There's no shying away from the fact Baldur's Gate 3 was a big game. The RPG from Larian Studios dominated the games zeitgeist for months, yielding massive sales and more than a few awards. It's a hard game to follow, for other devs and for anyone who's looking for their next fantastical quest, but two of the actors involved believe the benchmark can be reached, if companies have the right attitude.
"Baldur's Gate 3 set a very, very, very high bar," Devora Wilde, who voices Lae'zel in Larian's massive RPG, tells Honest Game Trailers (below). Neil Newbon, the voice of Astarion, expands further.
"It is one of those lightning in a bottle moments," he states. "However, it doesn't mean that other people can't do similar ventures with similar aspirations, as also, the passion has to be the same. That's not impossible at all."
It's probably worth separating the reaction to Baldur's Gate 3 from the game itself. Making a strong, engaging role-playing game with striking characters and lots of memorable motifs and ideas is always feasible. Landing the way the long-awaited sequel did is another challenge altogether. You can't manufacture that kind of reaction; you just have to make art you believe in, know your audience and your goals, and hope for the best.
Or, as Newbon puts it: "I just think Baldur's Gate proved a lot of things in the games industry that maybe some bigger companies who are just really chasing the money need to learn from."
Larian wasn't following trends or worrying about what any other studios were doing. The team made the game they wanted to make, and the sincerity helped it stand-out. One can easily imagine a darker timeline where there was an attempt at making it an MMO, or live-service somehow, and the whole thing falling flat on its face.
Thankfully, that's not where we live. And hopefully companies are learning the right lessons from Larian's approach. I won't hold my breath.
