Great moments in PC gaming: Playing with fire in Divinity: Original Sin 2

Great moments in PC gaming are bite-sized celebrations of some of our favorite gaming memories.

Fire! I love it, you love it, games can't get enough of it. Bonfires, fireballs, explosive barrels, flamethrowers—we're all just a bunch of little pyromaniacs. But no game burns like Divinity: Original Sin 2. I can't picture it without seeing battlefields engulfed in flames and smoke. It warms my heart. 

Original Sin 2 takes the concept of using terrain to your advantage to the next level, smothering it in ice and poison and blood and, yes, fire, and then mixing it all up to create new effects. Bless a pool of blood or water and it'll heal the person standing in it, or you can electrify it and fry someone. I like the classics, though: cover the place in oil and light it up. 

Right from the get-go, fires are liable to start, even on a boat at sea. But it wasn't until I got my hands on more tools—particularly spells—that things started to get a bit ridiculous. We're not just talking about everything being on fire; we're talking about enemies literally bleeding fire, constantly feeding the inferno.

Even when I was just setting a wee fire, I knew it was probably going to spread and quickly get out of my control, turning whatever makeshift arena I found myself into an ocean of red and orange. Playing with fire forces you to get creative when it comes to protecting yourself from the mischief you cause. Like making it holy fire. With some divine intervention, or more specifically the bless spell, fire can heal. Now, it's still fire, so it hurts as well as heals, but with enough fire resistance you can handle the heat and enjoy the HP top-up. 

The first time I created holy fire in a fight with some undead enemies, it was an accident. I didn't mean to bless the flames, but I was very lucky that I did. See, the undead are harmed by healing magic. And they burn very nicely as well. So the combo of bless and fire is a potent weapon against dusty walking corpses. My party wasn't looking too good, but as the soothing flames swallowed up the battlefield, the tide turned instantly. Thanks, fire!

If you fully invest in fire resistance, using traits and spells and whatever else is at your disposal, even regular fire can heal you. You'll be so resistant that it does negative damage. That's when you can really start having some fun, cooking everyone—unless they've also got lots of fire resistance, in which case you might need a back-up plan.

Even when all the fires go out—something you can halt if you curse the flames, making it impossible to extinguish them using normal methods—they have a lingering effect. Once they're doused, smoke is created, obstructing vision and taking on any extra properties the fire had. One last gift. Until you spit out another fireball and the carnage begins again.