Divine Divinity vs The Bard's Tale
Divine Divinity is an action-RPG open-world game from Larian Studios (2012) while The Bard's Tale is an action-RPG RPG game from Interplay Entertainment (1985).
What each one is
Steam files Divine Divinity under Action-RPG and Open-World. In contrast, it files The Bard's Tale under Action-RPG and RPG.
Divine Divinity is an epic role-playing game with hack-and-slash action, offering a huge world to explore and thousands of items to investigate, trade and use.
You are the Bard, a selfish rogue weary of pointless sub-quests and rat-infested cellars. Now includes original classic games The Bard’s Tale 1, 2 & 3!
At a glance
| Divine Divinity | The Bard's Tale | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.3/10 | 6.2/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (88%, 4,038) | Mostly Positive (75%, 1,453) |
| Critic aggregate | 79/100 | 70/100 |
| Price | $5.99 | $19.99 |
| Install size | — | — |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | playable |
| Released | 2012 | 1985 |
| Developer | Larian Studios | Interplay Entertainment |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Divine Divinity vs The Bard's Tale, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Divine DivinityAction-RPG open-world gameThe Bard's TaleAction-RPG RPG gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Divine DivinityRPG, Fantasy, IsometricThe Bard's TaleRPG, Adventure, ComedyThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Divine Divinity ✓Score 7.3 · 88% on Steam · 79 criticThe Bard's TaleScore 6.2 · 75% on Steam · 70 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Divine Divinity4,038 reviewsThe Bard's Tale1,453 reviewsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Divine Divinity ✓$5.99The Bard's Tale$19.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Divine DivinityUnsupportedThe Bard's Tale ✓PlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Divine Divinity takes 2 of the marked rounds to 1. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueDivine Divinity and The Bard's Tale on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Nintendo
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Divine Divinity (GamingPickz Score 7.3)
- The cheaper right now: Divine Divinity ($5.99)
- Better on a Steam Deck: The Bard's Tale (playable)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Divine Divinity (4,038 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
RPGFantasyIsometricClassicAction RPGSingleplayerHack and SlashAdventure
Where they differ
Open WorldReal-Time with PauseCRPGExploration2DAtmospheric
ComedyParody Medieval
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Divine Divinity is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. The Bard's Tale is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Divine Divinity and 1 for The Bard's Tale. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Divine Divinity and The Bard's Tale in scope?
Divine Divinity has drawn 4,038 Steam reviews. The Bard's Tale has drawn 1,453 Steam reviews.
Is Divine Divinity or The Bard's Tale better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Divine Divinity rates higher (7.3 to 6.2). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Divine Divinity or The Bard's Tale?
Divine Divinity is cheaper right now at $5.99, against $19.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.