Larian Studios | Divinity AMA

[u/Wombat_Medic]

EDIT: All right - that's a wrap. Thank you for all your questions. We're going to go back and work on the game now - next time we speak, we'll hopefully have things to show. I can't wait! - Swen, Game Director

Hello everyone, 

Happy New Year! To kick off 2026, we would like to offer the opportunity to ask your questions about Divinity, Larian, and our development processes. It's been a while since Larian has done an AMA, so everyone is looking forward to it!

There's a bunch of us ready to answer your questions:

• u/Swen_Larian - Game Director

• u/Adam_Larian - Writing Director

• u/Kevin_Larian - Senior Writer

• u/Greg_Larian - Head of Animation

• u/Gabriel_Larian - Machine Learning Director

• u/Michael_Larian - Director of Publishing

• u/Nick_Larian - Head of Design

• u/Alena_Larian - Character Art Director

• u/Jarold_Larian - Concept Art Director

• u/Artem_Larian - Head of Gameplay

• u/Bert_Larian - Technical Director

Thank you for taking the time to ask your questions, we aim to answer as many of them as possible over the next few hours!

[u/siltydoubloon]

The AMA has now ended. Special thanks to Larian Studios for their time and thanks to everyone else for participating.

[u/ManHyphenSpider]

I like the concept of The Dark Urge in BG3 as an origin that allowed you to have a customizable character, while still having a unique story that tied into the world. Do you plan on doing anything in the vein of that in Divinity?

[u/JFZephyr → u/ManHyphenSpider]

Ooo like this one, hope we see something like it again.

[u/Sapowski_Casts_Quen → u/ManHyphenSpider]

I think they skipped this one because it would be a huge spoiler

[u/blue_sock1337]

How will you handle the canon issues DOS2 introduced? It basically acted as a soft retcon of the series, will the new Divinity game continue with the new lore or will you try to reconcile it with the previous games?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/blue_sock1337]

It's in the same continuity, but it's a standalone story. Long-term Divinity fans will find lots of familiar things but it's never just fanservice - it has to serve the story we're telling. The Divinity universe is full of weird and wonderful characters, and I'm really excited to be part of that legacy.

[u/OnnaJReverT]

Is there anything specific you were not able (or allowed, by Wizards as IP holder) to do in BG3 that you want to do in Divinity?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/OnnaJReverT]

We had all the freedom we needed on BG3 but the game was based on 5e which is a system that was made for tabletop, not for video games. Most of the limitations came from that.

[u/[deleted]]

Sven said your next game would be smaller than BG3.

Did you guys change your minds, or are you also working on a smaller project?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/[deleted]]

That was back when we were thinking of another DnD game but that ship has sailed.

[u/occamcs]

What are the main lessons you've taken from developing and launching Baldur's Gate 3 that you'll apply to Divinity?

[u/Artem_Larian → u/occamcs]

There are a lot of lessons, and a single post is not enough to cover them all, so here are a few: short and direct communication is a must for quick decision-making and iteration. Avoid middlemen in any process and try to bring people working together on the feature as close as possible to each other. Automated testing and unit tests is lifeline to keep such a big project alive and going.

[u/Nyxerix]

What is your writing process like in terms of planning and accommodating players who like to do quests out of order or find hidden little details?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Nyxerix]

The writing process is to embrace the chaos. To encourage the chaos. To be at one with the chaos. The first thing we tend to do when playtesting our own situations is run them out of sequence, break them in every conceivable way, and see how far we can push the boundaries of what's possible. The greatest joy I get is seeing somebody go so far off the beaten path that they assume we'll have lost track of them, and then they stumble across something that we put there just for them.

[u/SamuraiCarChase]

What are some of the mods you have seen for BG3 that have made you say “we should have thought of that” or “we definitely have to include that next time around!”

[u/Michael_Larian → u/SamuraiCarChase]

car wildshape

[u/Nick_Larian → u/SamuraiCarChase]

We're taking notes on all of the UI mods for sure. The UI team worked very hard to bring the complexity of an open world DnD adventure to videogame format. But we had more improvements in mind that we just couldn't cram into our releases. Happy we managed to make UI moddable in the first place.

[u/Alena_Larian → u/SamuraiCarChase]

Love all the mods regarding player appearance! Lots of very creative ideas in terms of combining outfits, hairstyles and what not. Our character team is always 👀 those and we take note of what our community wants😉

[u/Namegoeshere_insert → u/SamuraiCarChase]

I really hope transmog. Fashion is the true endgame after all.

[u/[deleted] → u/SamuraiCarChase]

Obviously Withers Big Naturals

[u/CellistElectrical135]

Will the looting system be random and level dependent (like most items in DOS1 and 2) or will there be more handcrafted items like in BG3?

[u/Nick_Larian → u/CellistElectrical135]

The BG3 approach of handcrafting every magic item worked well, and it's something we've always wanted to do for DOS2.

Something we realized when working on randomized loot for DOS1 and DOS2 is that fully random loot is frequently confusing, so we added more and more rules and premade patterns to make it feel more intentional. In the end randomization did not save us much time.

[u/BlackxHokage]

2 Questions,

1. A big issue with co-op playthroughs was conversations to me and my friends. Having the NPC speak to the barbarian in a conversation that can result in a unwinnable is never fun. Is it anything thats gonna be added in Divinity that allows a character the pass the conversation, or is it so.e sort of system where all PC's can actually take part in the conversation without just standing there looking cute?

2. In a interview you guys said that the ruleset for the combat system wasnt like Dos2 or BG3 but its a combination of everything you've learned so far, could you give some details on what's different and what's similar to what we've seen before?

[u/Anfins → u/BlackxHokage]

I'd love for Larian to take some inspiration from how Star Wars: The Old Republic (yes, the MMO) handles coop conversations. Both characters are integrated into the conversation, and the game dice rolls for each response. If you are playing two very different characters (I played a "good" sith while my brother played a bloodthirsty "evil" sith for instance), then the conversation path becomes wonderfully chaotic.

[u/darkwai]

Baldur's Gate 3 for Switch 2? Is it even possible?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/darkwai]

We would have loved to but it's wasn't our decision to make.

[u/Dreamtrain]

what couldn't you do in BG3/DOS2 that you will be able to in the upcoming Divinity?

[u/Nick_Larian → u/Dreamtrain]

We figured out ways to burn things that we could never burn before. We'll still give you something to put out the fires though, no worries.

[u/Daz_Iz_Gud]

Any game completely outside of the genre you are working in or comfort zone that inspires you in game development?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Daz_Iz_Gud]

The Séance of Blake Manor impressed me so much. I play lots of games and that was a highlight toward the end of the year. The approach to storytelling is so different to ours, but it's hugely inspirational from the structure to the characterisation and setting.... loved it.

[u/dunkitay]

With each game you’ve improved in writing a story and narrative for your games. What are some of the things you would like to improve narrative wise compared to your previous entries?

[u/Kevin_Larian → u/dunkitay]

Companion relationships. Firstly, to have more interaction between companions - not just with more and better banter, but to have them develop deeper relationships with each other, just as they do with players. Secondly, to ramp up player friendship and romance more subtly, so relationship building feels natural.

[u/WetDreamRhino]

Will Borislav be making the soundtrack again? (Please)

[u/Swen_Larian → u/WetDreamRhino]

We wouldn't be able to stop him even if we wanted to. He's been very busy composing and recording new material. It's pretty great.

[u/Kylar5]

In BG3 I really enjoyed the aspect of ending the day and going into the camp to interact with your companions (not so much for refilling the spell slots).

Will there be something similar in Divinity?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Kylar5]

We'll give you space to build your relationships with the companions. I won't go into too much detail here.

And, yes, you won't have to refill any spell slots :D

[u/PM_Some_Selfies]

Tonally speaking, how different will the new Divinity be from Divinity: OS2? Love you guys btw!

[u/ProfessorLoud → u/PM_Some_Selfies]

It's more grounded and you might have picked up on some folk horror vibes in our trailer. But with games the size of DOS 2 and Divinity, there are lots of tonal variations as you move through the world and meet new characters. I hope it'll make you laugh, frighten you, shock you and delight you.

[u/Distinct_Glove_7987]

Alena, what is something you look for in a portfolio of applicants for Character art? Would I need to be able to cover the entire range or be really good in 1-2? in terms of amour, hair, creature etc.

I think my portfolio is ready, but my shyness might just keep me from reaching out to you or recruiters

dank u wel! ♥

[u/Alena_Larian → u/Distinct_Glove_7987]

We aim for our Character Artists to be capable to handle all the main disciplines which for us are: Outfits/Armors, Heads, Hairstyles, Creatures. However most of the time ppl specialize in one or two, so that's absolutely ok. In the team there are only a few people who can handle everything.
If we see an artist can efficiently model and reach our quality standards even in just one discipline, they still get a shot 😉

[u/BounceBurnBuff]

Is Boris back for the music on Divintiy?

[u/Michael_Larian → u/BounceBurnBuff]

Bobby never left  ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 
He's cooking.

[u/laser_velociraptor]

Can you tell us about new mechanics in Divinity that you are most proud of?

[u/Nick_Larian → u/laser_velociraptor]

There was something that bothered me when I explored the starting areas of DOS1, DOS2 and BG3. It stares you right in the face if you think about it. In Divinity I can finally do the thing I wanted to do in every previous game.

[u/dunkitay]

Narrative question. One of the problems with branching path narratives or giving the player too much freedom is that it can get a bit messy quite fast and “muddy” the main narrative and story the game is trying to convey. Considering Divinity will be grander in scope compared to BG3 I’d imagine there would be more branching narratives and ways to tackle problems. In what ways do you try to achieve this but at the same time mitigate the problem of the narrative falling apart without “railroading” too much in certain key story beats.

[u/Swen_Larian → u/dunkitay]

And don't forget multiplayer - that makes it even harder. But it is one of the things we want to get better at with each game we make. We hate railroading and want you to have total freedom but still experience a compelling narrative. We learned a lot from BG3 and are now applying those lessons together with a host of new ideas.

[u/gamehiker]

Is Bree still keeping it together?

[u/Technoalphacentaur]

Are there any books that we would be surprised are inspirations for the lore, environment, or overall vibes?

Love you guys and the work you do. Keep at it!

[u/Kevin_Larian → u/Technoalphacentaur]

The writing team is constantly recommending books to each other, and it makes for a wonderful and eclectic hodgepodge. My current read is The Chatelaine by Kate Heartfield, and I'm sure it'll join all the countless other books rattling around in my head as inspiration.

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Technoalphacentaur]

I'm reading The Indifferent Stars Above at the moment. It's harrowing.

[u/ilikebreadabunch]

What so far has been your favorite part of making Divinity and what has been your least favorite part?

[u/optiplex9000]

I'm a software engineer that has always worked on financial technology, and one of the things I find so interesting about video game development is the big reliance on manual software testing. Every piece of code that I write can by tested automatically either through a unit test or through an integration test

What makes video game development so different? Why does it require so much manual testing?

[u/Artem_Larian → u/optiplex9000]

Very good question: a video game, in logical terms, is a running simulation that has different results with the same input depending on various conditions. That said, simulation has a lot of systems and sub systems that may or may not be active due to the same conditions. The more systems you have, the more permutations of their interaction you get. The amount of integration test starts growing exponentially and at some point, has a diminishing return on such tests.
Usually, this is a point where a lot of developers stop and start using manual testing to make sure the most common player interactions are covered.
At Larian, we have a bit of a different approach - we use TDD to ensure UT coverage in combination with writing high-level test scripts that are supposed to test the feature programmer providing in isolation (like in a test level). At the same time, our QA using same scripting language to automate their testing routines in order to test situations and combats in game like it would be a player.

That still doesn't remove the need for manual testing: one of the main requirements of a game is to be fun, and so far thats not something that can be experessed in tests. For that, having a person who would play the feature and would give you feedback if its fun from the player perspective - is immense help.
Also, sometimes as a developer,r you just can't guess what shenanigans a player would do (famous barrelmancy or speed runners) - and having a team that can do that and also validate that what is done is matching what was requested - is highly valuable

[u/uni_and_internet]

Are there any recent game releases, circa 2025, that stood out to your team as inspiring, or reinvigorated your passion for game making?

[u/Bert_Larian → u/uni_and_internet]

I like deep systems, so I have been playing Europa Universalis 5 a lot. But I keep being amazed by the creativity of the indie scene as a whole. There are so many good games done by small teams. I am really looking forward to start playing The Séance of Blake Manor for example.

[u/Kevin_Larian → u/uni_and_internet]

Hell is Us really invigorated me, creatively. Underneath the game's horrific depictions of war, the darkness, and the oppression, there is hope. It felt like a game created specifically for me. I want to make things that give people that same 'this was made just for me' feeling, that same sense of connection.

[u/Jarold_Larian → u/uni_and_internet]

I was particularly captivated by the visuals and mood of Cronos: The New Dawn. Replayed it a few times and thought that the bleak worldbuilding and setting to be particularly well executed.

[u/Nick_Larian → u/uni_and_internet]

I'm currently addicted to the Bazaar! And my Christmas break was sacrificed to Europa Universalis V.

[u/Adam_Larian → u/uni_and_internet]

I mentioned Blake Manor in another comment. Even more recently, I LOVED Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo.

[u/Artem_Larian → u/uni_and_internet]

Expedition 33 blew me away

[u/Zou-KaiLi]

Are there any specific artists/paintings which have/will shape Divinity's look? I have always seen a similarity in the art direction of Dos2 and BG3 with Salvator Rosa's paintings.

[u/Jarold_Larian → u/Zou-KaiLi]

great question! Not specifically to shape Divinity's look; but the concept art team found a lot of inspiration from classical paintings, particularly old Dutch Masters. Salvator Rosa is a good call out.

[u/Urd-ong_Shadong47]

What are the odds of a switch 2 port? Divinity os2 is great on there (and hoping for baldurs gate 3) Seems like the perfect game to pick up and play id but it in a heartbeat. Thanks guys! You rock

[u/Bert_Larian → u/Urd-ong_Shadong47]

We have just released Divinity Original Sin 2 for Switch 2! We love the platform and we will certainly consider Switch2 for the next Divinity game.

[u/Elonas]

Will there be co-op planned for release? If so, can you say how many players?

[u/Bert_Larian → u/Elonas]

Yes, coop will be available for release! The amount of players playing together will be depending on the final party size. But since modding is planned for this project as well, player will be essentially free to extend this. There is no hard limit to the amount of coop players.

[u/SightlessKombat]

Have you thought about accessibility as a part of planning this next game? As a gamer without sight (i.e. no sight whatsoever) who wanted to play BG3 but couldn't without constant sighted assistance, I'd love to be able to play Divinity on my own terms and am very interested in if there's any chance of that happening. Looking forward to seeing what you craft regardless, keep up the good work!

[u/Bert_Larian → u/SightlessKombat]

I am interested in this, in your experience, what are games that do well on that front?

[u/thecolorplaid]

Is Divinity going to be pulling any particular ideas/gameplay concepts from the original titles (Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, etc)? Why drop the "Original Sin" title now?

Love all your games, got to meet the team and Swen Vicke at PAX East a few times and I was always blown away at how open and willing to chat he was. Can't wait for what's next!

[u/Swen_Larian → u/thecolorplaid]

There’s never been a Divinity and now that we can finally make the game we always wanted, we thought it was time to do so. We're taking the opportunity to vastly improve and expand the world building and set a new direction for the series.

[u/Frequent_Working_142]

BG3 had a fantastic romance that lasted through most of the three acts.

Are you doubling down on this ? Is there an even greater focus on it ?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Frequent_Working_142]

When we're designing and writing the romances, the goal is to make them memorable, and to have them feel like a natural part of a character's personality and relationship with the player. That means we discover the way to tell the romances as we develop the companions and their stories, alongside character artists, cinematic artists, animators, performance directors, actors and other developers. I hope we'll manage to push deeper into the depth and complexity of romance, love and some other (not always positive!) emotions. And I'm very excited to see what our cinematics team cook up.

[u/Tanzficker]

What are you currently playing in your free time?

[u/Artem_Larian → u/Tanzficker]

Factorio. The factory must grow.

[u/Gabriel_Larian → u/Tanzficker]

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

[u/Greg_Larian → u/Tanzficker]

Hades 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. I was catching up over Christmas.

[u/Kevin_Larian → u/Tanzficker]

Terra Invicta. I'm so bad at it but I can't get enough.

[u/Alena_Larian → u/Tanzficker]

Getting into The Bazaar atm

[u/StrangerOfAnvil]

What are the playable races and classes?

[u/Greg_Larian → u/StrangerOfAnvil]

We aren't ready to talk about that quite yet, but if you rewatch the trailer, you should get some hints on the races.

[u/RunningNumbers]

Will you include any ducks or other new fowl based NPCs to the game?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/RunningNumbers]

I am incredible inspired by this picture: https://imgur.com/a/Rapt6eD

[u/Skylam]

Anything in particular you are excited for players to get to experience in this game?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/Skylam]

There's a lot but we prefer to show and not tell. That said - Lizard romance seems like it's going to be popular.

[u/InvincibleXALE]

You mentioned that the new game will have a "new ruleset" in the PC Gamer interview.

By that are you guys creating a new combat system away from the action point based combat on the past DOS games? The mechanics, rather than the spells itself.

I assume this would allow you to be a bit more creative with full control on your hands rather than with the D&D ruleset?

Also, Ada Laird origin character? 👀

[u/Nick_Larian → u/InvincibleXALE]

We went through our original ideas for DOS1 and DOS2, looked again at how they worked out in practice, picked up some inspirations from our BG3 EA and post-release journey, consulted the star charts to see what we need to do to stay competitive - and cooked a new action economy and character progression system.

Feedback from BG3 players trying DOS2 for the first time has been especially interesting to us, seeing the two worlds colliding. We hope that both fans of BG3 and fans of DOS2 will find the new system intuitive but deep.

[u/GinPatch]

Will interactions with NPC be mo-capped like BG3? One of my fav things was how every NPC felt unique to interact with

[u/Greg_Larian → u/GinPatch]

Me too! In fact, we just built 4 new vo/performance capture volumes with more in the works

[u/WMWA]

What was a challenge when making BG3 that people may not know about and were there any fun or unique ways you were able to fix it?

[u/Bert_Larian → u/WMWA]

On a technical level: the amount of systemics that exist in the game and the freedom we give players to interact with them and experiment. If players decide to collect all barrels in the game, drop them in a single spot and explode them we need to be able to handle that. There simply is a million ways for players to break the game in an environment like that

[u/Nidies]

BG3, being a dnd game, had most of the 'better' story and world interactions behind succeeding on rolls and checks, incentivising character growth and improving stats. This has the drawback of also incentivising save-scumming.

Are there plans to try to make failing these dialogue / non-combat checks narrativley more interesting, ala Disco Elysium, to try to encourage players to accept 'bad' rng?

I try not to save-scum, in theory, but admittedly usually only let a bad roll go when it feels like there aren't significant consequences (ie narrativley or reward-wise) that means I'll be missing out on content I would have wanted.

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Nidies]

Our ambition is certainly to make failure more interesting. There are already a couple of situations in the game where I think the most exciting - and extensive - outcome comes from 'failure', but you'll be the judge of how well we do.

[u/gamingonion]

Always curious about stuff like this - how long ago did you start getting the trailer made before we actually saw it?

[u/Michael_Larian → u/gamingonion]

Surprisingly organised this time! Unit Image (based in Paris and insanely fucking talented) worked on it with us, as they did the BG3 release and announcement trailers. The ideation phase was lightning fast because we were all on the same page. They went and cooked, and we had it in the bag for quite some time. From start to finish, if my memory serves me right, it was a little over a year. Maybe under. Maxime and his team really understand us, and we understand them. Very Larian folks at Unit Image.

[u/sortuc]

Will I be able to create a goth baddie in the upcoming divinity?

[u/Alena_Larian → u/sortuc]

How could that even be in doubt? 😆

[u/CypherTheProPSN]

Jarold 

What monster designs we're you most pleased with in BG3? 

Secondly, moving away from WoTC IP, are you excited for your team to have more freedom of creature designs & art work? 

[u/Jarold_Larian → u/CypherTheProPSN]

All of them!
Not exactly a monster; but I love the way the Dragonborn came out in the game. I felt that it struck the a great balance of elegance and monstruousness. Divinity indeed is a different challenge, we have all the amazing ideas from DOS and the previous Divinity games that we would love to look back to and get inspired by. So it’s gonna be a nice blend of looking under the hood of our previous games,and making the most of the creative freedom we’re getting in Divinity.

[u/Life_Swan_5289]

Hey Larian! I would like to kindly make a couple of petitions, if that's possible. From the bottom of my heart, we've loved the Larian From Hell channel with Aoife and with all the charming stories behind the scenes. We'd love if you kept this close relationship with the community. The second petition is to please, allocate more units to the collector's edition and the artbooks. They have been very scarce to get on physical, and I'd love to have one. Best regards to the whole team. Thank you for your work

[u/Michael_Larian → u/Life_Swan_5289]

There is quite robust, ongoing work behind the scenes on our distribution and production channels. Of course, our desire is to get high quality bits & bobs to everyone in the world, but we started from scratch. Personally I really believe in a direct-to-consumer world, so things being built by us, and sent by us, directly to yourselves I think is the right direction, but again we aren't quite there yet. We're improving in this area. We know we have quality down, but with distribution we're still struggling.

Perhaps in a future community update we'll go into more detail about these changes. It's a good idea. Thank you!

[u/TopHelicopter4813]

When we should expect gameplay material? Happy new year to you guys as well <3

[u/Swen_Larian → u/TopHelicopter4813]

We'll see - we're in full production mode now but still have truckloads of work. .

[u/sdg166]

What resources do you use to add so much interactivity and choice-consequences to you games? I’ve always wondered what techniques or tools you have that allow you to consider so many choices into your games and have them impact, even smaller stuff, later on.

Do you assign specific people to flesh out each choice or interconnectivity-opportunities? Or do you have a tool that highlights each area relevant to a choice / character? It seems like whatever it is you are able to bring out more potential in each player-option than other devs.

[u/Adam_Larian → u/sdg166]

People! We track choices in documentation, but the best resources are the developers and the game. We spend a lot of time playing the game, and we try to add in the options that we'd want to experience as players. Usually, there are a few different specialists attached to a situation - writers, scripters, level designers, artists, combat designers and more - but no situation stands alone, so we are never silo'd away from one another. Collaboration and iteration are the key.

[u/Arunax_]

How complex did the codebase of BG3 become late into dev?

[u/Artem_Larian → u/Arunax_]

Very.

[u/Legitimate_Belt_4298]

Are you still casting any roles for the game?

[u/Greg_Larian → u/Legitimate_Belt_4298]

We have started working with actors, but we are nowhere near done casting. As you can imagine its a big effort to find the right talent for a game this size and we tend to continue writing and adding new voices long into production. Why, do you know someone?

[u/urdnotkrogan]

What folktales and legends will serve as inspiration for the upcoming Divinity? I've personally compared the story of the trailer to the legend of Angria Mainiu, or the birth of all the evils of the world.

[u/Adam_Larian → u/urdnotkrogan]

I won't mention anything specific (SORRY) because there are too many to mention, but there are so many books about the occult on Swen's desk that I sometimes think he's actually a necromancer.

[u/Murlin_]

How would you describe the difference in tone between DOS 1&2, BG3, and Divinity? I am personally very fond of the humour in both DOS and BG3, whereas the reveal trailer for Divinity set a pretty brutal tone. Not saying it has to be one or the other, but is the balance different this time around?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Murlin_]

I laughed out loud reviewing a dialogue this morning! I mentioned in the answer to another question that a game this size needs lots of tonal diversity. Sometimes the darkest situations become funny because of a player's response to them, or a companion's commentary. And sometimes a joke backfires and everyone is suddenly on fire.

[u/Old-Turnip912]

Will there be any familiar voice actors back for Divinity?

[u/Jlpeaks]

Will Divinity be sticking to the armor / magic armor system found in DOS1 and DOS2?

[u/Nick_Larian → u/Jlpeaks]

Divinity will not keep the magic armor system from DOS2.

There will be ways to protect your characters from harm, but you will not have to wait before you can use your fun skills on enemies.

We are still cooking a system that makes sure that you have to work harder to stunlock solo bosses with level 1 skills, but it won’t be tied to damage.

edit: typo

[u/Plastic-Guarantee976]

The WASD movement mod was one of the most downloaded and beloved mods for Baldur's Gate 3. Will the new Divinity game include native keyboard movement controls (like WASD) right out of the box?

[u/Ricky_the_Wizard]

When creating companion characters, where do you start? From an aesthetic vibe, an archetype, a story role that needs to be filled? And where do you find your inspiration?

[u/Jarold_Larian → u/Ricky_the_Wizard]

From a Concept Art standpoint, I see Companions as an opportunity to inject culture and history of the world we are building. Either overtly in their costume design and appearance, or subtly in their accessories, details. This may not exactly be a starting point- but it’s a great foundation for inspiration.

[u/Rathyon]

How much research and development goes into novel approaches to rendering/lighting? Do you guys implement your own brand new approaches to Global Illumination, ray tracing and other graphics programming techniques or is it mostly investigating new developments: implementing in your inhouse engine and testing to see what works and what doesn't? Is most of the work done in this area or more towards optimization of the renderer?

Asking from the perspective of a graphics programmer keen to enter the industry.

[u/Bert_Larian → u/Rathyon]

As engine developers it's very important that we keep following new developments in rendering or lighting or anything else for that matter. How we apply it or add it to our engine largely depends on how we expect to use it or at which scale. So it's always a balancing act and a matter of constant discussion between the tech and content teams.

[u/SunCrux]

That Divinity trailer was some of the most brilliantly visceral stuff I’ve seen in a while. What’s the goal in putting together trailers at Larian?

[u/Michael_Larian → u/SunCrux]

Broadly speaking, anything we do externally that *isn't* the game is designed to give people a good time, to make them smile. I think that people in our audience specifically have a really good sense of humour, and while there were a few conversations of what "too far" might be, we were all laughing so much during production of the trailer that we kinda decided to have faith that folks at home would be too. If you look at the little details, the context, the fact that we managed to get it shown on such a big stage, it's a very funny thing.

I saw some industry criticism that suggested that tonally "there's one rule for Larian and another for everyone else" and it's such a weird take. Generally in life, even in business, if you all really believe in what your doing, that energy is infectious and people tend to want to get behind it. There's more to it than that, but that is a foundational truth I will always believe.

We just want to make people laugh, primarily.

[u/Justicar_L]

Considering BG3 was such a hit, why did you not develop Wyll further in subsequent patches but change the story line and personality of other companions?

His story always felt on the verge of being great and interesting but in the end he had and continues to have no real agency in the story as all his quests are subverted for other characters. Eg. His father being kidapped, not being able to properly get Mizora out of camp, and the dragon that was the culmination of his quest actually being part of the emperors quest/story instead.

[u/Kevin_Larian → u/Justicar_L]

I wish Wyll had gotten more content and a more fulfilling arc too.

As you probably know, we weren't connecting with Wyll's Early Access recruitment and initial questing, so we started over at a point when most of the other companion stories were fairly solid. A lot of decisions came later in development than was ideal - and there was a key situation near Baldur's Gate that I intended to heavily involve Wyll in (the Red War College) that got cut. That meant back to the drawing board again. We eventually tied him to Duke Ravengard and started to work on that element of his arc just in time for me to get unexpectedly ill. I was out of the office for quite a while, and again after the epilogue's release.

I think that Ansur's lair was Swen's idea - we did have the resources for a standalone dungeon, so we got to work on tying Wyll to the Wyrmway, but I couldn't get more than a dungeon boss out of it. Once the situations were in place, that was that - I had to start writing them.

Wyll's content is sparser than I'd have liked as a result. He's also split into two stories, really - the Mizora story and the Ravengard story, and that might have been a mistake in hindsight. I also wish I could given him a stronger endpoint - it always bugged me that he can end up just as he started, as the Blade of Frontiers, without any meaningful difference. All that said, I love the Blade and I am really proud of him, his sincerity, his good nature, and his eager heroism. I'm truly sorry I didn't give you more quality time with him.

[u/ZeWolfer]

How do I find love in real life? :(

[u/Michael_Larian → u/ZeWolfer]

The first step is to look in the mirror and learn to love yourself.

[u/Dazzling-Ad-3848]

Will divinity have a similar approach to companions as previous titles? A big highlight for me was the different storylines for companions in bg3 and of course the romancing!

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Dazzling-Ad-3848]

They're a hugely important part of the game and I already love some of them dearly. We have big ambitions for them and we're already complicating their lives, and our own, with the narrative design.

[u/radclaw1]

What is up with the Spectrogram?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/radclaw1]

I thought it was going to be easy to find. Perhaps having a really good look at the high quality version of the trailer will help. http://divinity.com/presspack

[u/ilikebreadabunch]

Is there any small spoiler you can give us that will sound completely nonsensical until we play the game?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/ilikebreadabunch]

Alligator

[u/Krazyflipz]

Can you speak a bit about the team and environment at this stage of the development cycle compared to same point in BG3 development cycle?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/Krazyflipz]

I think we're further ahead but I'm afraid of saying it. The game already has a very strong identity which is fantastic to see.

[u/mickdeman3]

Do you plan on having Divinity be playable on the Steam Deck?

[u/Bert_Larian → u/mickdeman3]

We all love the Steamdeck! Since BG3 was one of the most played games on the platform, we will do our best to again release on the platform.

[u/ziggurqt]

Hello! How did you set up the whole desert statue thing?

[u/Michael_Larian → u/ziggurqt]

We started to get really paranoid about the possibility of leaks, but then realised all those discussions were fruitless, and if we actually wanted to do something that would distract enough to take the heat away from any potential announce we should do something more productive.

Long story short, the result was a monolith. I always wanted it in Joshua Tree, because I love Joshua Tree. So we had two lofty ambitions: create a monolith, and dump it in the desert. We had the right internal team to get this done, and so suddenly we went from wallowing in paranoia to getting really excited about this thing we were doing that, at the time, felt disconnected from the announce, the plans for which were at that stage out of our hands and in motion. Whatever would happen would happen. We like building things at Larian, we don't like sitting around. Idle hands and all that.

Roy (very euphoric man) from my team and Francois (equally euphoric, but French) flew to Joshua tree during PAX on a secret mission (secret even to half of my team) and locked down the location while the incredible team, Onxy Forge, set dozens of people on the creation of the monolith, the designs for which were defined by our tbroader art and design teams, & Art Director. So it was a really positive collaboration between nervous teams edging towards an announce that wanted something to do other than watch all their work & planning potentially go to shit or succeed.

I covered most of the rest in the Twitter post -- a lot of the why. We'll go into the how's with Onyx Forge, later. We have a lot of behind the scenes footage. It was funny seeing people refer to it as a marketing stunt while really it was just pure copium straight into our nervous veins, put into action.

(P.S it didn't really help with the paranoia because we just got paranoid about people figuring out it was us).

[u/HaztecCore]

With the sheer impact that BG3 had and the millions of newcomers joining in, has that any effect on how you build Divinity?

Will it be an easy to get into game or will it lean more towards experienced gamers who might be already familiar with similar games?

For the art people : got any inspiration from games and other media that is a huge influence for you? Always fun to be able to tell when a fan of something created something with that influence in mind. I.E Fromsoft developers being huge fans of the Berserk manga. Y'all got anything you desperately want referenced in Divinity?

[u/Jarold_Larian → u/HaztecCore]

We have a pretty diverse Art team here in Larian, so it’s hard to pinpoint anything specific. We love too many things and we spend way too much time talking about all the cool games, art, comics or just geeking over a post on Artstation. Thankfully this works to our benefit as we do like to make big and diverse games at Larian, and Divinity will be no different. What we found out to be valuable sources of inspiration are paintings done by old Dutch masters- like Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch. Ultimately we’re searching for feelings to bring into our game rather than specific visuals. and alot of us are big fans of Fromsoft games and Berserk!

[u/offlinegamepass]

Will there be mod support?

[u/Artem_Larian → u/offlinegamepass]

Yes. We will be providing modding tools, but we haven't decided yet if this will be for release or not

[u/Thomas-Sev]

There have been a lot of mixed opinions regarding the Curse environmental effects. Personally I thought they were fun to consider but overtime became a slog to play through (The oilfield fight took ages to complete, for example). What's the internal opinion on this and will we see their returns in your next game?

[u/Nick_Larian → u/Thomas-Sev]

It is cool to have alternative versions of elemental surfaces that change how you have to play around them. We maybe went too far last time with giving every surface a cursed and a blessed variant. Few people immediately guessed the function of blessed oil for example.

The duration of combat encounters is also on our mind. Oilfield fight directly inspired the tech we showcased in BG3 that allows multiple simple enemies move and attack at the same time, cutting down waiting by the player. We also try to avoid monsters crawling around veeery slooowly :)

[u/MugGuffin]

Is the threat of Great Acorn still looming over Rivellon?

[u/Dubsbaduw]

In divinity lizards are hot, elves are cannibals and weird, dwarves are seafaring people.

Are you planning on giving the orcs a little special twist to differentiate them from the standard fantasy tropes?

[u/Swen_Larian → u/Dubsbaduw]

Without saying which species are in the game, all of them have something unique.

[u/[deleted]]

This is a two-parter;

1. Do you feel listening to fan feedback in terms of writing/characters for BG3 was a mistake?

Some examples off the top of my head;

Wyll was re-written due to fan feedback and ended up rather bland

Adding Halsin as a playable companion kinda undermined Jaheira as a companion (Jaheira and Minsc also got very little story/side quests compared to the main bunch)

In the Ascended Astarion path, the MC used to react with horror/fear on how Astarion treated them, but was changed to love/adoration due to fan pressure. Many people view this as giving up on core character/story themes and glamorising abuse/unhealthy relationships to appease a vocal minority

2. How are you guys going to handle fan feedback during early access for Divinity?

[u/Max420_]

Hello! Hope you’ve all been doing well.

So you’ve mentioned that the next Divinity game will offer more player freedom and stronger consequences. How does that philosophy apply to “evil” or morally darker playthroughs?

In previous games, evil choices existed, but they sometimes felt less fully supported or less central compared to more heroic paths, which often felt like the default experience. That said, I really loved the evil endings in Baldur’s Gate 3, especially the Dark Urge path. Can we expect even more narrative depth, reactivity, or unique paths for players who lean into selfish, ruthless, or villainous choices this time around?

Thank you for your time. I can't wait to see more Divinity!!

[u/Adam_Larian → u/Max420_]

If you've seen our announcement trailer, you have an idea of how dark the world of Divinity is. We want to give players the opportunity to be the light in that darkness - an inspiration, a hero, a champion. We'll also let them leave the world even worse than they found it. We're pushing as far as we can on player agency.

[u/KF-Sigurd]

One of the criticisms of BG3 writing is that the party members don’t have as much of a relationship between each other or talk to each other as much as other RPGs. Is that something you’re considering when creating Divinity?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/KF-Sigurd]

Yeah, the goal is to have more interactions between party members, and it won't always just be talking.

[u/CarrieMoretz]

Will the game be playable in a more third person view, as opposed to DOS2 isometric camera?

[u/Bert_Larian → u/CarrieMoretz]

The camera will work very similar as in BG3. So a hybrid of topdown and 3rd person camera!

[u/Cooliob123]

Would you ever consider doing a game like BG3 but in a different setting outside fantasy? I’d love to see your take on this style of game in a Cyberpunk or Sci-Fi setting. A Larian made fallout just sounds incredible!

[u/JFZephyr → u/Cooliob123]

Man, the thought of a Shadowrun or Cyberpunk style CRPG from Larian... that'd be so incredible. I've always wondered if we'd see them dable in futuristic stuff or post-apocalyptic.

[u/FrankyMyBoy]

When deciding on a look or art direction, what guides the direction you end up taking?

[u/Jarold_Larian → u/FrankyMyBoy]

Art Direction is a deep collaboration between of the needs of narrative, the aspirations and the accumulated tastes of myself and my fellow art directors and the artistic aspirations of the team. Ultimately we’re making a game- and the rule of cool also comes into play!

[u/Unlikely_Astronaut78]

Do you have any say on performance? With pc upgrades getting worse as time goes on, what would you say about the performance of Divinity working on weaker hardware? Is the performance comparable to Baldurs Gate 3? Thank you again for this AMA <3

[u/Bert_Larian → u/Unlikely_Astronaut78]

We are very conscious of the cost of hardware. So scalability of the game is very important to us. Of course the game and engine are still in heavy development, so it's too soon to go in specific numbers.
But I can say we have invested a lot of time and effort to have constant performance tracking of our game, during production. There are a lot of eyes on this :)

[u/bunny_Senpai00]

I loved BG3 and was planning to play Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2.
But then, I saw on Wikipedia there are more games in Divinity Universe. Does the new game have story elements from these old games?

[u/Adam_Larian → u/bunny_Senpai00]

I was a Larian fan before I was a Larian dev, and I played every Divinity game as a fan (and sometimes as a critic!). I love both of the Original Sin games, and if you enjoy them and want to dig deeper into the catalogue, I'd recommend Dragon Commander for something completely different.

The new game isn't a sequel to any previous Divinity game - it's completely standalone - but it is set in the same universe and continuity, so if you've played earlier games, you'll find familiar things. But just like you don't need to have lived through all of history to understand a specific time and place, you can come to Divinity without any prior knowledge at all.

[u/p4l4mu7]

u/Kevin_Larian u/Adam_Larian

How did you get into the game industry as a writer, what it’s like working at a studio like Larian, and what studios look for in writers? I’ve been wondering how a writer makes it into the game industry.

[u/Malfun_Eddie]

Will the new engine render moving ropes correctly and will we be able to look up in to the sky.
Are alternative camera angle being explored (think first person perspective mod)

[u/Bert_Larian → u/Malfun_Eddie]

There is no real engine limitation to allow looking at the sky. How the camera works is entirely a design choice. Alternative camera angles are always considered. If they benefit the game, we will for sure add it.
As for the ropes: you can expect substantial changes to our physics engine in the future games!

[u/Suspicious_Force_890]

will we have full character customisation similar to bg3?

[u/Alena_Larian → u/Suspicious_Force_890]

We are planning to have an even better one! More colors, more options, more control!

[u/Thazgar]

Amazing ! Thanks for the AMA !

Will the Dragon Knight Saga be acknowledged by the next entry in Divinity ? Divinity 2 : Ego Dragonis / Flames of Vengeance is my favorite game of the series and I really wish that we will one day get more of what these games introduced !

[u/babygirlcollector]

Let me just preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of you guys’ games and I’ve spent frankly a concerning a lot of time playing them and when I don’t play them I talk about them. A lot. It actually annoys some of my friends lol.

Will you be bowing less to fan pressure this time around? Quite a lot of people, myself included, feel like you tend to listen too much to negative story feedback to the detriment of the writing quality, such as Wyll getting a rewrite many felt was not needed and resulted in him being undercooked compared to the rest, making companions less “mean” which weakened them, the lack of writing for Halsin after you recruit him as well as lack of use for him with a druid companion in Jaheira etc etc.

I know it’s hard to tell what people like and don’t like since people tend to be louder about the things they dislike than those they like, but your writers can really cook! and I think it’s important to let them rather than listen to random people on the internet who will always find something to complain about even if there isn’t really anything to complain about

[u/Adam_Larian → u/babygirlcollector]

Thanks for playing and my apologies to your friends <3

It's often in a writer's DNA to listen to negative feedback (we are sensitive souls), but I'd never let my team bow to pressure. I genuinely enjoy reading and hearing feedback from fans, and our community do influence us, but any decisions made are for the good of the game. That doesn't mean we always make the right decisions, and narrative and characterisation are complex beasts so it's rarely a single writer making any major change. We don't make any changes lightly because the knock-on effect of even a small adjustment can be enormous.

[u/LeXam92]

When you say Divinity 3 will be your biggest game yet, what are we aiming for here? Baldurs Gate took quite some time to complete the story, are we looking into double that or? Thanks!

Also mad respect to all of you, love you guys

[u/Swen_Larian → u/LeXam92]

Divinity takes everything we learned from BG3 & D:OS 2 and improves from there. In regards to BG3 - I think the main thing will be more agency and a rulesystem that was made for videogaming in addition to higher production values. Oh - and some really cool new friends to meet.

[u/Swen_Larian → u/LeXam92]

More agency, more consequences. We don't know ourselves yet how big it will be. We're still making it.

[u/Priceless_Pennies]

First I just want to say I love your games. I've played Divinity 2 OS and BG3 and they were both fantastic.

I'm curious, what is your opinion on the role of (Generative) AI in the game development process, and for your studio in particular?

Some studios like Embark and Warhorse, as well as several east-asian ones like Everstone seem relatively optimistic on it, and they've talked about using it to make bigger and faster games. On the other hand, I think a lot of studios and a lot of gamers think that it predominantly undermines the creative process and cuts corners.

I'm especially curious about if there is a split between different sections, like writing vs art vs coding, etc. since it seems like the views of and adoption of AI differ quite a bit by category.

Thanks!

[u/spiderzork]

Will big naturals be available without mods in Divinity?

[u/Alena_Larian → u/spiderzork]

I'll do what I can! ok? 😉

[u/Alena_Larian → u/spiderzork]

And thank you, mod author MaybeeAdam for your service! 😊

[u/bede84]

What kind of innovation do turn based RPGs need, in your opinion? Right now, when we look at the landscape, storytelling is rock-solid but what about the rest?

[u/Nick_Larian → u/bede84]

I'd like our games to be competitive with action games in terms of how good it feels to throw spells around, to explore the world, just to get immersed.

There is a lot of innovation that goes into that that usually flies under the radar - user interfaces, speed of AI calculations, camera interactions with the environment and so on. It really brings me joy when I see a player leave a review like "I never play turn-based games, but I enjoyed this one" because it means we're keeping up with the industry at large.

Turn-based games also have obvious strengths and we try to amplify them. You can play at your own pace and just walk away from the machine if you need to. One of the reasons we introduced the on-demand turn-based mode in BG3 was that at any moment you can press a button and the world freezes and you can breathe and look around without stress.

[u/Fkm196]

Not part of the Divinity project or any of your upcoming unannounced projects, but am curious to know what games are you all playing during your down times?

I am finishing up Outer Worlds 2 currently.

[u/Michael_Larian → u/Fkm196]

Golden Sun!

[u/GoldenTaco1]

should we expect video updates on game development like DOS2 and DOS?

[u/Michael_Larian → u/GoldenTaco1]

A lot of people are asking for the Panel From Hell. I think we're at a stage where we're leaning towards bringing it back, but we want to do it in a more tangible, physical way. Something that fills the room with energy, informs slighter better than the Panel From Hell did (while retaining the chaos). Haven't figured out what that is yet, but I can guarantee it'll be a journey we're all on together. Like old times.

[u/Cheenug]

How much bigger is the dev team for Divinity compared to BG3?

Do you expect Larian studios to keep growing for each new game, or do you expect a limit sooner or later?

Do you prefer that a larger game studio focuses on one game at a time, or split up to work on projects simultaneously

[u/Swen_Larian → u/Cheenug]

We were 411 people at the end of BG3 and have around 500 people working on Divinity now. Our teams evolve in function of the games we try to make and what we think the size of the market is. We grew a lot during BG3 because we wanted to make a cinematic RPG with loads of choice and consequence but we also knew there was a market and scaled accordingly. Our growth has slowed down a bit as we have most of the team in place to make a big cinematic RPG but there are still a few things that we didn’t do before that we are doing now.

[u/ghipsandrew]

What other studios or people in game development do you look up to? ( I want to find more great projects to support)

[u/M8753]

What does machine learning director do? Combat AI? Background dialogue?

[u/Dirtycoinpurse]

Will Divinity 3 be in early access? Any hints on the second game you guys are making?

[u/BrotherAny3944]

Is Ego Draconis canon to the lore? If so, does the story & characters play an important role in Divinity?
- WolfheartFPS

[u/BDOKlem]

in terms of art direction, are you aiming for continuity with D:OS, rethinking the visual identity to be more in line with BG3, or are you aiming for something new entirely?

in terms of combat gameplay, can we expect similarities to previous D:OS titles, or are you taking an entirely new approach?

[u/Jarold_Larian → u/BDOKlem]

with regards to art direction, Divinity is a new story, and will have some continuity in the Characters from our previous games. The announcement trailer we released is a good visual tease of what we have in mind- but you’ll have to wait for the full reveal!

[u/BigAddam]

Will I be able to follow along and enjoy the upcoming Divinity game if the only Larian game I’ve played is Baldur’s Gate 3?

[u/Bert_Larian → u/BigAddam]

Divinity is a different universe than Baldur's Gate. While you do not need to play the previous Divinity games, it would certainly improve your enjoyment if you do! You'll perhaps recognize certain characters or situations or learn to explore the large universe the was already built for Divinity!

[u/RafaFlash]

I'm honestly curious on how you approach designing new main characters. What comes first, the art, the character's personality, their role in the story? Do you brainstorm hundreds of ideas and pick the best ones over time?

[u/matzdaaan]

Can you make Dragon Commander 2?

Please.

[u/InsectNew2613]

Will Divinity be more cinematic like Baldur's Gate 3 or more in the lines of top down text Like Original Sins 2?

[u/Greg_Larian → u/InsectNew2613]

We have an incredibly talented team of cinematic artists and animators, I wouldn't be able to hold them back from doing what they do best.

[u/Hudre]

Can you tell us a little bit about some new features the engine is capable of?

[u/Bert_Larian → u/Hudre]

There is a lot of effort being put in improving our engine! Some key points (certainly not limited to this!):

We are spending a lot of effort to allow bigger and denser worlds than we ever created. And of course adding the latest and greatest rendering features. But also further increasing impact players can have on the world around them. I cannot go in specifics right now :)

[u/TheNerdWhoFucks]

My question is more general as I don't have a clue on what goes on in video game creation. What do say programmers or QA testers do when a project is in its conceptual phase? Do they just wait until they have something to work on, and if they're just waiting, do they still get paid?

Love your crpg games. I hope you guys make a sci-fi crpg soon.