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IT SEEMS A LONG while since the RPG world was hit with Diablo 2 and it's expansion pack, and although it was well received it seemed to us to be over too quickly. The game although easy to get into lacked real depth and contained a very a thin story line (but marvellous cinematics). During this time we discovered a game in development called Divine Divinity from CDV which looked to us to be very similar in game play but was touted to have far more depth. Well it's been a long time in development and it is about to hit New Zealand.

The game will have a 2D isometric game play area in the same style as Diablo however the angle is sharper and somewhat flatter in appearance. The graphics themselves however will be rich in detail. Playing the demo of the game we have been continually surprised by what you could pick up, open, use and interact with. Objects themselves are more often than not plot devices that are required to complete specific quests, and it looks like there are going to be a heap of these for players to complete. A look at the screenshots will show you the incredible amount of effort that has been made to create a detailed world with a very unique look and feel.

You will have 3 player classes to chose from (survivor, warrior and wizard) with a male and female option for each. As you would expect the character detail will reflect what equipment the character is wearing. Overall in the game you can expect features such as :-

• Four huge maps totalling over 20,000 screens (the amount of artwork involved in putting these together is mind boggling) spanning everything from peaceful small villages to demon infested wastelands.
• Up to 96 skills to be learnt, divided into three classes. Each class also contains a special move. Regardless of what class the player starts in, he can always learn skills from the other ones.
• A virtually unlimited amount of special equipment with which the player can boost his character. Additionally the player can charm items to make them even more powerful.
• Over 150 non-player characters to interact with in a dynamic environment.
• Over 100 types of monsters and creatures to fight with.
• Tons of objects that can be investigated, traded, used and combined.
• Large involving story line containing plenty of sub-quests in which the player can further advance his character.
• A multitude of different behaviours for different monsters and non-player characters.
• Monsters will communicate with each other when they are in a group, employing different tactics to trick the player or their enemies.
• Day/Night cycle and weather effects.
• Two auto-maps. One mini-map which shows the player his direct surroundings, and one large overview map, useful for planning the player's journeys.
• A diary which contains things like a quest-log, information on creatures and non-player characters, information on monsters slain.
• 3d positional sound and real-time reverb.
• Spoken dialogs.

Show me the screenshots!