After a lot of back and forth on the internet regarding what Geoff Keighley’s demonic obelisk could mean, it was finally revealed at The Game Awards that the statue was related to Divinity, the next game from Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios. Shortly after that reveal, we at GameSpot received an email asking if we would like to go sit with game director Swen Vincke and writing director Adam Smith to talk about the game once the show concluded.
Post-TGA plans sorted.
Returning to Divinity was always, eventually, in the cards for the team at Larian, but it wasn’t the original plan following Baldur’s Gate 3. “ We were gonna do more Dungeons and Dragons, so we were in the process of figuring out what that was,” says Smith. “And one fateful day, we sat down and realized that we weren't excited and we don't wanna make a game we're not excited about. And so we said, ‘Can we go back to Divinity right away?’”
In order to do that, the team knew that they had a lot of work ahead of them. While Rivellon, the setting of the Divinity games, has been deeply explored in previous entries, Larian had never actually sat down to build their universe from the ground up before.
“We learned from BG3 the importance of having a ruleset, allure, and a world solidified behind you,” says Vincke. “It was quite a lot of work actually. [Now] we know what the days of the week are. We know what people eat in the evening. We know the way they dress. All these things needed to be sorted out. So as progress grew, we started saying, ‘Okay, well this is a really good cornerstone for everything that we've built. And there's never been a real Divinity, so let's just call it Divinity. People will henceforth refer to it as the Divinity Universe quickly and like it.’”
Both Divinity and Baldur’s Gate 3 share a lot of connective tissue; rich, fantasy worlds filled with magic and a diverse roster of races. However, when it comes to gameplay, the two are quite different. While the Original Sin duology bears somewhat of a resemblance to Baldur’s Gate 3, previous installments prior to those games have looked more like titles such as Diablo and The Witcher. So what should players expect from this new Divinity? “Agency,” says Vincke plainly. “Agency at every level. In the systems and how you can develop your character, your identity, and then also obviously in the narrative and the choices that you make.”
Vincke then points out how dark the trailer for the game that premiered at the TGAs is. “ We have this thing that the player will be the one that brings light into the darkness or pushes it completely into deeper darkness,” says Vincke. “ We want you to be surprised at the level of things that you can do.”
When pressed for more granular details on the gameplay, Smith adds that the team wants the game to speak for itself when it's ready to be shown. “You don't want to be told, 'This is what it's gonna do.' You want to see it,” says Smith. “You know the kind of games we make, so you can speculate from there. But we'll put it in front of you as soon as we're ready to, and then you'll see what it is.”
While Divinity is likely to be the first game in the series that many players will experience thanks to the immense popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3, the team is making sure that existing fans of the franchise also feel it to be a continuation of what has come before. “We ensure that that continuity is present. If you didn't know it, you will [still] fully understand everything that's going on,” says Vincke.
Vincke explains that it will be akin to how Baldur’s Gate 3 had plenty of continuity with the previous games in the series but didn't require you to have played Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 to understand it. He also points out that the Original Sin installments sold over 10 million copies, and therefore, there should be a large returning player-base in addition to those coming from BG3 as their first Larian title.
Of course, it’s easy to see how the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 might put enormous pressure on the development of Divinity to live up to player expectations. However, it’s not something that the team at Larian is concerning themselves with, as Smith points toward how much space there is left in the RPG genre to iterate and innovate. “Clair Obscur is so different to us and they nailed it, right? I think they did something very similar to us in that they made the game they wanted to make, [but] they did it in a completely different way [with] a completely different skeleton,” says Smith.
Despite feeling that Divinity doesn’t need to compete with Baldur’s Gate 3, Vincke is very confident that their new game is a step up from their previous outing. “ It's going to be better, in my opinion, on all fronts,” says Vincke. “ One of the biggest struggles that we had with Baldur’s Gate 3 is every single class has almost different rulesets, so getting players on board with that was quite complicated. I'm surprised actually that it worked out that well. I think when you see what we can do when we make something for a video game that’s not derived from a tabletop, it's going to be a lot better.”
For those that want to get a taste of what Divinity may have to offer, the previous installment in the franchise, Original Sin 2, just launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Source
Post-TGA plans sorted.
Returning to Divinity was always, eventually, in the cards for the team at Larian, but it wasn’t the original plan following Baldur’s Gate 3. “ We were gonna do more Dungeons and Dragons, so we were in the process of figuring out what that was,” says Smith. “And one fateful day, we sat down and realized that we weren't excited and we don't wanna make a game we're not excited about. And so we said, ‘Can we go back to Divinity right away?’”
In order to do that, the team knew that they had a lot of work ahead of them. While Rivellon, the setting of the Divinity games, has been deeply explored in previous entries, Larian had never actually sat down to build their universe from the ground up before.
“We learned from BG3 the importance of having a ruleset, allure, and a world solidified behind you,” says Vincke. “It was quite a lot of work actually. [Now] we know what the days of the week are. We know what people eat in the evening. We know the way they dress. All these things needed to be sorted out. So as progress grew, we started saying, ‘Okay, well this is a really good cornerstone for everything that we've built. And there's never been a real Divinity, so let's just call it Divinity. People will henceforth refer to it as the Divinity Universe quickly and like it.’”
Both Divinity and Baldur’s Gate 3 share a lot of connective tissue; rich, fantasy worlds filled with magic and a diverse roster of races. However, when it comes to gameplay, the two are quite different. While the Original Sin duology bears somewhat of a resemblance to Baldur’s Gate 3, previous installments prior to those games have looked more like titles such as Diablo and The Witcher. So what should players expect from this new Divinity? “Agency,” says Vincke plainly. “Agency at every level. In the systems and how you can develop your character, your identity, and then also obviously in the narrative and the choices that you make.”
Vincke then points out how dark the trailer for the game that premiered at the TGAs is. “ We have this thing that the player will be the one that brings light into the darkness or pushes it completely into deeper darkness,” says Vincke. “ We want you to be surprised at the level of things that you can do.”
When pressed for more granular details on the gameplay, Smith adds that the team wants the game to speak for itself when it's ready to be shown. “You don't want to be told, 'This is what it's gonna do.' You want to see it,” says Smith. “You know the kind of games we make, so you can speculate from there. But we'll put it in front of you as soon as we're ready to, and then you'll see what it is.”
While Divinity is likely to be the first game in the series that many players will experience thanks to the immense popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3, the team is making sure that existing fans of the franchise also feel it to be a continuation of what has come before. “We ensure that that continuity is present. If you didn't know it, you will [still] fully understand everything that's going on,” says Vincke.
Vincke explains that it will be akin to how Baldur’s Gate 3 had plenty of continuity with the previous games in the series but didn't require you to have played Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 to understand it. He also points out that the Original Sin installments sold over 10 million copies, and therefore, there should be a large returning player-base in addition to those coming from BG3 as their first Larian title.
Of course, it’s easy to see how the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 might put enormous pressure on the development of Divinity to live up to player expectations. However, it’s not something that the team at Larian is concerning themselves with, as Smith points toward how much space there is left in the RPG genre to iterate and innovate. “Clair Obscur is so different to us and they nailed it, right? I think they did something very similar to us in that they made the game they wanted to make, [but] they did it in a completely different way [with] a completely different skeleton,” says Smith.
Despite feeling that Divinity doesn’t need to compete with Baldur’s Gate 3, Vincke is very confident that their new game is a step up from their previous outing. “ It's going to be better, in my opinion, on all fronts,” says Vincke. “ One of the biggest struggles that we had with Baldur’s Gate 3 is every single class has almost different rulesets, so getting players on board with that was quite complicated. I'm surprised actually that it worked out that well. I think when you see what we can do when we make something for a video game that’s not derived from a tabletop, it's going to be a lot better.”
For those that want to get a taste of what Divinity may have to offer, the previous installment in the franchise, Original Sin 2, just launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Source