Even before release in early access Baldur’s Gate 3 was criticized for being more similar to previous Larian titles than BG1 and BG2. Some gamers jokingly dubbed the game “Divinity 3”, and even after its full release, this opinion often comes up in discussions.
Apparently, the developers themselves understood that they were making another part of Divinity in a new setting rather than a continuation of the legendary franchise. In any case, this is exactly the impression one gets after the answer of senior game designer Anna Guksens to the question “How much of your title is from the previous Baldur’s Gate parts, and how much is from Divinity?”:
Larian games are all about player autonomy, right? And about creating fascinating, emotional stories, in the center of which the player is always. That’s why, in both Divinity and Baldur’s Gate, we create very strong gameplay systems that work for storytelling.
We’re creating a sandbox that you can have fun in, but it also has a strong storyline, a very interesting, very exciting, emotionally engaging story, and I think that’s the strength of it. A very strong story and characters, and very strong systems in gameplay, and for them to work together.
Well, thanks for the obvious answer. In the end, no one expected anything different from Larian.
