Summary
Hasbro’shead of game studios Dan Ayoubsaid at GDCthatBaldur’s Gate 3’ssuccess “proved for us that people really want great D&D games”, and that the company is “certainly doing that”. Hasbro also said it has “about 40”Dungeons & Dragonsgames in the works. It’s clearly trying to capitalise on the heightened cultural awareness of D&D right now, but I fear the company has taken the wrong lesson fromLarian’s2023 hit.
I like Dungeons & Dragons. While I’m not a massive fan of the game, I’ve played it on and off for years over a few different campaigns. I actually have a session booked with my friends this weekend. But as a Dungeons & Dragons player, I’m under no illusion that Baldur’s Gate 3 was such a massive success because of the D&D IP.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it helped. Before Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian was a fairly small developer best known for the Divinity series, especially the 2017 gameDivinity: Original Sin 2, which many critics consider to be one of the best cRPGs of all time. That game sold well enough to be considered a commercial success, but pales in comparison to the overwhelmingly positive reception Baldur’s Gate 3 received.
Some of that success can be chalked up to the fact that D&D is a cultural touchstone, and a lot of people have at least some familiarity with its mechanics. Baldur’s Gate 3 came out after Stranger Things incorporated D&D into its storyline and created some level of renewed interest in the tabletop game, and just a few months after the movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves hit cinemas. Hasbro seems to see this resurgence in name recognition as a sign that Baldur’s Gate 3 was primarily recognised as a D&D game and was interesting because of that, precisely because it was bringing this IP to a mainstream audience, as well because it was the newest instalment in a beloved decades-old series that originated with BioWare.
It’s also worth noting that Baldur’s Gate 3 was in early access and continually fine tuned with player feedback for years before it was ever released, which did far more to cement its eventual success than the Dungeons & Dragons IP becoming more culturally relevant.
But when I think of Baldur’s Gate 3, I never think of it as a D&D game. Yes, its characters are in a D&D setting and use D&D tropes and lore, but apart from the combat mechanics, people unfamiliar with D&D lore could easily have assumed it was just set in a very well fleshed out fantasy world. Lots of people who have never played D&D have fallen in love with the game and its characters, because the special things about the game exist outside of what the IP gave it. Yes, it was very successful in translating the game’s rules (especially combat) to the video game medium, but the fanbase isn’t going gaga over the fights. It’s always been about the characters.
The characters are influenced by their positions in the world of Dungeons & Dragons, but aren’t interestingbecauseof it. Shadowheart is a half-elf cleric, yes, but that’s only interesting because she’s a victim of religious indoctrination. She’s beloved because she took back her agency after a lifetime of abuse and servitude, and her religious fervour is the reason she’s a cleric, not the other way around. Karlach is a fiery tiefling barbarian, aggressive and full of righteous rage as barbarians often are. But people don’t love her because she’s a barbarian, they love her because she rebelled against her imprisonment, and because she’s fearlessly optimistic as much as she is tender. Astarion is a hot vampire twink with an attitude. Enough said.
I could keep going, which is how I know I should stop. These characters aren’t defined by their D&D-defined roles, they’re defined by their own personal histories and journeys. They’re compelling because of the obstacles they surmount and the ways they change. The charactersarethe main draw, and that’s not Dungeons & Dragons at work, that’s Larian.
More than anything, I think the fan reaction to Larian’s announcement thatit will not be making Baldur’s Gate 4has been very telling. People are disappointed, but you’d be hard pressed to find anybody saying that Larian can’t succeed without the D&D IP – quite the opposite.
People want to see what the studio makes next even if it’s completely different, because the love for Baldur’s Gate 3 was never really about Dungeons & Dragons. My colleague Andrew King wrote that at this point in time,there isn’t a studio even remotely equipped to make Baldur’s Gate 4 apart from Larian, and I’m inclined to agree. It’s natural that Hasbro wants to replicate the game’s massive success, but the magic doesn’t come from Faerun. Don’t get it twisted: this game was incredible because of Larian, not the IP.
Baldur’s Gate 3
WHERE TO PLAY
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
