Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 remakes reportedly in development

Wizards of the Coast is returning to Baldur’s Gate. PC Gamer reports that Wizards of the Coast is developing remakes of Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, with Kevin Martens leading development. Martens was the co-lead designer of Baldur’s Gate 2 and most recently was assisting in the development of Exodus, Wizards’ upcoming AAA video game.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was a major success for Wizards of the Coast and a sequel game seems inevitable. However, Larian Studios opted to leave the franchise to pursue its own IP, and Wizards has yet to announce what studio, whether internal or external, would take over. A remake of the first two Baldur’s Gate games would likely be a stopgap of sorts to keep fans interested in the franchise while lining up Baldur’s Gate 4, although a lot of work would be needed to update the games for modern consoles and PCs. Remastered versions were already released for iOS and PC a decade ago.

 

[Horwath]

Please cancel the project, I do not need to see a classic butchered.

I prefer RT, but if the want to remake it as TB, sure, go ahead, they are not getting my money. same as BG3.

 

[Planescape]

Please make these turn-based; I cannot stand real-time with pause. I never finished Baldur's Gate 1, and I didn't bother with the sequel because the gameplay style simply wasn't for me.

Luckily for you RtwP hasn't been popular for a good while. Very high chance this will ship with TB.

Pillars of Eternity added turn-based mode retroactively nearly 10 years after release!

 

[J-H]

Turn based is soooo slow. RTWP means I can just pause, hit Greater Whirlwind for all my fighters, unpause, and watch 60 attacks in 6 seconds.

 

[Hygge Halfling]

I can see it now…

Baldur’s Gate 3 Chronicles: Chapter 1: Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn Re-Remastered

 

[Silam]

Is there anything preventing the game from working in either TB or RTwP modes? Without falling into the trap of trivializing the software effort involved in implementing these, it does still stand to reason that this specific aspect of the game is a very small fraction of the total implementation effort. The graphics, physics, implementation of the rules and everything else represent the lion’s share of the work, and there is no reason for any of those to be tightly coupled with whether the pausing is controlled by the player or by the game’s own turn manager engine.

 

[Superchunk77]

Lol, this is going to go well...

 

[Gradine]

I don't know if you could remake Baldur's Gate 1 faithfully with today's game aesthetics. It's such an older concept of play, essentially a hexcrawl, with a relatively thin plot stringing you along until you find out that the quest-y stuff you've been tasked into looking into coincidentally connects directly with your own origins at the 11th hour.

I think an actual modern remake would, at the very least, streamline the early acts and drop more connective tissue between the two plotlines. Which ultimately wouldn't feel like BG1 felt, which is going to be enough for the diehards to rally against it.

Of course, I would expect that have the same kind of impact that it ultimately had on the rollout of BG3 (which is to say, basically none at all).

At a minimum the gameplay would be adjusted to mirror BG3, so pour one out for all the RTwP fans out there (and also, for that matter, 80-90% of the trash mobs). That would also mean we'll likely see the playable cast shrink as the designers pick and choose who to flesh out into full party members and who will get the wacky one-off NPC treatment (Tiax...)

 

[MGibster]

So what will they replace the slaves everywhere with?

I don't think it'll be a problem.

Please cancel the project, I do not need to see a classic butchered.

I tried to reply Baldur's Gate 1 a few years back and didn't get very far. The interface is just way to janky for my tastes and I'm saying this as someone who played the heck of out it in the late 90s. (I feel the same about the first two Fallout games.) I never want to play the orginal Resident Evil again, but I really loved the remakes of 2 & 3. We'll always have the original, but if the remake introduces a new generation to classic games then I'm all for it.

 

[Scribe]

We'll always have the original, but if the remake introduces a new generation to classic games then I'm all for it.

If its a faithful reproduction with just an updated UI, sure. Otherwise, pass. Make something new and see if it succeeds on its own merits.

 

[JDazzle]

Please make these turn-based; I cannot stand real-time with pause. I never finished Baldur's Gate 1, and I didn't bother with the sequel because the gameplay style simply wasn't for me.

I mean, if they are using Larian's engine (which seems like a possibility, if a somewhat unlikely one) then it's built-in!