A shocking trailer from the Baldur’s Gate 3 studio
If you watched The Game Awards, you probably remember the Divinity reveal trailer. It is hard to forget. From puke eating pigs to an on screen orgy in front of people being burned alive in a Wicker Man style scene, the whole thing escalates to a brutal finale where almost everyone dies horribly. Except the pig. That tiny bit of survival is about as close as the trailer gets to mercy.
What really made the trailer land so hard is who it came from. Larian Studios is best known recently for Baldur’s Gate 3, which became famous for its wild romance options, including the now legendary bear scene and all kinds of cheeky moments with party members and even squirrels. Fans have come to expect playful, horny fantasy from Larian, not a horror reel packed with human misery.
But if you look back, this direction is not entirely new. The very first Baldur’s Gate 3 announcement trailer was also disgusting in its own way, complete with a character spewing out their own teeth as a mind flayer transformation takes hold. Larian has always been comfortable mixing dark body horror with big, cinematic storytelling.
So that violent Divinity trailer is not just shock for shock’s sake. It is Larian laying down a marker for what this new game world is really like.
Why the trailer is so dark
In a recent Reddit AMA, writing director Adam Smith explained the real goal behind the trailer. The studio wanted to set expectations for players, especially those who only know Larian from Baldur’s Gate 3 and have never touched a Divinity game.
According to Smith, if you have seen the announcement trailer you already have a feel for how dark the world of Divinity is meant to be. The trailer is a statement that this is a harsh, brutal setting, not a cozy fantasy where everything will work out fine if you just roll high enough.
However, the tone is not just meant to be grim for its own sake. Larian wants to give players space to react to that darkness. Smith says the team wants players to be able to act as:
- The light in a very dark world
- An inspiration and a genuine hero
- A champion who tries to make things better
At the same time, the opposite is absolutely on the table. Larian is pushing player agency as far as it can, which means you will also be able to make the world even worse than you found it. If you want to lean into cruelty, chaos, or pure selfishness, the game will not stop you. It will simply react.
This focus on player choice builds on what Baldur’s Gate 3 already did so well. That game became famous for letting players solve problems in ridiculous ways, break quests, romance unlikely characters, and still have the story adapt around them. Larian now seems ready to bring that same philosophy back to its original universe but with a much stronger tone and identity.
Making the Divinity setting memorable again
Divinity as a series actually predates Baldur’s Gate 3 by decades, with multiple RPGs building out its world and lore long before Larian tackled Dungeons and Dragons. The catch is that while many players loved those older games for their systems and combat, the setting itself never really stuck in the wider gaming consciousness.
Even some fans admit that Divinity never felt especially dark or distinctive compared to other fantasy RPG worlds. The writing had humor, the systems were clever, and the environments were fun to explore, but the overall world did not leave as strong an impression as, say, Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls or the Forgotten Realms from D and D.
Larian clearly wants to change that this time. Coming off the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the studio now has a much larger audience paying attention. Many of those players will be coming to Divinity for the first time, expecting the same level of quality, freedom, and cinematic storytelling they just experienced.
That is why this trailer matters. It is a bold way of saying: this is not just Baldur’s Gate 3 with the serial numbers filed off. This is Larian’s own universe, and it has teeth. The world is unfair. People suffer. Things get weird and gross. And you are dropped right into the middle of it with the power to either help or hurt everyone around you.
The developers are trying to make the tone and atmosphere of Divinity stick in your mind from day one. Instead of slowly discovering that the world is grim, violent, and morally messy, you see all of that immediately. It gives the rest of the game space to explore what you do about it.
There is also a practical reason for this approach. Baldur’s Gate 3 turned Larian from a cult favorite among RPG fans into a studio that mainstream players now recognize by name. It won awards, sparked endless discussion, and brought a huge wave of new PC players into the world of deep, choice driven role playing.
Now Larian is trying to bring that crowd into its original flagship series. A lot of Baldur’s Gate 3 players have no idea what Divinity is or why they should care. The new trailer is the first step in giving them a strong, memorable taste of the setting. It is brutal, it is sickening at times, and it absolutely does not look like just another generic fantasy world.
Whether you loved or hated the trailer, it did its job. People are talking about Divinity. People are asking what kind of game could possibly live up to something that extreme. And for a studio that thrives on big, reactive RPGs, that is a great place to start.
If you missed the trailer or want to test your stomach again, you can go back and watch it. Just do not get too attached to anyone on screen. Except the pig. The pig is doing fine.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/divinitys-reveal-trailer-was-brutal-and-dark-for-a-reason-larians-writing-director-says-we-want-to-give-players-the-opportunity-to-be-the-light-in-that-darkness/
