Larian Studios took on a mountainous task when they started on Baldur’s Gate 3. With video games, striking the right balance between teaching players the rules and keeping the gameplay enjoyable can be a herculean task.
This challenge was even more difficult for Larian, as its Baldur’s Gate series is based on the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting; meaning it has to teach new and familiar players the DnD handbook rules. The studio recently spilled the beans on its approach to this dilemma during an interview at GDC.
Larian Wanted to Avoid Barraging Baldur’s Gate 3 Players with DnD Rules
During a recent interview with Eurogamer at GDC, Vincke, the head of Larian Studios, acknowledged a major challenge the studio faced when working on Baldur’s Gate 3. He revealed that introducing players to the complex world of DnD without overwhelming them with a deluge of rules was difficult:
Indeed, we couldn’t teach you the entire handbook so we had to throw you in.
The goal was to ensure that players weren’t overwhelmed but remained engaged enough to gradually learn the game mechanics as they progressed.
Finding this delicate balance was no easy feat. Vincke described it as a “very complicated and very fine line to walk.” The team conducted a ton of experiments to determine the best approach, all the while striving to maintain both accessibility and depth.
Despite these initial challenges, Vincke expressed that he was very happy with the final product. Judging by the hype around the game, it’s safe to say that a ton of people who gave it a try loved it too.
When asked about lessons learned for future projects, Vincke joked that he’d like to avoid having such complicated rules in the studio’s next game.
Larian Is Working on More Exciting Projects
BG3 isn’t the end of Larian—according to Vincke, the studio had two other projects that it already planned on making after Baldur’s Gate 3. Now that the game’s been released, everyone’s back to working on these mysterious games.
When asked about the projects, Vincke said:
They’re big and ambitious, that’s for sure. But I mean, I think scope wise, Baldur’s Gate 3 is probably already good enough!
The game is also confirmed not to be based on DnD:
[It’s] new in the sense that it is different from the things that we’ve done before. Still familiar enough, but different. I mean, like: tone, style, way of doing it, are for us certainly new. And I think very appealing.
It’s safe to say that the projects won’t be bigger than BG3 but will have an equal scope.
Since it’s moving away from DnD, it’ll be interesting to see whether Larian sticks to medieval fantasy or moves to a completely different genre, like sci-fi.
Either way, fans can’t wait to see what the studio puts out.
What are you hoping to see in Larian’s new games? Let us know in the comments below!
