Larian explains how Baldur’s Gate 3 is so big it impacts work on new games

As Larian gears up for its next big release, the team is struggling to find ideas to make sure players get a new experience after Baldur’s Gate 3.

Despite no plans for a DLC or sequel from Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is already a massive game. With so many dialogue options, quests, routes, and so on, it’s impossible to experience everything in one playthrough.

So far, we know Larian has confirmed they’re working on two “very ambitious RPGs.” While fans are hyped to see what they’re cooking next, an interview with PCGamer has revealed that the award-winning studio is faced with a particular challenge following Baldur’s Gate 3’s success.

“One of the biggest problems we have now is that whenever we’re talking about things, we say we did that in BG3,” said writing director Adam Smith. “And it turns out, we did a lot of things in BG3 when we think back to it. It’s the classic ‘Simpsons did it’ problem.”

For Larian, however, this isn’t a new problem, as a similar issue arose in the past when they were still working on the Divinity Original Sin series and Baldur’s Gate 3. “It was the same during development,” claimed Smith.

“Have they already seen this pattern? Have they already used these verbs in this order? Have they already had this emotional arc? So you’re constantly trying to make sure that they’re getting a new experience, and you’re not just repeating yourself, and you’re not just giving them content for the sake of content.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 has truly set the bar very high, with the game still having an impressive player count more than a year after release. While not much information about their new titles has been shared, it’ll be interesting to see how development goes as time passes. 

Luckily for fans, Larian has just set up a brand new “community-focused” YouTube channel to celebrate Baldur’s Gate 3’s anniversary, where they plan to feature “behind the scenes” videos on their “next big thing.”