Recently, PC Gamer had a sit-down with a former BioWare powerhouse: Trent Oster, now the Creative & Business Development Director at Beamdog. While the names of developers are only remembered by the most hardcore of fans, the impact Oster has definitely been experienced by fans of computer roleplaying games: Oster was deeply involved in the development of many Dungeons & Dragons video games including the first two Baldur’s Gate games. The topic of D&D games came up in the interview with Oster, as Beamdog is considered the current guardian of many old CRPGs based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game, specifically its Second Edition, made by BioWare and Black Isle Studios. Among these CRPGs was Planescape: Torment, a highly-acclaimed adaptation of the AD&D Planescape setting remembered for its weird and macabre atmosphere when compared to more generic fantasy games like the original Baldur’s Gate. During this PC Gamer interview, Oster revealed that Planescape had a sequel approved that never managed to enter development due to lack of funding.

According to Oster, after Beamdog finished working on enhanced editions of some of those classic D&D games, they began developing concepts for a Planescape sequel game. This concept evolved into a formal pre-production project, with some known members of the development team being David Gaider, creator of the setting of the Dragon Age games, as Creative Director and Chris Avellone, known for his deep involvement with Fallout: New Vegas and its expansions, as a Project Consultant. The game was given the name Planescape: Unraveled as a working title and conceptual development began — things like design documents, story ideas, potential budget plans, and pitches were prepared, all of which continued to deviate from Baldur’s Gate in vision. These pitches were taken to Wizards of the Coast to approve the licensing of the D&D IP, who apparently liked the concept so much they not only approved the licensing, but also discussed tying the game into sourcebooks for the tabletop version of the game. However, Wizards did not want to finance the project, which required Beamdog to approach other publishers for that funding. Beamdog was unsuccessful in its attempts, as these publishers did not want to invest so much money developing a game for someone else’s intellectual property. This lack of funding caused Unraveled to fizzle out, with the game never moving into full development.

While the loss of this sequel is a tragedy for CRPG fans the world over, with Torment being considered one of, if not the best D&D game before the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, it is an understandable situation. While it was endlessly praised by critics and fans of the genre, Torment was considered a commercial disappointment, only managing to achieve modest sales. It was this commercial history that partly explains publisher hesitation to fund the game, even with its comparatively small proposed budget of $20 million. Publishers also seemed to believe that single-player CRPGs had limited commercial appeal, ironic considering the popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3 in the present and Witcher 3 in the past, which actually released a year before Beamdog started making pitches to publishers. Thankfully, while Unraveled never reached a playable state, there are other games to enjoy a Planescape-esque experience, as other developers from the original team came together and made Torment: Tides of Numenera, a spiritual successor of the CRPG.