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Mark Darrah: Baldur's Gate 3 succeeded by leaning on Larian's Divinity roots

Mark Darrah, a veteran of BioWare who worked on Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and led Dragon Age through Inquisition, says Baldur's Gate 3 excelled because Larian Studios blended Baldur's Gate flavour with its Divinity design and modern CRPG advances instead of faithfully copying Baldur's Gate 2. He contrasted that approach with Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity, which he says feels like a restrictive Infinity Engine pastiche. Darrah argues Larian's choices helped BG3 eclipse its predecessors, generate substantial revenue, and remain among Steam's most-played games three years after release.

• Mark Darrah worked as a programmer on Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II, contributed to Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire, served as executive producer on Dragon Age: Origins through Inquisition, left BioWare in 2020 and returned in 2023 to work on The Veilguard.
• Darrah says Larian Studios avoided trying to replicate Baldur's Gate II exactly, instead making a game that is Baldur's Gate–flavoured but shaped by Larian's Divinity series and modern CRPG design.
• He described Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity as feeling like an Infinity Engine game and said that faithful recreations of older styles can be limiting compared with evolving the formula.
• Baldur's Gate 3 has eclipsed the earlier Baldur's Gate titles in visibility, generated large revenue, and remained among the most popular games on Steam three years after its release.