Larian Studios' breakout hit Baldur's Gate 3 was actually teased years before the public knew of its existence in the developer's very own, previous game, Divinity Original Sin 2. But the Easter Egg's initial version was so obvious, it had to be watered down, according to the devs.
Larian CEO and Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke shed light on the tease via a recent studio livestream, when lightly nudged toward the topic by communications developer Aoife Wilson, who brought up the Divinity Original Sin 2 necromancer that mentions going to "another world."
"The preview of BG3," Vincke remembers. "Originally the reference to BG3 was very explicit" and eventually had to be reigned in a little bit. "We did it very last minute because we actually, in the summer, when DOS2 shipped, we wrote the first draft of BG3 because we had a contract with [rights holder] Wizards of the Coast and we needed to do it then. It was very bad."
As Redditor truebma nicely summarized, the D&D nods extend way past a vague mention of a strange, faraway land. Divinity Original Sin 2 features an item called Mind Maggots or, in other words, brain-mutating tadpoles, as well as references to the Grand Design and plotting octopuses, AKA mind flayers.
Needless to say, anyone looking for more clues pertaining to Larian's upcoming Divinity game should whip out the magnifying glass and give Baldur's Gate 3 a once over. There may well be clues to the studio's future hidden in plain sight.
