Divinity: Original Sin 2 demos new Summoning and Polymorphing skills

During Larian Studios' hugely successful Divinity: Original Sin 2 Kickstarter campaign, backers were given the opportunity to vote for their favourite skill schools that'd be introduced as Stretch Goals at a later date. To this end, as part of the project's 35th Update, the early accessible role-player has now added Summoning and Polymorphing to its sorcery-endowed bounds. 

To mark the occasion Larian has also launched two separate trailers, both of which explore the new abilities from distinctly different angles. The first is a shorter, more generic cinematic which skims the specifics inside two and a quarter minutes:

The second, which is far more interesting, sees Larian's Swen Vincke explaining the new schools by way of plates, stuffed alpaca toys, condiments, feather dusters, and rubber kitchen gloves—before diving into the game itself and then offering a more thorough look at both Summoning and Polymorphing in practice.

As detailed via the game's Kickstarter campaign page, the Summoning school lets players conjure personal elementals which match the ground surface they're summoned onto. For example, fire elementals launch fire attacks at foes, while water elementals provide players with healing buffs. The full list of Summoning powers can be found over here. 

According to Larian the Polymorph school, on the other hand, was "by far the most popular" skill school in the Kickstarter vote and sees "the best and worst aspects of other creatures" taken to the battlefield. In practice, this has players transforming into specific animals while harnessing specific traits. 

There's seven in total en route to Early Access, including:

  • Bull Horns—Magnificent horns sprout from your forehead. You can rush at your enemies and gore them.
  • Tentacle Lash—With tentacular (it’s a word, look it up) limbs, lash out at the enemy and Disarm them.
  • Chicken Claw—Turn the target character into a chicken. Squawk!
  • Heart of Steel—Your skin turns to steel, increasing Physical Armour and regenerating a portion of it every turn.
  • Chameleon Cloak—Become one with the shadows so that you're invisible to your opponents.
  • Spread Your Wings—Grow wings that unlock Flight skill. You ignore ground surfaces as long as you keep moving.
  • Skin Graft—Reset all cooldowns, yet also strip off all Physical Armour and Magic Armour. Removes Burning, Poisoned, Bleeding.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is out now on Steam Early Access priced £29.99/$44.99. Full details of both the game's Summoning and Polymorph skill schools can be found here.  

Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show
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