Josh Sawyer is an RPG legend, with writing and design credits on games including Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, The Outer Worlds, and numerous others. But with the runaway success of Baldur's Gate 3 inspiring talk about the possibility of Pillars of Eternity 3, Sawyer expressed some doubt about his participation in it—not because he doesn't want to do it, but because he doesn't feel like he's hip to what modern RPG fans want.
One major obstacle to recreating BG3's success in a new Pillars of Eternity game, Sawyer said in a new Q&A video, is money: "Money doesn't fix all your problems, but there are some things you simply cannot do without money. For example, the production quality of the character models, the cinematics especially, all the animation, that's crazy. That's a lot of time and money. It's an expensive proposition."
That echoes what Sawyer said in 2023: That he'd be happy to take a run at Pillars of Eternity 3 if someone were willing to give him a BG3-sized budget to do it. But even with that budget, he isn't confident a new Pillars game would achieve the lofty heights of Baldur's Gate 3 because that's just not what he's into.
"Looking at Deadfire and how it was received and looking at BG3 and how it was received, I feel like I don't have the pulse of that audience, even if I ever did," Sawyer said. "Whether I did 20 years ago, or whether I do now, I don't think I've got it now. Things that [players] like and don't like, mechanically, story-wise, things like that. Or I do get it, and it's not—I don't dig it.
"So I feel like I'm kind of out of touch with that audience in a way that—if you want to give me a pile of money to make a game, I'll make it. I don't necessarily think it's going to appeal to the audience, the same audience [as Baldur's Gate 3], and make that money back."
In response to a follow-up question, Sawyer pointed to romances as one particular aspect of the RPG genre that doesn't really work for him, at least in the way they're typically implemented. Sawyer's not opposed to romances in games in general, but what fantasy RPG players are into is not what he's into.
"I'm out of step with that, and it's hard for me to sort of get it. And the things that I do get, I'm like, I get it—I don't like it," Sawyer said.
"If I were to make romances in a game that were done in a way that I find appealing, would an audience enjoy that, or would they really actually even hate it more than romances not being in the game?"
It's a little weird for me to hear Josh Sawyer say he feels out of touch with the RPG crowd, but I found his comments about in-game romances very relatable. Yes, I eagerly pursued Viconia in Baldur's Gate 2, but in the 20-plus years since then RPG romances have come to feel like a checklist item—an achievement to be unlocked rather than an organic evolution of in-game relationships. That's reflected in the plentiful "how to have sex with everyone" guides for Cyberpunk 2077, which I mention because I'm currently playing it: The priority is not romance, but just gettin' it done so you can move on to the next one.
Some of this is no doubt because I am old, and my attitudes have changed over the years, and it's possible Sawyer could be feeling some of that same effect. But he's actually been pretty consistent on it: PC Gamer Associate Editor Ted Litchfield dug up an old form post from 2006 (via Reddit) in which Sawyer expressed very similar feelings about the state of RPG romances.
"I don't hate love in game stories; I just hate reducing love to shallow, masturbatory fantasy indulgence," he wrote.
"I appreciate that people wanted more romance options in NWN2, but sometimes I think that people want there to be romance 'victory' conditions for all companions. I think that can diminish some characters ... That bugs me. I don't like the idea that you can 'win' everything or get everyone on your side."
Sawyer's most recent game, Pentiment, does not have romances, but oh boy does it have relationships—if narrative-focused games are your thing and you haven't played it yet, I would strongly urge you to give it a shot.
