy cartoon. It offers clever quests, surprises and strong systemic gameplay, but less in the way of deep character arcs or romance. You will also feel more of that classic PC RPG roughness with sudden difficulty spikes and a complex crafting system that hides some of the best weapons and gear.
If you are into optimising builds, the community has dug up some surprisingly detailed guides, although they often assume you already understand the skill system. Once you get over that hump though, the game rewards players who like to tinker with party compositions and item crafting.
Older Divinity Games And The World Of Rivellon
After the Original Sin titles, you hit the more niche side of the series. Divinity Dragon Commander is a strategy focused spinoff that mixes grand strategy decisions, real time battles and political choices. It has a dedicated cult following and is worth a look if you enjoy strategy games alongside RPGs.
Divine Divinity, Divinity 2 Ego Draconis and Beyond Divinity are for players who really want to explore the franchise history. They are action RPGs from an earlier era, with clear Diablo influences in perspective and feel. They can still be rewarding if you are comfortable with dated visuals and clunkier design, but you do not need them to understand what is going on in the newer titles.
In fact, Larian’s own messaging around the new Divinity focuses on the Original Sin games when it comes to lore. Original Sin 2 even contradicts parts of the story told in the older Divinity 2, so you do not have to treat the entire back catalogue as required reading.
All of these games take place in the fantasy world of Rivellon. It is a relatively classic setting with humans, elves and dwarves, but Larian spices it up with lizard folk and skeletal undead. The studio clearly loves skeletons, to the point that one of the stranger trivia points from Dragon Commander is that you can actually marry one.
Story wise, Rivellon originals leaned into chosen one plots and big demonic threats. For example, Divine Divinity centers on an evil group called the Black Ring trying to revive a demon named Chaos while your character grows into a messiah figure known as the Divine. It is familiar territory for fantasy fans and the real hook tends to be Larian’s writing style, humor and specific character interactions rather than a wildly unique lore concept.
With the new Divinity on the way, it is clear Larian wants to build on everything it learned from Baldur’s Gate 3 while fully owning its own universe again. If you want to get ready, you do not need to marathon every game in the franchise. Dive into Divinity Original Sin 2 first, check out Original Sin 1 if you want more, and then only go backward into the older titles if you fall in love with Rivellon and feel like exploring its roots.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/divinity-games-order/
