For many reasons, Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the most talked about games of 2023. Along with its fantastic role-playing mechanics and its award-winning story, it also brought greater interest to the CRPG sub-genre - and now many are looking ahead to what this means for CRPGs going forward.
Following the win for Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2023, Larian Studios founder and CEO Swen Vincke spoke with 12DOVE to talk about the game and his hopes for the CRPG sub-genre following the BG3's success.
"We've always been very focused on just making our game, and a lot of people have attached a lot of things to that because the game turned out the way that we wanted it to be," said Vincke in response to industry attention for their game and CRPGs. "So I hope there will be more games like a CRPG type of game. It's a game I like to play, and a lot of people in the industry like to play as well. So, If those games come out, and they don't have a story that we know already, I think that will be great. I look forward to those types of games."
Following the full 1.0 release in August, Baldur's Gate 3 has earned much attention from fans and industry creatives. Writer of Baldur's Gate 2 at BioWare, David Gaider, praised Larian's and said that it "resurrected the feeling of [Baldur's Gate] in every way."
Larian Studios writer Adam Smith stated following the release that Baldur's Gate 3 was a big gamble in how the developer put its all in making not just a great CRPG but also a large-scale cinematic role-playing game.
It's still a bit early to say what's to come for the future of CRPGs and also what's next for Larian Studios. In recent years, though, CPRGs have been on an upward swing, with notable games like Larian's Divinity: Original Sin 2, Owlcat Games' Pathfinder series, and ZA/UM's Disco Elysium being notable standouts. The future looks bright for the genre, and for now, Baldur's Gate 3 is the pinnacle of the sub-genre that's steadily gaining attention.
For more role-playing games to dive into, check out our roundup of the best RPGs you can play right now.
