wfmag.cc \ 65Struggling to Switch off Divinity: Original Sin 2
ell, I did say I’d be talking
more about Divinity: Original
Sin 2: Definitive Edition on
Switch, because it’s absolutely
magnificent and hard to put
down. On Nintendo’s handheld hybrid, that
statement can be made literally, too – once
picked up, it is a struggle to turn off, to do
anything else, to re-enter regular life. The dog
looks on forlorn, as once again she has to wait
the extra ten minutes, 20 minutes, an hour
before I remember she needs a walk. Dinner
gets pushed later and later into
the evening. Sleep – something
I relearned to love through
the magic of ‘getting older’ –
once again became something
I could do when dead. I’m
worried this might be an addiction.
At the same time, I’m not upset. It’s been a
while since a game has wholeheartedly dragged
me in and not let up. Addiction is a horrible
word to use as a compliment towards a game’s
ability to keep you sat (or stood) in front of it –
I’ll always remember Sports Interactive’s Miles
Jacobson telling me he avoided using the word
when talking about Football Manager’s similarly
compulsive hold over players. It’s a harmful
condition, not a helpful one, and it shouldn’t
be thrown around with abandon when talking
about something that is – in large part – as facile
as video games. With that clause firmly in mind,
I do think I’m addicted to Original Sin 2, and I
can’t shake the feeling of oh-so-slight happiness
about the fact.
Because you want games to pull you in
and not let go. You want the experience to
be all-consuming, for it to
make whatever the game is
something you want to play- the only thing you want to
play. Lollygagging around the
world of gaming for (pushing)
four decades does take some of the lustre
off the whole thought of giving yourself over
entirely to a game, and the ravages of millennial
angst running hand in hand with the impact of
depressive episodes does exacerbate the feeling
that you have fallen out of love with the medium.
Maybe it’s time to move on, to go do something
else more ‘grown-up’ with your time? Chase that
joy. Find it. It’ll be somewhere else, surely.
Larian’s superb CRPG (on a hybrid handheld)
snapped me out of a stupor, frankly. My praise
of it might be skirting with being over the top, I’m
well aware, but the personal experience is never
something you can discount from a person’s
opinion of... well, anything. But in this case, a
game about dragons and that. Original Sin 2
is refreshing and invigorating; it walked in and
snapped its fingers, and in that moment, I was
enthralled. Turns out, a new addiction is just
what I needed.
W
“Original Sin 2 is
refreshing and
invigorating”Definitely Definitive
Baldur’s Gate:
Enhanced Edition
PC, SWITCH, MULTI
I don’t think this batch
of legends appearing on
Nintendo’s format will have
the same impact as Original
Sin 2, in all honesty. That ship
has sailed.Planescape: Torment:
Enhanced Edition
PC, SWITCH, MULTI
All the same, and from a
less Inside My Own Head
perspective, it’s a thrill to see
Beamdog’s collection on the
Switch – and other consoles,
of course.Icewind Dale:
Enhanced Edition
PC, SWITCH, MULTI
They’re deep and fun and
smart and interesting, and just
the sort of thing you want to
lose yourself in on a long train
journey. Maybe it will become
another addiction, who knows?Definitely DefinitiveNow playing
Wireframe
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