The Witcher 4 devs state Baldur’s Gate 3 held “a lot of inspiration” for its upcoming RPG 

The massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3 has clearly had an impact, although many developers are worried publishers will take the wrong lessons from that success. However, The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red is inspired by Larian’s brilliant RPG for its next adventures. 

The Witcher 4 devs are inspired by BG3

Following the reveal of its gorgeous The Witcher 4 tech demo, CEO Michał Nowakowski revealed that Larian’s techniques for developing dense, beloved RPGs has affected many developers working at CDPR. 

While The Witcher 4 is a very different beast than Larian’s act-based, turn-based adventure, the design philosophy of the Swedish studio has inspired the Polish game giant to create even denser worlds. 

“I think we’re still more in the, you know, we’re a big open world,” Nowakowski told PC Gamer in a recent interview. “But a lot of what Baldur’s Gate 3 showed was an inspiration, and to be honest there’s no shame in that. I think everybody who launches games nowadays is looking back on what was done before, and is looking at what worked and what was great and how and if they can fit it into whatever they are doing.”

“A lot of stuff with how the characters can interact with the world and what it does was for sure some inspiration to us.”

CDPR CEO Michał Nowakowski

Baldur’s Gate 3 wasn’t just a version of Baldur’s Gate 2 with better graphics, and it wasn’t just a copy-and-paste of Divinity: Original Sin 2 in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. Instead, Larian bravely expanded and innovated which ended up creating one of the best RPGs of all time. 

While The Witcher 4 isn’t going to be a Baldur’s Gate 3-like experience, CDPR is hoping to pull off the same level of innovation when continuing its open-world RPG series. Maybe this means more choices, maybe denser dialogue trees, maybe a different approach to quest design. Whatever the case, it’s very exciting. 

Nowakowski explained that CDPR isn’t just going to “make a game like Larian did”. However, “a lot of stuff with how the characters can interact with the world and what it does was for sure some inspiration” to the studio. 

“For sure there was a lot of inspiration and what BG3 did, but I think we’re still more sticking to what was The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk, even if we don’t want to just make another game like that, just with better graphics,” the CEO continued. “We do want to innovate in terms of what’s available in terms of gameplay and so on. I hope when the time comes, that’s going to become clear for the fans as well.”

The Witcher 4 isn’t expected to release until sometime in 2027, if not sometime after. After the rushed release of Cyberpunk 2077, the studio is taking its time to make sure that its flagship franchise is as good as it can be. Additionally, Cyberpunk 2 is in development at the company’s new Boston studio, and that game will include a second city for players to explore. 

As for Larian, that studio is working on two new games at the same time, backed by a brand-new storytelling department in Guilford, England. Larian’s next game isn’t expected until 2028 at the earliest.