After conquering the gaming world with Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios is returning home to its beloved Divinity universe. 🎮 The Belgian developer, having sold over 20 million copies and won countless awards, now faces its biggest challenge yet: creating a new Divinity game with unprecedented resources, talent, and pressure. Founder Swen Vincke sits down to discuss this monumental transition, early access plans, and how the studio's massive success has changed everything.

Early Access: A Proven Formula with New Challenges

Despite Baldur's Gate 3's explosive success after leaving early access, Larian isn't abandoning the model that helped shape its previous masterpieces. "We want to put it into early access. That's our goal," Vincke reveals, though he cautiously adds they haven't confirmed it completely. The studio recognizes how valuable community feedback has been for refining their complex RPG systems.

Why Early Access Still Matters:

• 🎯 Provides crucial feedback on complex RPG systems

• 🔧 Helps identify major design flaws early

• 👥 Engages the hardcore community that delivers precise criticism

• 📈 Made previous games "better" according to Vincke

However, expectations are dramatically higher now. "Expectations are much higher, we are under more pressure than we've ever been before," Vincke admits. "If we go there [Early Access] we'll have to embrace it, or we're gonna die."

Why Larian Abandoned D&D for Divinity

The studio was actually working on another Dungeons & Dragons project after Baldur's Gate 3 before making a pivotal decision. "Our heart wasn't in it anymore, so we decided to change," Vincke explains. The shift back to Divinity immediately reignited the team's creative passion.

Key Benefits of Returning to Divinity:

• ✨ Creative freedom to innovate without licensed constraints

• Ability to design gameplay systems from scratch

• 🌍 Full control over world-building and narrative

• 🔥 Instant excitement returned to the development team

Building on Decades of World-Building

Larian isn't rebooting the Divinity universe despite its newfound mainstream audience. Instead, they're building upon decades of established lore while making it accessible to newcomers. "We have to make sure this universe is really solid," Vincke emphasizes about their extensive world-building efforts.

Continuity vs. Accessibility:

Gameplay Freedom: Beyond D&D Constraints

One of the most exciting aspects of returning to Divinity is the freedom from translating tabletop rules. "Not having to do those things opens up lots of real estate within the gameplay space," Vincke explains, highlighting how this allows for more innovative design from the very beginning.

What This Means for Gameplay:

• 🔮 Magic systems designed specifically for video games

• No need to adapt complex tabletop mechanics

• 💡 Opportunity to introduce completely new systems

• More player agency from the start

Vincke references Divinity: Original Sin's teleportation ability as an example: "That's not something you can usually do in an RPG, so it added a lot of fun to the game. We can do these things now."

Dark Tone and Grounded Fantasy

The reveal trailer establishes a distinctly dark, mature tone filled with blood, sacrifice, and intense themes. "We made it dark because this is a game about hope," Vincke explains. "It's about bringing light into the darkness, or being the one that snuffs out that light."

Key Tone Elements:

• 🌑 Dark fantasy with folk horror influences

• 🔥 Graphic but purposeful violence

• 💔 Mature themes about sacrifice and morality

• 🌟 Contrast between darkness and hope

Unlike high fantasy settings where magic is commonplace, Divinity will feature a world where magic feels extraordinary. "When something fantastical happens, it's as fantastical to the people of that world as it is to you," Vincke notes.

Companions: Building on BG3's Legacy

Following the massive success of characters like Shadowheart and Astarion, companions remain crucial to Larian's design philosophy. While Vincke remains tight-lipped about specifics, he confirms they're already casting and recording.

Companion Development Process:

1. 🌍 Build the world and establish core narratives

2. 👥 Create companion backstories that fit the world

3. 🎭 Cast actors who bring new dimensions to characters

4. 🔄 Iterate based on actor performances and chemistry

"The actor actually contributes a lot to the creation," Vincke reveals about their collaborative process. This approach helped make Baldur's Gate 3's companions feel incredibly authentic and nuanced.

Intimacy and Mature Content

When asked about whether Divinity will continue Baldur's Gate 3's approach to romance and intimacy, Vincke confirms they're already working with intimacy coordinators. "There will definitely be intimacy co-ordinators on set," he states, hinting at significant intimate content while carefully avoiding spoilers.

Maintaining Creative Independence

Despite massive growth, Larian remains committed to its indie spirit. "We are a more mature studio in a lot of ways with really skilled craftsmen working away on the game, but still very playful in what we do," Vincke affirms. The studio culture remains filled with "all nerds, with quirks and eccentricities in their own ways who are very passionate about computer games."

Technical Challenges and Ambitions

Development isn't without its hurdles. Vincke mentions how rising hardware costs due to the AI bubble present unexpected challenges. "The price of RAM and the price of SSDs... kind of ruins all the projections you had," he notes, emphasizing the optimization work required.

Current Development Focus:

• ⚡ Extensive optimization for modern hardware

• 🎬 Cinematic presentation advancements

• 🔧 New engine capabilities

• 🌐 Scalable performance across systems

The Future of RPGs

Vincke expresses excitement about Divinity's potential to push the genre forward. "The cool part about this game is that the potential is visible already for the team, and we can see what it's going to be." The studio remains humbled by the opportunity to give players unprecedented agency in their RPG experience.

As Larian Studios embarks on this new chapter, they carry with them the lessons from Baldur's Gate 3 while returning to the universe that started it all. With greater resources, higher expectations, and creative freedom, Divinity represents both a homecoming and a bold step into RPG's future.