‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Developer Larian Studios Has Act 1 of Next Game ‘All Figured Out’
After Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios has room to grow, explore, and play. And the wheels are already in motion, according to CEO Swen Vincke.
I imagine folks will not be done with Baldur’s Gate 3 for months, if not years. It’s the kind of game you can sink your teeth into over multiple playthroughs, as different character classes, making different choices, and experiencing the story through the eyes of the Origin Characters. And, of course, the inevitable weird challenge runs where you only use baguettes to kill your enemies or what have you.
But Larian Studios is already eyeing the future, according to a series of posts from Larian’s CEO, Swen Vincke. Of course, there’s still so much time between now and then, and the details are, as you might expect, as vague as possible. But Larian is doing no laurel resting here.
Larian Studios Eyes Its Next Big Game As 2024 Dawns
In a series of posts on Twitter, Larian CEO Swen Vincke excitedly talked about how he had finally figured out “what act 1 on this thing [he’s] been working on should be.” Which, in addition to being an exciting feeling, as Vincke elaborates, is also an interesting tidbit for the future of whatever comes next from Larian.
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.
— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) January 8, 2024
The series of tweets is just genuinely nice to read. Though, as Vincke says, “this isn’t a teaser for an announcement” as it will be “quite some time” before Larian has anything formal to say about the game at work. The thread is mostly just Vincke talking about the joys of actually figuring out what you’re working on.
This type of work can be really frustrating when you're stuck but the important bit is to never give up and remain self-critical, even if the situation looks hopeless 🙂 Creative work is the exploration of a vast search space and it can take time to find the right path.
— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) January 8, 2024
Writing/developing a narrative is often a lonely endeavor and can be a frustrating one at times, as Vincke points out. When stories don’t work out, when the work seems to be at its most difficult, that’s when you try and remember why you do this in the first place. And Vincke’s thread is a reminder that the people making the games we love are as excited to make them as we are to play them.
As far as what Larian will do after Baldur’s Gate 3? Well, we know a little bit. We know it probably isn’t a sequel to the Divinity series. But we also know that Larian wants to really push the envelope of what the development studio is capable of, with Vincke saying “I wish I could tell you about our next big game […] it pushes many boundaries.”
In the meantime, this is the perfect excuse to go start another Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough.
