When I visited the SDL site it states that both divinity original sin and divinity original sin 2 were both made with SDL. Since sdl is 2d only I figured it must have isometric maps like flare does. My thoughts were they take 3D objects and render them in 2d isometric view again like flare does. However I looked at the editor demo for the game here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHf_wNTDNIo where it demos a level. This very much looks 3D and a very obvious 3D camer movement. This editor really has me confused if the game uses sdl. Because that doesn't look like tiles at all To me. Maybe someone more advanced can comment on their content editor.
I can't be certain as I've never played it, but they might use SDL for the audio and/or UI elements only, and something else for the 3D elements that make up the bulk of gameplay.
sdl code is good for building gamepad support too
OpenGL is usable ontop of SDL.
I guess I never considered they could be using SDL with something else for example. That makes a lot more sense to me thank you. I saw some artists on artstation that showed some tiles they made for the game so it does use tiles. In the editor they showed you could modify the terrain in 3d pushing and pulling at the geometry and also move the camera in 3d. so im thinking the tool they use may generate tiles also from a 3d ground mesh. The tool they use is so impressive its no mystery why the game looks so good. the tool they made really pays off and is powerful.