When comparing Distant Worlds: Universe vs Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition, the Slant community recommends Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition is ranked 77th while Distant Worlds: Universe is ranked 106th. The most important reason people chose Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition is:
Divinity: Original Sin lets you play through the campaign with a friend through local or online co-op. This is incredible, since the game is so expansive and interactive, opening up many possibilities for different types of experiences. You and your friend are essentially members of the same party, going out on quests and discovering the world together. It's such a neat addition to include co-op for such an open-ended RPG, which is expected to be a single-player experience these days.
Specs
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Pros
Pro The universe is huge
With the possibility to simulate thousands of stars and tens of thousands of planets in realtime, the universe in Distant Worlds is truely vast.
Pro In-depth problem solving
Unlike games like Civ where solving a problem is a few clicks away, Distant Worlds has many layers of abstraction that will make problem solving a lot more difficult and more like a real living world. There may be many elements needed in order to solve a problem that the player will have to figure out on their own, making for a very immersive way to solve issues.
Pro You can co-op the game together with a friend
Divinity: Original Sin lets you play through the campaign with a friend through local or online co-op. This is incredible, since the game is so expansive and interactive, opening up many possibilities for different types of experiences. You and your friend are essentially members of the same party, going out on quests and discovering the world together. It's such a neat addition to include co-op for such an open-ended RPG, which is expected to be a single-player experience these days.
Pro Highly interactive world
Divinity: Original Sin has a highly interactive world. This ranges from NPC interactions, elemental spells that can affect the environment, to a cornucopia of in-world items and objects that can taken or moved. There are so many things you can do; it's very easy to immerse yourself and have a great time.
Pro Morality based gameplay that actually impacts the game
You'll be confronted with moral choices during your quests. These choices change how other characters perceive you, affecting the overall story and ending. This makes the story feel more realistic and immersive since actions have consequences.
Pro Self-deprecating humor allows the game to stay lighthearted despite many serious overtones
The writing in the game is often entertaining and humorous as the game does not take itself too seriously. There are quite a few inside jokes to be found for this type of genre game as well as many situations that lighten the mood, such as talking pets that hand out light-hearted quests.
Cons
Con Requires a time commitment
This is not a game that one can jump into with no prior knowledge, there is a high learning curve that will take many trial sessions in order to get the hang of the full aspects of the game.
Con Mechanics take some trial and error
There is a basic tutorial, but it doesn't explain some of the finer aspects of the game such as using spells. Most spells can be used in and out of combat, giving you access to locked or hidden areas.
For example, if you want to get into a locked door, you can burn it down. If you want to save a burning ship, cast a rain spell over it. While this is an intuitive mechanic, it may take a while to get used to. Until then you might spend some time scratching your head, trying to figure out how to proceed.
Con Building a working party may take several tries
Some party setups work better than others and some don't work at all depending on the difficulty. A bad party can make the game feel like an impossible struggle at times. This may cause you to restart several times until you get the right setup, allowing you to enjoy a much smoother playthrough.