Throughout a chat at GDC 2024, Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke introduced that Larian Studios wouldn’t be making any DLC, expansions or sequels for the highly-regarded RPG, which took house one other Sport of the Yr award at Wednesday’s Sport Builders Alternative Awards. Nonetheless, talking with IGN, Vincke did say that Larian started work on DLC and even gave some thought to a possible Baldur’s Gate 4 earlier than pivoting away to different tasks.
“Due to all of the success the apparent factor would have been to do a DLC, so we began on one. We began even excited about BG4,” Vincke says. “However we hadn’t actually had closure on BG3 but and simply to leap ahead on one thing new felt flawed. We had additionally spent an entire bunch of time changing the system right into a online game and we needed to do new issues. There are quite a lot of constraints on making D&D, and fifth Version just isn’t a straightforward system to place right into a online game. We had all these concepts of recent fight we needed to check out and so they weren’t appropriate.”
Vincke has spoken earlier than in regards to the challenges about working with fifth Version, significantly with regards to how highly effective gamers get once they attain Stage 12 and past. Shortly after launch, Larian Studios stated that the staff needed to do new content material however did not know what but. Thus far, Larian Studios has principally targeted on including content material that wasn’t out there at launch, resembling a brand new epilogue and extra endings.
When it got here time to make DLC, although, Vincke says Larian was going by means of the motions. “You may see the staff was doing it as a result of everybody felt like we needed to do it, however it wasn’t actually coming from the guts, and we’re very a lot a studio from the guts. It’s what gotten us into distress and it’s additionally been the explanations for our success.”
‘They had been elated’
Vincke says that he took a trip over the Christmas holidays, and when he returned his thoughts was made up. ‘[I] got here again and I instructed the staff, ‘You already know we’re not going to do it. We’re going to shift round and we’re going to start out doing these different issues that we talked about, that we deliberate on doing earlier than we began on BG3.’ These had been all the time the plans for afterward, we have now two video games that we need to make, and we have now plenty of ideas. So let’s simply have closure on BG3, it’s been nice. We’ve finished our job. It’s a narrative with a starting, a center, and an finish. So let’s move the torch to a different studio to choose up this unbelievable legacy.”
Requested how the studio responded, Vincke stated the staff was “elated.”
“I believed they had been going to be offended at me as a result of I simply couldn’t muster the power. I noticed so many elated faces, which I didn’t anticipate, and I may inform they shared the identical emotions, so we had been all aligned with each other. And I’ve had so many builders come to me after and say, ‘Thank god,'” Vincke says.
“I’m all the time the one the place it begins with the preliminary thought after which I give it to the staff and so they begin iterating it and so they flip it into one thing significantly better. Throughout BG3 I pitched to them what the subsequent recreation can be…If I see they’re excited, I’ll say, ‘Okay let’s try this.’ In the event that they’re not, it’s again to the drafting board. In order that they had been very enthusiastic about a few the issues we had been planning on doing. Then the pivot to start out doing BG3 DLC was anticipated as a result of it’s what you do…We didn’t have any antagonism in opposition to BG4 or DLC, however the coronary heart wasn’t there. It was extra routine work than really being excited. Now we have now the thrill again within the room and that’s an enormous necessary factor.”
Vincke says the subsequent recreation will not be Divinity: Unique Sin 3, and that it is going to be “totally different than what you suppose it’s” however that it is “nonetheless acquainted.” Elsewhere, Vincke stated that the brand new mission will “dwarf” the scope of Baldur’s Gate 3, which might be fairly spectacular given the scope of that recreation.
Within the meantime, Vincke has confirmed that Larian Studios remains to be engaged on extra new content material for Baldur’s Gate 3, together with cross-platform mod assist. After that, although, the way forward for Astarion, Karlach, and the remainder of Baldur’s Gate 3’s now-beloved characters might be within the fingers of Wizards of the Coast.
A technique or one other, Baldur’s Gate 3 leaves behind a formidable legacy. We gave it an ideal 10 in our unique evaluation and it has largely swept awards season. Even for those who’ve completed it, there’s nonetheless a lot extra to see so be sure that to take a look at our full Baldur’s Gate 3 walkthrough. As for Vincke, he reckons he is discovered Act 1 for his subsequent recreation. But when it is something like the event of Baldur’s Gate 3, which took some six years to finish, it could be some time earlier than we get to play it.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s Information Director in addition to co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Ship her a DM at @the_katbot.