Larian’s New Title “Divinity” Officially Bids Farewell to “Original Sin 2” Armor System, Combat Revamp Sparks Anticipation

Although Larian Studios revealed many details about its upcoming project in a recent Q&A session, the company remains cautious about the forthcoming Divinity. Following the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3, this title—described by the studio as its “largest ever”—will return to Larian’s original universe. However, apart from the atmospheric yet bloody teaser trailer showcased at The Game Awards, players still know very little about the game’s specifics.

Yet, one crucial piece of news is enough to excite fans of the series: Game Design Director Nick Pechenin explicitly stated in response to questions about the defense mechanics that the new title “will not retain the magic armor system from Divinity: Original Sin 2.” For many players, this is undoubtedly a change worth celebrating.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Divinity: Original Sin 2 divided protection mechanics into physical and magical categories. The issue was that these two types of armor essentially acted as additional health bars for enemies, requiring corresponding damage types to deplete them, and at least one type had to be broken to inflict substantial damage.

This design often forced players to focus their party on a single damage type to break through armor more efficiently, as using a mixed-damage party would significantly reduce effectiveness. Additionally, players frequently had to wait until armor was broken before confidently using high-value abilities—a mechanism that clearly hindered build diversity.

Regarding this, Pechenin stated, “The new game will still include ways to protect characters, but players will no longer need to wait for armor to break before unleashing their exciting skills.” This suggests that the new system will strike a better balance between strategic depth and combat fluidity.

Another major point of interest for players is whether Divinity will retain the series’ controversial “Action Points” system or adopt the “Action/Bonus Action” framework based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules, as seen in Baldur’s Gate 3. While Larian has not directly addressed this, they hinted at the implementation of a “new action resource and economy system, along with a character progression system,” hoping to attract both Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2 fans by delivering an experience that is “intuitive yet deep.”

As development on Divinity progresses, Larian’s revamp of the core combat mechanics has already laid a promising foundation for this highly anticipated title.