The latest Kickstarter update for Divinity: Original Sin II from Larian has revealed numerous interesting details about the game, including controller support and split-screen co-op across multiple PCs, as well as the excellent spellcrafting and runecrafting to allow players to create interesting new spells and runes, but to us the coolest new ability shown is the ability to see and talk to ghosts. And then eat them for their power.
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As the Kickstarter video reveals (see below, around 5:30), if your character is a Sourceror they have access to the spell 'Spirit Vision', which allows them to see and talk to ghosts and find out information, or just generally chat about death. However, you can also choose to "vampirize" any spirits around and steal their Source power. This casts the spirit into oblivion, so it's a very evil thing to do - but then again, it's the quickest way to get Source.
In the Divinity universe Source is the power of all creation. In Original Sin II it will be an extremely limited resource that gives your character access to the most powerful spells and abilities. Consuming ghosts is apparently the quickest way to do this, but if you want a less-evil way of getting Source there are Source Points hidden around the map as well as items to find that give you Source. None are quite as much fun as summoning a ghost bull and draining it into oblivion however.
The other reveals are less evil but no less interesting. Two-player split-screen co-op is now available for the PC version, and you can connect to another PC for four-player split-screen co-op across two monitors. Controller support has also been implemented, which will make playing co-op a lot easier.
Runecrafting has been seen in other games, but Spellcrafting is pretty unique and feels like a more permanent version of the spells in Magicka. Basically you combine two spell books together in your inventory to get a unique new spell. For example, you can combine Rain with Necromancy to create Blood Rain, or Fire with Necromancy to create Corpse Explosion, which sounds hilarious. One of the highlights of the first game was mixing spells over environments and see how they reacted, like making enemies wet with Rain, forming puddles below them, and then firing a lightning bolt into them. Being able to experiment with an even wider range of spells sounds great to us.
You can see all of this in the update video below. Go to 5:18 for the information on eating ghosts. Divinity: Original Sin II will be out September 14.
