Amid the altogether glowing launch reception for Baldur's Gate 3, which went on to win just about every GOTY award under the sun and which we also put at the summit of the best games of 2023, there were a fair few reviews and posts from long-time CRPG fans who argued that Larian's take on the series felt more like a Divinity game than a Baldur's Gate game. That's not necessarily calling it bad – the Divinity games are beloved, after all – but perhaps it just doesn't feel like the Baldur's Gates of old. And I remember similar conversations around Baldur's Gate 3's early access launch about three years ago.
Anna Guxens, senior RPG designer at Larian, recently discussed how much of the two CRPGs – Baldur's Gate and Divinity – went into the pot when Larian was brewing Baldur's Gate 3, ultimately reasoning that the two stem from the same key goals. Gamereactor asked Guxens "how much of Baldur's Gate, the previous games, and how much of Larian, mostly Divinity, do you think there is in this formula?" Her answer cuts to the heart of the genre, and is especially fascinating to me as someone who played Baldur's Gate 3 as their first CRPG. (I didn't play Baldur's Gate 2 when it came out on account of being seven.)
