Original Sin Games Start on a Beach

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 2, 2025 10 Views 6 Min Read
Original Sin Games Start on a Beach



Over the past several years, Larian Studios has gained the reputation as a studio that produces expansive RPGs with complex characters and well-thought-out stories, beginning with the Divinity: Original Sin games and then continuing with Baldur’s Gate 3. However, there is another, less obvious reputation that Larian Studios has earned: developers of games that start on a beach. Both Divinity: Original Sin and its sequel began with the player exploring a beach, and Baldur’s Gate 3 continued this tradition. There are several reasons why Larian Studios could have made this unique game development decision.

baldur's gate 3 campfire

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Divinity: Original Sin And Baldur’s Gate 3’s Beach Openings Explained

At the beginning of Divinity: Original Sin, the player characters, the Source Hunters, are tasked with investigating a murder in a port town. They are dropped off by a ship on a beach near the town, and can choose whether to progress directly there or explore their surroundings. The beach contains a handful of side quests and a tutorial dungeon, which can help players earn loot and familiarize themselves with the combat system before taking on their first main objective.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 has the player wind up on a beach in a far more accidental way: they are on a ship being transported to an island prison when a kraken attacks the ship. The player character, known as the Godwoken, survives the wreck due to assistance from an initially mysterious source. The game then begins on the island of Fort Joy, where the player must figure out what is going on and how to escape.

Finally, Baldur’s Gate 3 does not technically start on a beach – there is a brief playable section aboard a nautiloid ship, where the player and several others have been taken captive by mind flayers. However, the nautiloid crashes, and the player is once again given a beach to explore. Several companions – Shadowheart, Gale, Astarion, and Lae’zel – can be recruited on said beach or in the general area, and there is a tutorial dungeon that is home to the enigmatic Withers.

Why Do So Many Larian Studios Games Start On Beaches?

It is certainly possible that this is simply an accidental trend, rather than a conscious decision on Larian Studios’ part. However, there are a number of reasons the choice of a beach as a starting area in these three games could in fact be deliberate:

A Beach Is A Comfortable Setting For Early Exploration

A beach is the perfect area to get players accustomed to exploring a large, rich map. Beaches are relatively open areas, making it easier to locate loot and see enemies that might attack them before it happens. However, the presence of caves and out-of-the-way nooks, such as the first dungeon in Divinity: Original Sin, still allow for plenty of hidden secrets to seek out.

Additionally, a beach emphasizes the fact that players cannot return to where they came from – their boat, nautiloid, or other mode of transport is typically unavailable, and so they must begin their adventure on this faraway shore. It’s easy for Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity players to get into the mindset of the character when they are feeling the same thing: a sense of wonder and confusion regarding their new environment.

It Establishes A Recognizable Brand

In addition to being a great starting point before introducing players to more elaborate settings like deep forests or the horrors of the Underdark, an early-game beach setting is a cool trademark for Larian Studios. Players will know the moment they are dropped onto that starting beach that they are in a Larian game – and that said beach will probably be packed with loot to grab and secrets to explore. Larian games already stand out from the crowd due to their rich storytelling and memorable characters, but a beach-themed first area helps the studio’s games establish an even more definitive identity.

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