Larian Studios launched the Kickstarter campaign for Divinity: Original Sin 2 this morning. They are aiming to raise $500,000 to support the development of the follow-up to the highly successful Divinity: Original Sin, and after only a few hours they have already raised $51,242 (as of this writing).

The pitch video is embedded above; give it a watch. Here are some of their stated “quick facts” about the game:

• Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a single- and multiplayer top-down, party-based role-playing game with pen & paper RPG-like levels of freedom.It features turn-based combat, a strong focus on systematic gameplay and a well-grounded narrative.

• Divinity: Original Sin 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Divinity: Original Sin, winner of over 150 Game of the Year awards and nominations. Winner of GameSpot’s “PC Game of The Year 2014”.

• Divinity: Original Sin 2 is currently in development for PC in English. Subtitles will be available in German, French, and Russian. Other platforms and languages may be announced at a later stage, once development is more advanced.

And here are a few additional details about the game:

The theme of Divinity: Original Sin 2 is how your origins affect who you are and what chances you get in life.

At the start of the game, you pick a single character and determine your starting stats, race, and origin story.

You’ll be able to recruit up to three companions, each of whom is just as detailed as the character you’re playing, with their own origin story and motivation to help you in your quest.

This makes it possible for each companion to become a player character in multiplayer mode; every party member is equally important to the whole.

…

We will also include an updated version of the editor that we’re using to create the game. It’s becoming an incredibly powerful tool and we’re very eager to see what you’ll come up with.

One big change is that individual players will now only create and control a single character. A lot of the rest sounds like Larian will be iterating on and expanding features and systems present in the first Original Sin. Thus far, they’re mum on whether missing features — NPC scheduling and day/night cycles, notably — will be included in Original Sin 2. However, they do emphasize that the story will receive a more serious treatment:

A more grounded and serious narrative will ensure that you’ll feel invested in the world, but rest assured that we won’t forget to make you smile. We have a bigger narrative team now, meant to ensure that you’ll have many interesting choices to make.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 aims to change the way we work with narrative in RPGs. We’ve invested heavily in our writing team, hiring new writers with extensive experience in everything from screenwriting and narrative design to role-playing and table-top RPGs.

Our aim is to create a world that reacts naturally to your character, and we want your characters to be unique, alive, and important to you. Most importantly, we want you to feel the consequences of your choices.

Anyhow, you can read the entire project pitch — and check out several gorgeous screenshots and concept art pieces — on the Kickstarter campaign page proper. The minimum spend to get a copy of the game is, at present, $25 USD. There’s also a $50 USD package that includes one copy each of Original Sin and Original Sin 2, if you haven’t yet checked out the first game in this series. And if you want the cloth map, that becomes available at the $125 USD level (along with a whole host of other stuff).