Divinity will be a turn-based RPG and see Larian “unleashed”, declares CEO Swen Vincke, replacing the D&D system with one “made for a video game”

Larian CEO Swen Vincke has confirmed the studio’s next game, Divinity, will be a turn-based RPG, describing the game as “us unleashed”.

Divinity was revealed at last week’s The Game Awards, following an elaborate stunt with a demonic statue in the desert. It will be the next game from the studio after the huge success of Baldur’s Gate 3, which was similarly turn-based.

“This is going to be us unleashed, I think,” Vincke told Bloomberg. “It’s a turn-based RPG featuring everything you’ve seen from us in the past, but it’s brought to the next level.”

Divinity will also be an early-access release, Vincke confirmed, just like Baldur’s Gate 3, though it’s unknown when this could start.

Vincke explained the studio had originally planned to work with Wizards of the Coast once again on a Dungeons & Dragons game, but the developers weren’t excited about it.

“Conceptually, all of the ingredients for a really cool game were there except the hearts of the developers,” he said.

That’s why the studio is now returning to Divinity, the franchise on which the studio is built. Previous games in the series had real-time combat, though the two Original Sin games were turn-based, leading to speculation among fans as to what this new Divinity game will feature.

“Baldur’s Gate 3 was a good game and I’m proud of it, but I think this one is going to be way better,” said Vincke. He noted the tabletop systems of Dungeons & Dragons were difficult to translate into a video game. “Here, we’re making a system that’s made for a video game. It’s much easier to understand.”

What’s more, the studio will be using a new game engine and is doubling down on cinematic storytelling. The developers also want to expand on the breadth of storytelling, too.

“The idea is that when you talk to fellow journalists about the game, you’ll have completely different stories,” Vincke said. “We’re doing a couple of things that you haven’t seen in RPGs before, I think.”

Following the announcement of Divinity at The Game Awards, Larian has released a current gen upgrade of Divinity: Original Sin 2 for Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.