Baldur's Gate 3's lead writer worried he'd joined the dev "on the downward curve" as he "thought that Divinity: Original Sin 2 may be the best game Larian will ever make"

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Adam Smith felt under a lot of pressure

Baldur's Gate 3 mind flayer with pale purple skin and facial tentacles stares ahead with glowing yellow eyes
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Baldur's Gate 3's writing director was worried he'd joined Larian on a "downward curve" after the heights of Divinity: Original Sin 2. 

Game Pressure spoke to Baldur's Gate 3 game director Swen Vincke and writing director Adam Smith at the Digital Dragons conference in Poland last week, and asked the leads if they ever expected to make one of the best RPGs in years. Vincke said he didn't, and pointed to his recent comment where he confessed he regretted saying Baldur's Gate 3 could be the "RPG of the decade" while it was in development.

Smith, though, was particularly mindful of Larian's history going into Baldur's Gate 3. "I had the double thing. There was that, what Swen said. And then I was a Larian fan before I worked for them. I thought that Divinity: Original Sin 2 may be the best game Larian will ever make. I may be the one who comes in on the downward curve. We could screw this up as well," the writing director said. 

Elsewhere at Digital Dragons, Smith told GamesRadar+ that Larian "did start pushing around ideas for Baldur's Gate 4," but they didn't excite anyone at the studio. This, combined with Larian abandoning ideas it had for Baldur's Gate 3 DLC when no one was similarly enthused, is what lead to the studio announcing it wouldn't be making Baldur's Gate 4 earlier this year, and would instead be making something entirely new instead.

Baldur's Gate 3 had less crunch than Larian's previous RPGs, but its director says "you will always have a little bit" of overtime."

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.