There's a new Divinity on the way from Larian Studios, as heralded by the now infamous statue at The Game Awards. To prepare for this latest installment in the Baldur's Gate sister series, Larian founder Swan Vincke has some particular advice for anyone wanting to brush up on its earlier games. But although the events and aspects of those games are part of the tapestry of this Divinity, they're not necessary to understanding it. Vincke believes you really only need to play through them if you want a history lesson. Divinity is a "brand-new game" that doesn't require any experience with Larian Studios' past RPGs "Baldur's Gate 3 and D:OS2 are the blueprint for Divinity": Larian's next RPG is the studio's "natural evolution" Larian's new Divinity game might mean a pivot back to classic RPGs and I can't wait to see it "If you played Baldur's Gate 3 because it was a cinematic narrative experience, you shouldn't play the previous ones unless you want to know the lore," he states. "If you played because you really enjoy tactical combat or co-op multiplayer or really having lots of freedom, you should definitely play Original Sin 2, because that's a game that was a blueprint for BG3. Original Sin 1 also, although in slightly lesser manner, because it didn't have the companions that we had in those two. So I would point you in the direction of those games." I should point out, Baldur's Gate 3 and the Divinity games take place in different universes, the former in Faerûn, an actual location within the Forgotten Realms, whereas Larian invented Rivellon for the latter. But they're united by the team's creative philosophies and ideas, making 2023's Baldur's Gate threequel the most contemporary benchmark for whatever terrors the new Divinity will throw at us. "If you really want to know everything, there's games that came before," Vincke finishes, "but they're a bit outdated by now, they are quite old." Larian lead says RAM shortage is affecting Divinity's development, calling for "a lot of optimization work in early access that we didn't necessarily want to do"