Divinity: Original Sin 2 Gets Dedicated Mod Support; Key Fallout/KOTOR Dev Now Contributing

Divinity: Original Sin 2's Kickstarter campaign has nearly reached its end. Before the crowdfunding comes to a close, it's met yet another stretch goal, and developer Larian Studios has also announced that a veteran RPG developer will be working on the game.

In an update on the Kickstarter page today, Larian revealed that Chris Avellone "has agreed [to] develop and write at least one of the playable origin stories in the game." Avellone has an extensive history in the RPG space, having worked on Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment before founding Obsidian Entertainment, where he contributed to games likes Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and Fallout: New Vegas. More recently, he got a taste of what it's like to work on a Kickstarter project with Pillars of Eternity.

The partnership with Larian came about as a result of fan feedback. Prior to the Kickstarter kicking off, Larian asked fans what kind of backer rewards they wanted to see, and the idea of Avellone being brought on proved to be extremely popular. While not something that could be offered as a reward, this led to Avellone and Larian founder Swen Vincke meeting at PAX in August.

"This is the first time I think the community is responsible for bringing two developers together who might not have crossed paths... and especially for such a great project," Avellone said about today's news. "I have a lot of respect for Larian Studios, Swen, and Divinity: Original Sin; it's one of the best game Kickstarters ever. I met Swen at PAX Prime, talked about RPGs for hours, and at the end of it, it was clear we were on the same page. Now? We're primed to do something great, and I'm proud to be part of it."

There are now just over four days left before the Kickstarter comes to an end on September 30. Backers have now pledged $1.658 million, and as noted above, that means another stretch goal has been reached. Original Sin II will now offer dedicated mod support; a team will be hired to work exclusively on improving and streamlining the included editor.

Original Sin II is the follow-up to another crowdfunded RPG, the first Divinity: Original Sin, which was GameSpot's PC Game of the Year last year.