Video game trailers, something like demos, can be at times not accurate to how a game plays and feels. That's not the case with this Divinity II: Ego Draconis compilation we've put together though, made up of five gameplay segments recorded by developer Larian Studios.

Divinity II, if you're still in the dark, is a PC and Xbox 360 RPG set for release this winter. The game is a sequel to the highly acclaimed isometric RPG Divine Divinity (just re-released), developed by the same studio, albeit with a different writer (Larian has stated they are quite confident in the result, so don't worry your pretty little heads, Divinity fans).

The new installment takes the series into a third person perspective, a la Elder Scrolls, Gothic, etc., and adds in the ability to read minds (with an experience penalty), as well as transform into a dragon roughly halfway through the plot.

Gamers should note the mind reading system appears to work quite well and be a genuinely innovative feature: you lose experience every time you perform it, however this can be alleviated somewhat by increasing your mind reading skill; replay value can be increased highly based on who you choose to read or not read. We're assuming a player that spends a lot of his time doing so will acquire experience through otherwise unattainable quests, so in the end it should all balance out.

As for the dragon transformation, we were particularly concerned about this -- if you're spending half your time levelling up, it wouldn't be very satisfying to spend the other half flying around as a dragon, would it? As you can see from the footage, though, it turns out your dragon self gets his own armor and abilities; whether or not experience is shared between your human and dragon character is not known, however. Flying and battling as a dragon looks very much like what you'd expect in the beloved Panzer Dragoon series albeit with RPG elements, which is quite a honour to hold, though we're still not convinced this will mesh well with the human gameplay.

In any case, judge for yourself with with video below. Note the resolution is fairly low, so certainly expect higher quality graphics at release.

Divinity II: Ego Draconis is set to launch January 5; look out for our review, and in the meantime, check out the official site for background and neat items like podcasts.