James Lucas is an Executive Editor from Newcastle, England. They have written for sites like IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, with a special focus on FPS games, Soulslikes, and survival horror.
Last year, Larian Studios confirmed that it would not be developing Baldur’s Gate 4 or any expansions for Baldur’s Gate 3, leaving Dungeons Dragons behind for its own hallmark series, Divinity.
There has been plenty of speculation on why the team opted against making a sequel, with many citing Swen Vincke’s comment on the Wizards of the Coast layoffs as a possible reason: “Of the people who were in the original meeting room, there’s almost nobody left”. While that may be a factor (Vincke disputes this), speaking to GamesRadar+, he explained that the team simply wasn’t excited by D D anymore.
“We’ll do our best, making the best game that we can,” Vincke said. “We’re excited about what we’re making, which is already a step in the right direction, because we weren’t excited about what we were making back when we were doing the D D thing.”
There Were A Lot Of Constraints In Making D D
This is something that Vincke touched on last year, when he explained at GDC that “There were a lot of constraints in making D D, and the 5th Edition is not an easy system to put into a video game”. He noted that the team had several combat ideas it experimented with, but unfortunately, they just “were not compatible” with the 5e rulebook.
Those constraints might not have shown in the final product, as Baldur’s Gate 3 won countless awards for its boundry-pushing cRPG mechanics and storytelling, but its exciting to imagine what Larian might do now that it has been unshackled by the D D systems.
“Our ambitions are high, so we want to innovate,” Vincke said. “That means that we will fail on certain things, because we’re trying new things. So we’ll see where that leads us.”
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
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Well, I’m honestly tired of forgotten realms in particular but hope they have learnt how to make a better system for divinity after doing D D cause their systems especially that armor nonsense is HORRIBLE.
2025-12-25 22:34:50
I couldn’t agree more. I think about games that I’ve got the most enjoyment out of and they are all games where every part of the gameplay my character is fully immersed in. Every swing of the sword has weight begging it. Or every firing of the gun is felt. Being surrounded by 50+ enemies and stuck at the bottom and back of their barracks to try rescue a bear/druid wasn’t fun at all. I think turn based combat in today’s gaming is lazy development.
2025-12-31 12:22:04
I hope they learned some real cool and important stuff from making BG3. Like how characters actually physically acting is so much better as a narrative presentation than having a narrator describe what a character is doing and how their face looks. Couldn’t get into DOS2 for that reason. The gameplay I could overlook, but dear god PLEASE make Divinity 3 have actual character acting
2025-12-27 05:48:21
This was literally over a year ago.
Can we please get some real journalism going around here?
Seriously please? Like do your job
2025-12-27 05:17:16
In the first hours of DoS2 a chicken transformed me into another chicken and an alligator dropped a rock in my head (and leave a puddle of poison…or was it oil?). Everyone can do anything, they REALLY needed the “constraints” of D D.
2025-12-25 15:24:44
Why. Freedom if fun. Being locked behind a cell door is not fun. That is how I feel when I’m forced to play turn based combat. I’m locked behind a system that relies on luck and roll of the dice with not skill involved except guessing when to attack and when to block. Boring. At least in elden ring. You can get satisfaction after beating a boss. In balderdash gate 3 you go straight into another near impossible 7 orcs
2025-12-31 12:33:21
Oh, that’s nice. They weren’t excited by Baldur’s Gate 3, the “D D Thing.” What is with Swen? Can you just leave BG3 alone? Not everything needs to be a diminishment of your previous game to elevate your new project. Is this a wink at the Divinity fanbase, the “oh, we actually hated THAT game, we REALLY only want to make yours.” What are you even doing?! And journalists eat this drama up.
2025-12-27 20:40:46
I love the Divinity games, Original Sin 1 and 2 are games I still play. I have a Succubus class mod I use for OS2 constantly.
While I adore Baldur’s Gate 3 I know the talent behind a game like that and the Divinity games can make an RPG i’m going to love and enjoy thoroughly.
2025-12-29 15:02:19
Wiping tears with money moment for larian. “Oh boohoo we didn’t like how restrictive the most absolutely unrestricted DND format was”
Divinity is no different than bg3 in feel. They both feel like DND games and I think larian spent too much time on the nudity that they rotted their brains and forgot how their other games play.
2025-12-25 08:57:03
