Larian Studios Forums Divinity General Discussion Letter from an old Larian fan

Hello to everyone at Larian,



I do not even know how active these forums are these days. Never had time to follow or post here much and that is more true than ever lately. This seems like the best place to post this even though I have no idea if this will reach the people I hope it reaches.

I have to start with the fact that even though Divine Divinity was absolutely a game I would have played back when it released, when I was a kid, it simply didn't come up that time in my life. As such, I played it relatively late and it ended up being in my top 5 games ever at the time. Due to how immersive it was, to me, it felt like an isometric version of the RPG I DID grow up with and has been my favourite game ever for a long time: GOTHIC (1/2). It also made me fall in love with Kirill's music and boooooy, I do miss the man a lot!

I never got around to finishing Beyond Divinity and it is something that I want to fix at some point, but life makes it pretty hard to play games in general nowadays.

Divinity II: Ego Draconis - the one that changed everything!

I first saw a trailer for this game and got extremely hyped as I absolutely love dragons. At some point, I think a version of the german build of the game leaked or some such. Of course I did everything I could to get my hands on it and try it: I ended up joining a (mainly at the time) piracy forum and had people there help me get it working by patching in the english localization from the released console version I believe. The game worked, it was full of bugs and ran like shit, but I couldn't put it down. I played through a large part of the game like that and regreted none of it. When it finally released, I started over and finished it, of course. When the expansion was released I did the same: started over and finished it again. Boy was "Flames of Vengeance" a fantastic expansion, one of the best for any game in my eyes.

After the Dragon Knight Saga was over, I started following Larian and Swen religiously, desperately waiting for their next game. I used to read Swen's blog every time he posted.
I was pretty excited for Dragon Commander, but ended up playing it very little as games that lean into strategy elements just aren't for me most of the time. I still think it's a very cool game and I'm glad the team got to experiment with it.

Divinity: Original Sin 1/2 - the ones that changed everything, again!

Larian changed again, for the better, going by many people's thoughts! However, for me, this is when I lost interest in games made by Larian. Again, I used to read Swen's blog, so I know very well that this is the type of games he and the studio have been eager to make for so long. They just aren't for me as I'm not a fan of party-based RPGs generally. The combat going for the tactical turn-based style didn't help either. Still, I was very happy that Larian was finally getting the recognized they deserved for so long.

Baldur's Gate 3 happened a while after and as the internet blew up talking about how good it was, I once again felt... nothing. I had no interest in playing it and I haven't touched it to this day. I'm still very happy that Larian is one of the most appreciated companies in the industry now.

The Game Awards 2025 night came along and the trailer for the new Divinity hit us all. I absolutely love it! Love how confident Larian is to show something like that on the biggest stage this industry has. I was excited that it was a new Divinity that was not Original Sin. I was excited at the idea that it might finally be another Divinity that's going to move towards what it used to be. A more personal and immersive action-RPG. A Divinity III if you will.7

I recently saw the news that it is in fact not going to be that and will be the culmination of what Larian has been building towards for so many years, but still in the style of studio's more recent games. I am once again losing that excitement and drifting towards indifference towards Divinity again. Looking forward to what the game will be like still and maybe it's going to be different enough that it will click with me unlike the previous 3 games. I don't know, honestly.

I am not mad at anyone for where Larian is still going. I am still very much rooting for this studio and am very happy the people there get to do what they do.
I am however, still clinging to some hope that something more action-RPG oriented, in the vein of Ego Draconis, will grace Divinity once again in the future! Because I do love and miss this universe a lot!

I'm not even sure what this is for in the end and I'm sorry for the long read. I wish Swen and everyone at Larian all the best and happy holidays! Keep showing this industry how it's done and build towards that RPG that will dwarf them all! I always believed in you guys!



Signing off,
An old Larian fan with a draconic heart

PS: I think I may have the only video on Youtube with gameplay from "The Lady, The Mage & The Knight", being mostly me just goofing around in it because I was excited to get my hands on the one that started it all

Larian may in the future do another game with action combat again. Considering that they are working on two games at once, the other may fit the bill. However, basically all their early games were released under publisher pressure. It was basically their money givers going like: "Make this more like Diablo or we won't fund this." So if they do another, it may look and play very differently to what they released way back. Even about Divinity 2, Swen Vincke wrote in his blog: "in truth there are only a few gameplay moments in there that come close to the reason I set up this company." https://rpgwatch.com/news/larian-studios--the-inspiration-behind-project-e-19696.html


So long, I heavily recommend Drova! Even if pixel art isn't your style, try it. The game started out internally with the project name "Gothic 2D" -- and boy, did they nail that. There's even a day/night cycle, simple NPC schedules (NPCs working/sleeping, patrolling) etc. Plus, same as in Gothic, you start out as a total nobody and have to climb the ranks to earn respect. NO STUPID MAP MARKERS EITHER. Same as in Gothic, you may BUY a map of the areas. Else it's all exploration bliss. My GOTY 2024, and I am not kidding.

Oh, I love pixel art games and I've had my eyes on Drova ever since I've heard of it, just haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I do intend to!

I do know of the remarks in regards to their older games. I always understood that side as well, but it is those older games of theirs that I love at the same time. And I can only imagine what can come out if they gave that style of game an honest try, on their own terms for once.

if you liked Gothic and Drova keep an eye on Of Ash and Steel.
It' currently broken beyond belief, but the day they manage to patch some of the most egregious bugs there's going to be something genuinely good there. I played it for several hours before putting it on hold waiting for a decent update.

Also, any Gothic fan should give their full attention to Archolos, but that should be old news at this point.