In recent years, Larian Studios has gained a reputation as a studio that produces large-scale role-playing games with complex characters and well-thought-out stories, starting with the Divinity: Original Sin Play and then continue with it Baldur's Gate 3. However, there's another, less obvious reputation that Larian Studios has earned: developer of games that start on the 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.

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Divinity: Original Sin and Baldur's Gate 3's beach openings explained
At the start Divinity: original sin, The player characters, the Source Hunters, are tasked with investigating a murder in a port city. You will be dropped off by a ship at a beach near the city and can choose to continue there or explore the surrounding area. The Beach contains a handful of side quests and a tutorial dungeon that can help players earn loot and familiarize themselves with the combat system before tackling their first main objective.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 The player ends up on a beach in a much more random way: he is on a ship being transported to an island prison when a kraken attacks the ship. The player character known as Godwoken survives the disaster thanks to the help of 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 doesn't technically start on a beach – there's a short playable section aboard a nautiloid ship where the player and several others have been captured 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 surrounding area, and there is a tutorial dungeon home to the enigmatic Withers.
Why do so many Larian Studios games start on the beach?
It's entirely possible that this is simply a coincidental trend and not a conscious decision on Larian Studios' part. However, there are a number of reasons why choosing a beach as the starting area in these three games might actually be deliberate:
A beach is a comfortable environment for early exploration
A beach is the perfect place to get players used to exploring a large, rich map. Beaches are relatively open areas, making it easier to find prey and spot enemies that might attack them before it happens. The presence of caves and secluded corners, such as the first dungeon in Divinity: original sin, Still let you uncover many hidden secrets.
Additionally, a beach highlights the fact that players cannot return to where they came from – their boat, nautiloid, or other means of transportation is usually unavailable and they must therefore begin their adventure on that far-away shore. It's easy for Baldur's Gate 3 And deity Players can empathize with the character's mindset by feeling the same thing: a sense of wonder and confusion about their new surroundings.
It establishes a recognizable brand
Not only is a beach setting at the start of the game a great starting point before introducing players to more complex locations like deep forests or the horrors of the Underdark, but it's also a cool trademark for Larian Studios. Players will know that they are in a Larian game the moment they are dropped off at this starting beach – and that this beach will likely be full of loot to pick up and secrets to explore. Larian games already stand out from the crowd with their rich narratives and memorable characters, but a first beach-themed area helps the studio's games establish an even clearer identity.