Divinity: Original Sin 2's free Game Master campaign is set in the Dark Eye universe

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is secretly a brilliant tabletop RPG, as well as being our Game of the Year 2017. Sitting alongside the gargantuan main campaign is an entire platform for creating new tabletop-inspired romps. Today, Larian Studios announced a collaboration with Dark Eye creators Ulisses Spiele, bringing the popular German tabletop setting to Original Sin 2’s Game Master mode.

If you’re not familiar with the Dark Eye RPG, you might still recognise the universe, as it’s one shared by several video game spin-offs, like Blackguards and The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav.

The Prison of Shadow campaign is a new adventure for three to five players, sending them into an abandoned dwarven city where they’re hunting for a magical artefact. Oh yeah, and they’ll meet a bunch of new friends: the crazy cultists of the Nameless God. Lovely!

I’m convinced this has all been an excuse for Larian head honcho Swen Vincke to dress up like a knight and launch spells at his employees, as evidenced by the trailer below, but I won’t turn my nose up at a professional GM campaign. It saves me trying to finish my own campaign (it’s about a magical pig king and some stolen souls) at least.

Larian almost made a Dark Eye game before Divinity existed. It was kind of thrust upon them by their publisher, who informed Larian that the game they were designing was suddenly part of the Realms of Arkania series, which was the English name for the setting at the time. And they had to make it 16-bit instead of 8-bit to compete with the upcoming Diablo 2. Unfortunately, the publisher didn’t have the cash to back up its ambitions and it never happened. From the remains, the very first Divinity was born.

The Prison of Shadow will be automatically added to the game on November 21, and Larian’s going to be streaming the campaign on the day, at 7pm CET.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.