Amid the altogether glowing launch reception for Baldur's Gate 3, which went on to win just about every GOTY award under the sun and which we also put at the summit of the best games of 2023, there were a fair few reviews and posts from long-time CRPG fans who argued that Larian's take on the series felt more like a Divinity game than a Baldur's Gate game. That's not necessarily calling it bad – the Divinity games are beloved, after all – but perhaps it just doesn't feel like the Baldur's Gates of old. And I remember similar conversations around Baldur's Gate 3's early access launch about three years ago.
Anna Guxens, senior RPG designer at Larian, recently discussed how much of the two CRPGs – Baldur's Gate and Divinity – went into the pot when Larian was brewing Baldur's Gate 3, ultimately reasoning that the two stem from the same key goals. Gamereactor asked Guxens "how much of Baldur's Gate, the previous games, and how much of Larian, mostly Divinity, do you think there is in this formula?" Her answer cuts to the heart of the genre, and is especially fascinating to me as someone who played Baldur's Gate 3 as their first CRPG. (I didn't play Baldur's Gate 2 when it came out on account of being seven.)
"I mean, Larian is all about player agency, right?" Guxens begins. "And delivering engaging, emotional stories that are always with the player at the core of it. So either with Divinity or also with Baldur's Gate, we create very strong systems in gameplay that support the narrative as well. We create this sandbox where you can have fun but it's also delivered through a very heavy storyline and a very interesting, very gripping, emotionally engaging story, and I think that's the strength. Have a very strong story and characters, and also very strong systems in gameplay, and have them work together."
The exchange, and Guxens response, doesn't directly clap back at the argument that Baldur's Gate 3 is actually Divinity 3 in a sexy trench coat, but she does touch upon the underlying conflict: how a game feels and how it's presented versus what it's fundamentally about and trying to do. (And while I haven't played the original Baldur's Gate games, I'd argue that a major factor too often overlooked in this discussion, on top of the inevitabilities of Larian's game engine, is that games as a whole changed a lot in the 23 years since Baldur's Gate 2 and that shift is invariably felt alongside Larian's stylistic choices, but I digress.)
In the same interview, Guxens shared some sage advice for CRPG newcomers who are feeling overwhelmed: stop obsessing over the "full experience," because "you don't need that, you just need to roll with it."
