Divinity’s Rise Review

Not Your Average RPG

Outstanding Game’s Divinity’s Rise is a classic underdog. It comes to the Google Play store from a previously unheard of developer, Outstanding Game. Additionally, the new turn-based RPG has released into a crowded market, to contend with the likes of well-established titles such as RAID: Shadow Legends and Summoners War. Knowing this, you might assume Divinity’s Rise is just another unoriginal RPG destined to be swept under the rug. Fortunately, you’d be wrong.

Sensory Overload

As you load up the game for the first time, you’ll immediately notice how vibrant it is. Environment designs and battle animations are all beautifully detailed. Every activity has its own music score, including intense variations for boss themes. Most impressive of all, though, are the characters. The game’s 3D character sprites move smoothly and convey both emotion and the combat role of the character. Beyond that, each character looks unique. Of course, you’ll find the stereotypical support character with a magic book or warrior character with a giant sword, but you’ll also find some oddities. Try an unbottled genie mage, or a four-foot-tall healer who rides a giant rhino. Build your team, and set out into the campaign.

You’ll have to slug your way through a few story missions before you can really start to upgrade your characters. The first few areas are good places to test out different team compositions, and get a feel for the roles you need on your team. Fortunately, the game will give you extreme surpluses of energy throughout the first few levels. You won’t have to wait for days to make progress. Once you’ve made your way through the first region, you’ll have plenty of gear and basic upgrade materials.

Each character has six gear slots, and each gear piece corresponds to a different set. Each gear set grants different bonuses depending on how many gear pieces you equip from it. For example, equipping two pieces from the Sacred Spring set will give your character an extra 15% health, while four pieces from the Lord of Doom set will give a 35% attack boost. These bonuses start out as simple stat boosts, but higher rarity gear sets can grant a chance to resist all damage, bonus shields at the start of a battle, or additional damage against targets with high HP. The wide variety of characters and gear sets allows the player to adjust their team for whatever battle they come across.

The RPG Cash Conundrum

Almost all online mobile RPGs have some sort of paid element to them, and Divinity’s Rise is no exception. The game is full of paid benefits, including a battle pass, premium summons, and new character events that will quickly drain your gems. However, Divinity’s Rise departs from the norm of starving players for premium currency in a pretty significant way. The game is packed with quests, events, bonus rewards, and plenty of other sources of gems. You’ll inevitably forget about some of them as you work your way through different activities, only to come back to a massive pile of gems. After only a few days of playing, I’m sitting on over $50 worth of gems without paying a single cent. That said, too often freemium titles becomes less generous over time. Hopefully, Divinity’s Rise will remain exceptionally fair going forward.

Beyond flooding the player in premium currency, there are other bonuses for activities. Every day, you can take up to nine special bounties, which reward character shards. Shards are essential for summoning and upgrading characters. Each bounty will always reward shards for a character of your choice, and some others. Other daily activities such as Ultimate Trials and the Spire change the way you play. Ultimate Trials pit you against multiple waves of enemies, while the Spire adds new mechanics and modifiers that force the player to think differently. Then, if you’re looking for something more competitive, the PvP Arena will match your team against a user of similar skill. Set your team up as best you can before combat, because once they’ve entered the arena, both teams auto battle until only one remains. All the while, you’ll be racking up more gems than you’ll know what to do with.

A Worthy Contender

As a whole, Divinity’s Rise expands on the greatest aspects of its predecessors, while conveniently leaving out money-grabbing elements. This game is a sure pick for RPG players of all experience levels.