Baldur's Gate 2 remake is in development, with the original co-lead designer back on board

Wizards of the Coast is developing a remake of Baldur's Gate 2, according to sources speaking to PC Gamer. Kevin Martens – co-lead designer on the original BG2 and a BioWare veteran – is already working on the project. It's also likely that the first Baldur's Gate is getting the same treatment, with both remakes developed concurrently.

Martens' credits include lead design work on Jade Empire, Throne of Bhaal, and BG2, plus contributions to Neverwinter Nights and Mass Effect before he left BioWare for Blizzard in 2009, where he was lead content designer on Diablo 3. He was already back in the WotC orbit, contributing to Exodus – the Mass Effect-style RPG in development at Archetype Entertainment, a WotC subsidiary. A source familiar with the project confirms he's now on the BG2 remake. Hasbro declined to comment on rumours, and Martens didn't respond before publication. What the remake actually changes – combat system, engine, scope – is still unknown. PC Gamer notes that BG3 ran on Larian's proprietary engine, so a straight stylistic copy isn't straightforward, and shifting the classics to pure turn-based would be a significant risk.

The business logic isn't hard to follow. Hasbro has struggled to capitalise on BG3's enormous success, partly because it laid off most of the staff who worked alongside Larian on the RPG. A D&D game from Giant Skull – Stig Asmussen's studio – was cancelled after the partnership was announced only last summer. That leaves Warlock, an action game that sounds nothing like Baldur's Gate. Baldur's Gate 4 is presumably coming eventually, but any team taking it on starts from scratch. The original games, meanwhile, already have the stories, characters, and quest design – they just need rebuilding. For reference, Virtuos spent four years on Oblivion Remastered.

No release window has been mentioned – this could still be years out. If both games ship together, players are looking at hundreds of hours of Sword Coast adventuring, from Athkatla to the Underdark and beyond. The community will be hoping for real-time-with-pause combat with an optional turn-based mode – the compromise most likely to keep everyone on board.