Larian CEO and founder Swen Vincke thinks he's cracked the first act of his next game, but 'it's not what you think and this is not an teaser for an announcement'
First draft.
Swen Vincke, the CEO and founder of Larian Studio (developer of Baldur's Gate 3) has taken to Twitter to share some progress on his next game—namely, he thinks he's got a solid draft going.
"Been a great morning! After 4 months of rewriting and rewriting and abandoning ideas and then revisiting them, I finally figured out what Act 1 on this thing I've been working on needs to be," in case you're completely uninitiated to Larian's style of game, they tend to be split into acts. For example, Act 1 of Baldur's Gate 3 starts after the Nautiloid crash and ends when you enter the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
Surprising no-one, this suggests that Larian's working on another CRPG and not a first-person rhythm shooter or roguelike cooking/dating sim (although I'd certainly like to see them try the latter. Grillin' with Astarion? You can have that one for free, Swen).
Vincke seems pretty confident that this first draft has legs. "Quote me when it's revealed to see how much of today's draft survives. I suspect a lot," still—even if he does scrap the whole thing, he writes that "work done on abandoned drafts is never wasted, even if you think the drafts are shit. More than often, you'll find you can recycle your work once you find the right story for it."
He then goes on to note: "This type of work can be really frustrating when you're stuck but the important bit is to never give up and remain self-critical, even if the situation looks hopeless."
It's a nice window into the creative philosophy that made our Game of the Year—and not surprising, given the studio nearly went bankrupt before Divinity: Original Sin. Vincke is pretty much an industry expert at bouncing back, even if he's got some doubts:
"It may be they all think it's bad and then I'll just kill this thread, go sit in a corner with my dog and pretend none of this happened … But I think I really like this one," Vincke writes, before insisting: "It's not what you think and this is not a teaser for an announcement … It'll be quite some time before we talk about this."
Still—even if we're still a long way off from any kind of concrete announcement for Baldur's Gate 4, Divinity: Original Sin 3, or some secret third thing (like a Star Wars game, perhaps?) It's neat to glimpse at the man behind the industry-shaking curtain. It's also a solid reminder that making stuff is hard, and self-doubt hits everyone the same, even if you've won a kajillion awards.