As an early Christmas present last year, Baldur’s Gate 3 developers Larian Studios gave fans a treat on their official YouTube channel. Actors and realpart-life Hobbits Elijah Wood and Sean Astin reunited to play slices of the game as Larian CEO Swen Vincke guided them through various levels. They were delighted during the time with Baldur’s Gate 3, and even fell back into role-playing a bit as the characters that made them famous. Which got me thinking… How amazing would a Baldur’s Gate 3-like The Lord of the Rings CRPG be?
I don’t have to tell you that The Lord of the Rings has been in a bit of a rut lately when it comes to video games. The Gollum game was criticized into oblivion, and Return to Moria was as dead on arrival as the skeletons populating the famed mine.
But LOTR games weren’t always this way. Just a short while ago, Shadow of Mordor took the community by storm with its wholly original Nemesis System and Rocksteady-like combat, and Shadow of War delivered a robust sequel. Hell, even the early 2000’s film tie-in games defied their tie-in/cash grab status and were actually fun and more than worth their salt. However, LOTR’s gaming future is a bit murky at the moment, meaning now is a better time than ever to hand the license off to the hottest developers around.
Now, I won’t pretend to be a Middle-Earth trivia champion – my knowledge of J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal work comes from many repeated viewings of the Peter Jackson films and one (admittedly unfinished) readthrough of the book series. I can’t tell you what Age a Larian CRPG should be set in or what tragic figures from the Silmarillion would make for great companions; rather, I can tell you that Larian knows how to work well in an already established fantasy universe and their talents would translate well to Middle-Earth.
The game could feature an original cast, known faces, or a mix of both; just imagine recruiting a young Galadrial into your party or coming across a certain grey wizard on your travels. Story-wise, I trust Larian to come up with their own original tale that could be just as captivating and moldable as Tav and Friends’ adventures in Baldur’s Gate 3. Gameplay would be what Larian does best – a crunchy, complex, turn-based RPG where every player can approach any situation differently. The Lord of the Rings is no stranger to tabletop RPGs, and its world would lend itself well to a CRPG.
Vincke has said that he’s begun brainstorming and solidifying what Larian’s next project will be and, as much as I would love that project to be set in Middle-Earth, I don’t think it’s going to be a The Lord of the Rings CRPG. Maybe in a few years Larian can fulfill my pipe dream and license Tolkien’s work and a Larian-made LOTR game could come to the PlayStation 7 in 2038.
What else might Larian be working on for their next project? Let’s wonder!
Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC
Let’s get the obvious out of the way – please, Selûne and all the other Faerûnian gods, let Larian be working on some BG3 DLC. While the base game is incredibly expansive – my first Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough clocked in at 130 hours and I still missed some quests and content – there’s always room for more, no? The main storyline resolves quite nicely in the end, but that doesn’t mean your merry band of adventurers can’t get up to more shenanigans afterwards, whether that’s wandering the realm of Faerûn or campaigning with everyone’s bestie Karlach in the fires of Avernus.
As much as I’d love to continue my Drow Paladin’s Baldur’s Gate 3 adventures in an expansion (with a raised level cap!), I actually think DLC is pretty unlikely. Remember – BG3 was in development for about six years. One could assume that an expansion lasting “only” 20-40 hours, while working with the many permutations of plotlines and character quests, could easily take two or more years to develop on its own by a smaller team while the bulk of Larian continues BG3 post-game support and begins pre-development on its next full release. Speaking of which…
Baldur’s Gate 4
I don’t want to wait 23 years between Baldur’s Gate 3 and the next entry in the franchise, but I suppose I could wait another six or so. (With the way game development timelines have ballooned over recent years, it’s likely that BG3 is the only game Larian releases this console generation.) Regardless of how long it takes, I very much hope Baldur’s Gate 4 is towards the top of Larian’s whiteboard of ideas and pitches. I love the cast so much – from tortured vampire Astarion to goth girlfriend Shadowheart, they’re all so wonderful – and I would love to continue adventuring with them in a sequel.
Divinity: Original Sin III
With the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 and how long a Larian game will take to make, one has to wonder if the studio will return to its original IP anytime soon with another entry in the Divinity: Original Sin saga. The Divinity series is two decades old, but it really blew up with Divinity: Original Sin in 2014 and its sequel in 2017. The two games lay the foundation for what Larian would build in Baldur’s Gate 3 with their crunchy turn-based combat and RPG decision-making. I personally haven’t played the Divinity games yet (currently kicking myself for not picking up DOS2 the last time it was on sale for $24), but I’m very much looking forward to checking out Larians’ past work – and I’m sure many BG3 players will do the same. Hopefully a renewed interest in the IP will lead to Larian revisiting it somewhere down the line.
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