UPDATED 09:20 EDT / JANUARY 09 2015

Beamdog Baldur's Gate 3 To Use Original Game Engine NEWS

New Baldur’s Gate confirmed using original game engine

Beamdog Baldur's Gate 3 To Use Original Game Engine

Usually, when a long-dead series gets new life with a modern sequel, the new game tries to recapture the feeling of the originals while still using the latest graphics and game engine, but for the now-confirmed next entry into the Baldur’s Gate series, what is old is new again.

Beamdog, the company that released expanded “Enhanced” editions of the first two Baldur’s Gate games, had been rumored to be working on a sequel for the series, and the developer has now confirmed the rumors to be true.

Beamdog wrote in its blog that its mysterious “Adventure Y” is in fact a new Baldur’s Gate game.

“This year, the eagerly anticipated Adventure Y will finally navigate the dark underground caverns of development and venture out into the Sword Coast.” wrote Beamdog’s Amber Scott. “Adventure Y will be an addition to the Baldur’s Gate line using the Infinity engine, bridging the gap between Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition.”

 

Is nostalgia enough?

 

Perhaps more interesting than the news of a long-awaited sequel is the fact that the new game is being developed using the nearly 17-year-old Infinity Engine, which was used on the original Baldur’s Gate released in 1998.

The game series features an isometric camera angle, low resolution character sprites and copious amounts of text dialogue. While these features are considered staples of the series, they also make the games look incredibly dated.

The year the first Baldur’s Gate game was released was the same year as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Half-life, and it is hard to imagine Nintendo or Valve releasing new games using those engines, even to capture a niche nostalgia market.

While some fans of the series met the news with excitement, others were skeptical.

“The original engine? Ouch.” wrote reddit user /u/sfc1971. “That would be like today launching a website based on HTML 3. Not a good idea.”

Other commenters noted that the added content in Beamdog’s enhanced editions of the first two games lacked the same quality as that of the games’ original creator, BioWare, who also created critically acclaimed series such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

Beamdog has not announced a release date for the new game, but the developer included a link to screenshots that were “mysterious leaked” to their forums.


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