Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke says he's finally settled on the first part of his next project, after four months of trying.
In a tweet earlier today, Vincke said that having rewritten, abandoned, and revisited multiple ideas since the release of Baldur's Gate 3, he's "finally figured out what act 1 on this thing I've been working on needs to be."
That's certainly exciting news for the legion of new Larian fans that have come in off the back of Baldur's Gate 3, though there's no sense of what this mysterious project might be. Vincke has said multiple times that there's little value in speaking about a new game at this early stage, as by the time the studio's next game is ready to be revealed, it'll likely look completely different to anything its developers have to say right now.
Been a great morning! After 4 months of rewriting and rewriting and abandoning ideas and then revisiting them, finally figured out what act 1 on this thing I've been working on needs to be. Quote me when it's revealed to see how much of today's draft survives. I suspect a lot.January 8, 2024
Further down the thread, Vincke says that the new project is "not what you think and [...] not a teaser for an announcement," and that "it'll be quite some time before we talk about this." I'd suggest that pretty definitively rules out Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, as I'd argue that's the most likely candidate for 'what you think'. Whatever it might be, there's no guarantee that it ever sees the light of day - Vincke himself points out that no-one else has seen this new work, and that there's every chance that he's forced to start over. That could be with a new idea, or with one of the concepts that he's revisiting - hidden within the thread is an interesting examination on 'abandoned' work and the value it can offer down the line, even if the ideas contained within it aren't explored further.
It seems unlikely that we won't see Baldur's Gate 3 again, but I wouldn't like to speculate on what Vincke's talking about. The smart money is on a new Divinity game, but there's every chance that the studio is looking for a new direction, even within its long-established series.
Now that Vincke is best friends with two Lord of the Rings stars, maybe he's writing a Tolkein-inspired adventure instead.
