Larian's Divinity: Original Sin, first seen in May last year , is founder Sven Vincke's homage to his favorite game—Ultima 7—and “an RPG that would give people the same feeling I had when I played that game.” It shows it, too, from its top-down angles and turn-based battles much akin to its predecessor Divine Divinity. It's set to release in the coming months, but a last-moment Kickstarter campaign seeks an extra $400,000 from backers to expand Larian's development team.
“The game systems we put in place have a lot of potential and because it took us quite some time to create them, so we haven't been able to use them to their fullest yet,” the pitch reads. “That's why we're looking to increase the size of our development team. And because our budget is finite, we decided to come to Kickstarter to ask for your help.”
Though Original Sin has kept beneath Larian's hammer since 2010, the studio says the additional pile of dough will assist its designers, artists, and the rest of the staff with accomplishing their jobs more effectively.
“The designers' mission will be to increase the amount of interesting things you can do in the world, as much as possible,” Larian says. “The artists, animators, programmers, and testers are needed to ensure that all the necessary assets and features to do this are present.”
As of this writing, donors have given over $40,000 to Original Sin's cause, but it's a long, lava-lined road to adding an extra zero to that figure. Head over to Kickstarter for more information, and have a look at our preview for how the game's combat and class mechanics operate.
