Earlier this week, Larian Studios released a lovely new trailer for Divinity: Original Sin 2 that, among other things, suggested that the game's final playable race would be the Undead. In a developer update video released today, the studio made it official, revealing the Undead race, a new origin character named Fane, and the very impressive-looking Collector's Edition box.
Undead characters feature some "fundamentally different gameplay mechanics" than the other races in Divinity: Original Sin 2—they're healed with poison, for instance (regular healing potions damage them) and can pick locks with their fingers—and while any race (Human, Elf, Dwarf, or Lizard) can be played as Undead, they'll have unique undead abilities and traits, rather than those of their former life. They must also disguise their true form in order to keep NPCs from fleeing or attacking them, either with helmets and clothing, or more effectively with a magical item called Mask of the Shapeshifter.
The device creates masks that enable Undead characters to assume the appearance and racial abilities of any race in the game—a Dwarf can get better prices from a Dwarf merchant, for instance—and multiple masks can be created, and even used by characters who are still living. But there's a catch: To create a mask, you'll have to literally rip the faces off of fresh corpses. The potential complications involved in that process are, I would think, readily self-evident.
Fane, the new Undead origin character, was a scholar who was entombed centuries ago by his elders for pursuing forbidden knowledge. The character and his origin story were created in collaboration with Chris Avellone, whose participation in the game was announced as a sort of unofficial stretch goal in 2015.
Fane also features prominently in the Divinity: Original Sin 2 Collector's Edition announced today, as a ten-inch-tall statue with a swappable Shapeshifter Mask and skull. The CE also features a big lore book, an equally large art book, instruction manual, a cloth map, and a commemorative metal plate for Kickstarter backers. Only 1000 are available, and as you might expect, they're not cheap: They go for $169 plus shipping at divinity.game. Divinity: Original Sin 2 will be out on September 14.
