In every genre of video games, there are the “standard bearers.” These are the titles that everyone holds in the highest esteem because they “changed the game” or redefined how the genre, or the video game space as a whole, should think about things. In our modern era, there are fewer opportunities for titles to “change the game,” so when one appears to come around, people praise it. The arrival of Baldur’s Gate 3 is one such example. It might look or feel like an “old-school RPG but with modern updates,” but it’s so much more than that, as many have noted.
It’s a game that truly allows people to make the choices they desire and see the game through to the end on their chosen path. They can make all sorts of decisions that’ll affect the overall game and have multiple playthroughs of the title as a result. Due to this, some online feel that Baldur’s Gate 3 has “set the standard” for what the RPG genre can do and should do in the future regarding these kinds of titles.
One person who doesn’t agree with that, though, is Larian Studios Founder Swen Vincke. In a talk with PC Gamer, he noted that creativity and freedom have always been there and that the standards of video games are ever-changing:
“The problem I have is with the use of the word’ standards,'” Vincke said. “This is videogames, standards just die every day. Things get reinvented. New things appear all the time. When I was starting out in the industry, Assassin’s Creed set the new standard. It was over—nobody could make games like Assassin’s Creed, there was too much budget behind it, that was going to be the future, everybody had to consolidate, blah blah blah. That didn’t materialize. In videogames there’s so much free space to explore, still, in the creative tree.”
He also pointed out that other RPGs “set the standard” before his game, like Disco Elysium, and yet there hasn’t been another game like it since the title arrived.
In his mind, the potential and desire to do something “more” or even ” cool ” pushes developers like Larian Studios. The technology they have to make these games shine is out there, you just need the desire to push things, and they do.
So while you should check out Larian Studios’ newest title, should you like it, just praise the game for what it is and not for what others might take from it.
