Beyond Divinity

Beyond Divinity is a video game in the role-playing (rpg) genre developed by Larian Studios NV and published by Ubisoft GmbH originally released in 2004. It is currently playable on Windows.

When Lucian the Divine defeated the evil organization known as the Black Ring, he was too late to prevent a dark ritual from taking place: the soul of the Lord of Chaos was summoned into the body of an innocent child. Unable to kill the boy, Lucian adopted him and raised him as his own son, naming him Damian. When Damian was fifteen, a young witch named Ygerna seduced him and taught him the ways of magic, hoping to unlock the evil powers it contained. Lucian killed Ygerna with his own hand, and Damian was unable to forgive him. To prevent him from unleashing his wrath on the world, Lucian had to seal Damian's memories and prevent him from returning to Rivellon.

A few years later, a group of paladins of the Divine Order were fighting a powerful necromancer of the Black Ring. The necromancer summoned a demon named Samuel, who killed all but one of the paladins. The survivor was imprisoned, awaiting torture, when a mysterious armor-clad creature calling himself a Death Knight appeared in his cell. The Death Knight told the paladin that Samuel had forged their souls together, apparently as punishment for something he had done. The two must first escape the prison and eventually find a way to break the soul forging.

Beyond Divinity is a role-playing game and a sequel to Divine Divinity, whose events take place twenty years after those described in its predecessor. Most of the locations and characters are different, but throughout the game the connection to the overall plot is revealed. The game takes place in four acts in a vast territory. The player begins in a large dungeon and progresses to a more open landscape (once escaping from prison), eventually exploring an imp village, monster-infested forests, fire and ice atmospheres, as well as numerous mysterious islands on the journey. Unlike Divine, there is no open-world gameplay, and the game progresses in a comparatively linear fashion.

There are a variety of non-player characters, including friends and monsters of various types. Many sub-quests can be discovered by interacting with NPCs, many of which are optional. In addition to the main game quests, there are separate 'battlefield' areas within each act that have nothing to do with the main plot, but are accessed by finding special keys in the main game. Intended to help the player increase the abilities of the two controlled characters, these accessory areas have more quests, multi-level dungeons, as well as merchants and special items that cannot be found elsewhere.

The game is controlled with both the keyboard and mouse and takes place entirely in third-person, isometric perspective, with 2D backgrounds and 3D character models. The main protagonist can be male or female and can be chosen from several classes during the character generation process. The Death Knight is controlled in the same way as any other member of the party. Like the protagonist, he can be provided with equipment and direction as he explores and fights. He can carry as much inventory (sometimes more) and has his own skills and abilities, which can be freely upgraded and customized.

Beyond Divinity uses the same basic engine as the previous game, but its combat is real-time rather than action-based. The player does not physically control attacks, but instead targets enemies and lets the battle evolve automatically. Combat can be paused at any time to give orders to the two controllable characters. As in the previous game, characters can learn any skill divided into the categories of Warrior, Survivor and Mage. Each of these is made up of disciplines, ranging from mastery of weapons and spells to the ability to sneak or repair, among others. Finally, the skill itself can be learned in various ways (for example, the player can choose to increase the damage or accuracy of two-handed bladed weapons, etc.). In addition, the player can learn to summon dolls that act as party members. Many skills can only be learned when trained by a specific NPC.

Beyond Divinity is available at a reduced price on the following websites and is no longer abandonware.