Geoff Keighley flytipped a statue in the desert, Larian made some cryptic tweets, there was a brief period where lots of people were saying The Elder Scrolls 6 and Half-Life 3 for some reason, and now it’s all over. We know what Larian’s next game is. It’s Divinity—just Divinity—and I’d bet several dollars it’s a soft reboot for a series which is going to pull in exponentially more players after the mondo success of Baldur’s Gate 3.
So if we can’t argue about what that statue is or what Larian’s next game will be anymore, what’s left to us? Fear not: we’ve already started arguing about whether Divinity will be a turn-based game when it eventually arrives, or if it’ll revive the old, hallowed ways of realtime with pause, like its Infinity Engine forefathers of olde.
In fact, the debate went on before Divinity was even officially revealed at The Game Awards. “There are rumors that Larian’s next game ‘Divinity’ is NOT turn-based…” tweeted content creator SynthPotato. Well, that set the cat among the pigeons.
My assumption is one or both of the repliers have since perished in some kind of dawn duel.
It’s not just X replies where the argument proceeds, mind you. “Ain’t no way Divinity isn’t turn-based” declares a poster in the Divinity: Original Sin subreddit. “They have done real time before, and they were fun. Let the devs do what they think is the best fit,” reads a remarkably sober reply in a separate thread. Across TikTok and YouTube, comments sections reverberate with all the mutual enmity of turn-based stalwarts and real-time sickos.
Which, to be honest, I find a bit odd. To be fair, it’s not like there’s no reason to think Larian’s new Divinity will be a real-time ARPG. After all, that’s what the series was originally. Beyond Divinity, Ego Draconis, and Divine Divinity? All some flavour of real-time. It was only really the Original Sin games—which bear a lot of similarities in how they play to Baldur’s Gate 3—that got so many people thinking of Divinity as a turn-based CRPG series.
And yet, I feel pretty confident saying Divinity, whenever it releases, will hew to a similar turn-based mode as BG3 and Original Sin 1 and 2. For one thing, that’s the style that put Larian as we know it today on the map—Original Sin 2 and especially BG3 were successes like nothing else it’s ever made, and plenty of its newest ardent fans will expect more of that gameplay. Heck, it already turned Baldur’s Gate—a real-time with pause series originally—into a turn-based game in the mould of Original Sin.
For another, Larian specifically namechecks Original Sin 1 and 2 in Divinity’s announcement. “While Divinity is a brand new game that doesn’t require experience with previous Larian titles, those who’ve played Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin 2 will be able to enjoy greater understanding and continuity.”
Maybe it’s just referring to the series’ narrative there, but I doubt it. I think Larian’s saying if you can already deal with Original Sin’s systems, you’ll be able to handle Divinity.
Then again, Swen Vincke is a complete mad lad. Maybe it’ll be an RTS.