As far as modern RPGs go, Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the most impressive. Coming off the back of Divinity: Original Sin 2, which was already fantastic, Larian pushed everything to create a truly next-gen CRPG that pushed every boundary the studio has.
While recent interviews have revealed that Larian “deliberately stay a bit behind the curve” on the tech side to deliver a stable experience for fans, former Divinity writer Chris Avellone explains that the studio’s CEO Swen Vincke is hyper-focused on delivering a quality experience.
Avellone, who helped Larian by crafting the story of Fane for Divinity: Original Sin 2 as well as some other content, explained that few RPGs are as stable as Larian’s. After all, RPGs—including Avellone’s own work such as Fallout New Vegas—are deeply complex games, and most launch with a slew of bugs and glitches.
Speaking to YouTuber TKs-Mantis in a lengthy interview, the RPG veteran explained that Vincke is one of the few leaders of the genre that refuses to cut on quality when releasing a game, adding that the CEO is “willing to sacrifice” anything to make sure his games are in a technically sound state on launch.
“Swen at Larian, Swen is an unstoppable machine,” Avellone explains. “Like, if a game comes out, it is incredibly important to him that it’s at high quality, no matter what sacrifice it takes [to happen.”
The writer explains that Vincke’s push for the most high-quality RPGs they can possibly make does not stop with simple iterations of mechanics or quest lines. “He will have entire engines rewritten to make sure that the quality is there,” Avellone says.
Avellone likens the current state of Larian Studios with the quality bar of Baldur’s Gate 3 to the past of BioWare, the studio that was putting out KOTOR, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age.
“That quality reputation builds with every game that you’re doing,” he says of Larian. “That’s why older BioWare, that’s why their titles were… people were looking forward to them because they were always polished quality. Ray [Muzyka] and Greg [Zeschuk] would not cop out. Like, they were going to deliver a quality experience with every title and because they did that, every game they released, people knew they could trust it”.
Right now, Larian Studios is working on a new game in its home-grown Divinity franchise, suitably titled just ‘Divinity’, which is said to be “Larian Unleashed”. The upcoming RPG, which doesn’t currently have a release date, will be built on a massively overhauled version of the studio’s Divinity Engine and will be the studio’s largest game to date.
While the upcoming game has seen some controversy due to the use of AI during pre-production, Larian has confirmed it will refrain from further uses of the technology. As for the future of Baldur’s Gate, that’s no longer in Larian’s hands, with Hasbro pushing for another studio to create a fourth title in the series.
Additionally, a HBO TV sequel of Larian’s game is in early development by Chernobyl writer Craig Maizin, which Baldur’s Gate 3 actor Neil Newbon hopes fans will give a chance, even if he might not be able to reprise his role as the lovable Astarion.
