“The gods are silent. Rivellon bleeds. New powers stir.” Divinity is the new game from Larian Studios, most recently known as the creator of the multi-award-winning Baldur’s Gate 3. As one of the best RPGs in decades, BG3 will be a tough act to follow, yet the developer says it’s planning something “with greater breadth and depth than ever before.” But what of that mysterious Game Awards statue, first unveiled by Geoff Keighley in the Mojave Desert? According to Larian’s director of publishing Michael Douse, it’s all about embracing the physical world in a digital age, and celebrating showcases of craftsmanship.
It’s worth noting that the newly revealed Divinity is not Divinity: Original Sin 3, and Larian says it won’t require experience with previous games to bear the name, although those who have “will be able to enjoy greater understanding and continuity.” Beyond that and the rather gruesome tone-setting trailer seen below, we don’t really know a lot more about it yet. But after BG3’s lengthy early-access journey, the developer is eager to make sure it keeps connecting with fans, and Douse explains that the Mojave statue represents precisely that promise.
“It’s called the Hellstone,” Douse says of the statue. “We’re all increasingly divorced from physicality, so we wanted to build a monument for not only our international teams to gather around, but for the rest of the gaming community to rally around. We wanted people to get excited for the next big game on their list, and we wanted to do it in a way that employed skill and craft, by hand, to drive people outside to see it, and to talk about it.
“So many people assumed it was [generated by] AI, or even a ‘UE5 render,'” Douse remarks. “Expectations are understandably low. We saw by the reaction, however, that excitement is at an all-time high. We hope that your favorite game is announced, whatever it may be. We hope that the people making it feel empowered to go out and talk to you about it. We hope that the physical world still plays a large role in the adventure that is the videogame industry.”
It certainly got people talking. There was no end of speculation to what the project could be, with suggestions ranging from The Elder Scrolls to Diablo and everything in between. Coming off the might of Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian certainly didn’t need to go out of their way like this to grab people’s attention with its next project, but that makes it all the more pleasing that the team chose to do so. Douse emphasizes that the studio intends to continue investing in “ways to be tangible, and present, and open with what is clearly an excited and engaged audience.”
“The level of skill and craftsmanship in creative spaces has never been higher, and I hope we can all make time to go out into the world and appreciate it when we see it,” Douse adds. “That physicality between the process and audience is what maintains a necessary level of mutual respect. It is very much okay to be excited about videogames, and we can’t wait to see you in person, when we’re ready, on the road to Divinity. Oh, and thanks for not setting it on fire.”
Larian CEO Swen Vincke includes his own thoughts in a message of thanks for the studio’s win for ‘Best Community Support’ at the 2025 Game Awards. “It was really fun seeing you trying to guess which game was behind it,” he says of the statue. “It’s going to be our biggest game, we’re putting everything we have in the studio, all of the experience that we’ve built up over the last 30 years, into it, and I think you’re going to love it when you see it.”
Vincke does caution that it’s “going to take a little bit of time,” so don’t expect a flood of Divinity news straight out of the gate in the coming months. Still, I’m sure we’ll see people carry the energy of the statue investigation into dissecting every last frame of the trailer for clues as to what we can expect, and that’s all part of what makes the community so special.
