Now that Larian’s 2017 RPG masterpiece Divinity: Original Sin II has made the leap to the Nintendo Switch, you’ve got the option to jump into adventures in the land of Rivellon on the go. Thanks to its Steam cross-save feature, you can even pick up where you left off on your PC, saving precious time by not needing to start again from scratch. It’s an exciting step towards portability for players – and it looks like it’s part of Larian’s preparation for what the future of videogaming might hold.
In an interview with PCGamesN about the Switch version, which was created with port devs Blitworks, director of publishing Michael Douse talked about how Larian is preparing for the future of videogame play. He said “the world is changing, and I cannot envision a future where you’re locked down to one place when you’re gaming.” However, it looks like when this change might come, Larian wants to be ready keep delivering the games it wants to make.
“What we’re trying to do is get ready for this shift (note: Stadia), so that when trends change, we don’t have to change our content. We want to deliver in-depth, real RPGs essentially forever. I will never buy the idea that our content has to change for any specific platform. The players are there, it’s our job to find them. It’s our job to give to them, not to take from them.”
With videogame streaming platforms like the Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud on the horizon, it does look like being able to simply hop between platforms, carrying over your content and progress as you go, could well become the new normal. While cross-saves aren’t yet a common feature of videogames, Divinity: Original Sin II signals an important step forward – and a really fun one at that.
If you’re keen to hear more from Larian about the game’s jump to the Switch, keep an eye on the site – an interview on how the port came to be is on the way soon.