Divinity: Dragon Commander Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on August 22nd, 2013

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Everything in Dragon Commander (aside from these bosoms) is slightly underdeveloped. Still, what Larian has created is a coherent and idiosyncratic game that's remarkably enjoyable if you're a strategy fan who wants something less po-faced than the Total War series. None of the individual elements is particularly good but, together, they form something that's a lot more entertaining than you might expect; perhaps more entertaining than it deserves to be. Avoid the boring battles and instead focus on grand strategy and gay rights, and you'll find fun, imperfection, character, lovely visuals and occasional plot surprises in this ridiculous and very colourful game.

So, Larian has taken a chance here and followed their vision. The style is consistent and from what I understand of their goals with this game - it succeeds in most ways. I say most ways, because I personally think the real-time combat (minus the Dragon Commander) is somewhat weak and I suspect it's there simply because they wanted to have that dragon under your control. I can't deny that the dragon works well, but I would have preferred a more intricate board game and a combat system that was more hands-off like Dominions 3 or Warlords 3.

That's just me, however, and I imagine a lot of players having more fun with the dragon - and it does add a refreshing change to multiplayer combat.

I think it's worth buying if you're into board games and multiplayer strategy games. If you're primarily a real-time strategy fan, you MIGHT want to check it out - just realize that it's not the most involved example of the genre.

If you're just looking for some fun and you want to support developers with artistic integrity - I can highly recommend Dragon Commander.

Mixing in the narrative-based decisions with real-time and turn-based strategy, and then throwing in some third-person, arcade-style dragon controlling, could well of ended in disaster. Many multi-genre games fail simply due to being a jack-of-all-trades. But Larian Studios have fared better than most with Divinity: Dragon Commander. It is not the prettiest game ever, and neither is it the deepest, but it is certainly entertaining, and at the end of the day, that is all that matters.

Dragon Commander is an odd experience front to back but god damn is it fun. The writing is funny and upbeat with political bits asking some interesting questions, the gameplay is varied and deep, and the visuals are well-detailed and fits the attitude of the game and the Divinity series at large. As such Divinity: Dragon Commander gets a 4 out of 5 stars; it's a weird mix of genres but it works and while it could stand to dial back the difficulty a notch and better teach you the nitty-gritty of its mechanics, it's oddly deep and a lot of fun.

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