Post-Larian Wizards of the Coast threatens us with more ‘CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3’

Larian is, as you’ve no doubt heard, done with Baldur’s Gate 3. There’s no DLC in the pipeline, no sequel around the corner. Swen and co are off to pastures greener, creating something they’re all very happy to tantalise us about while giving no details at all. I’ve decided it’s Knights of the Old Republic 3, personally (it is not).

But if you think that means Baldur’s Gate-style RPGs are over, then I’ve got news for ya, buddy. BG3 made somewhere in the region of eight hundred gazillion bucks, so you bet the suits at Dungeons and Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast are trying to figure out how to keep that golden goose a-layin’.

First up, former Star Wars Jedi director Stig Asmussen is at work on a “singleplayer action-adventure” game set in the D&D-iverse with his studio Giant Skull, which doesn’t sound very BG3-y. But in a chat with Polygon, WOTC president John Hight reassures everyone that “Don’t get me wrong, we are going to do CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3.”

Hight says that WOTC is prioritising making good on the D&D vision that TTRPG players have in their imaginations: “it’s really important that any manifestation of [D&D creatures] in a game be as good as what’s in our own minds. That’s a tall order.”

For what it’s worth, Hight reckons Asmussen’s got that nailed. “I think about what Stig and Patrick Murphy did on God of War 3, taking that pantheon of both gods and the crazy monsters from mythology and bringing them to life. It’s like, wow, what if we could unleash them on D&D?”

Which, sure, sounds OK to me. I very much enjoy the combat in Jedi: Fallen Order (and Survivor, when it’s not crashing or running at 10 fps), so I reckon Giant Skull’s take on D&D could be good fun when it comes out, but I have to admit I am very sceptical of WOTC attempting a Larian-less run at a Baldur’s Gate-style RPG. As our own Harvey Randall put it, it’s clear that D&D’s owners have no clue how to handle BG3’s success, and I’m not confident they’ll figure it out in time for a hypothetical Baldur’s Gate 4.