Borislav Slavov on scoring ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ and what’s next: “We’re just warming up”
Borislav Slavov, the composer behind 2023’s fantasy role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3, is having a year-long ‘pinch me’ moment. The game’s emotional soundtrack has taken on a life of its own since launching to critical acclaim, and on Saturday (May 4), Slavov will perform it with an orchestra at London’s Game Music Festival. It’s his second trip to the city in a month – the Bulgarian composer was last here for BAFTA Games’ swanky award ceremony, where he won the Best Music award for Baldur’s Gate 3.
“It’s surreal,” Slavov tells NME over Zoom, grinning as he recalls his BAFTA win. “There were a few brief moments where I couldn’t believe it. But my friends and colleagues from [Baldur’s Gate 3 developer] Larian Studios were gently poking and pushing me, so I realised I had to go on stage and collect the award. It was truly overwhelming – probably the most amazing thing in my career so far.”
Before winning, Slavov – a lifelong gamer – was thrilled to even be attending the ceremony with his peers. He remembers meeting fellow composer Petri Alanko, who was nominated for horror game Alan Wake 2’s incredible soundtrack, and gushing over his work. “I was telling him ‘you made a mind-blowing score, you outdid yourself,’” he says. “In return [Alanko said], ‘the only soundtrack that made me cry was yours’.”
“It was like two drunks chatting with one another,” he laughs. “It was a really special moment.”
Like the rest of Larian, Slavov was shocked by the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3, which has sold millions of copies and swept numerous award shows since launching in August 2023. It was an overnight hit – but as the composer points out, it took a monumental amount of work to create. “I really wanted to prove myself, and take the music in Baldur’s Gate 3 to the next level,” says Slavov, who started on the project immediately after composing Larian’s last role-playing game, Divinity: Original Sin 2.
To realise his ambition, Slavov wanted his music to become an “active participant” in Baldur’s Gate 3’s narrative, tying key moments in the game to some of his finest music to date. ‘The Power’ – which uses motifs from Slavov’s achingly beautiful ‘Down By The River’ – is a stunning send-off for players as their campaign comes to an end after tens of hours. Elsewhere, manipulative devil Raphael sings his own boss fight theme in ‘Raphael’s Final Act’, a deliciously theatrical Disney-esque musical number that plays during a climactic showdown with the fiend. The actor who played Raphael, Andrew Wincott, won a BAFTA (Performer In A Supporting Role) on the same night as Slavov.
Slavov believes that this approach, intertwining music and storytelling, is why fans have enjoyed the score so much. “We as human beings are prone to remembering exciting moments in our lives,” he explains. “There’s absolutely no difference between important [occasions] in our lives, and exciting moments in the video games we enjoy.”
However, achieving this symbiotic relationship between game and score took Slavov years to perfect. As part of his creative process, he needs to know every inch of whatever he’s scoring – not just the musical side, but the development process and every in-game mechanic. He takes this very seriously, and it’s an approach that makes Slavov unique among his peers. Unlike many media composers who work across films, TV shows and gaming, Slavov considers himself wholly dedicated to a single medium. “Everyone has their own path,” he says. “Personally, I consider myself a video game composer and I’m very proud of it.”
For the last nine years, Slavov has honed this approach at Larian. His relationship with the studio began nearly a decade ago, when founder Swen Vincke invited him to visit the team’s headquarters in Ghent, Belgium. “Before I joined the studio, I had played each and every game by Larian up to that point,” he says, smiling. “I decided to surprise them, so I prepared an adaptive music system with music [already] composed, because I was so much in love with Larian’s games.”
The potential for making a heavily adaptive score – music which shifts depending on what’s happening – drew Slavov to Larian, as the studio’s emphasis on player agency means scenes can change from peaceful to frantic, then back again, in seconds. “When I look back, I consider myself one of the luckiest guys on Earth, because I was not only given the chance to work here, but I was given full freedom to express myself, explore, and find out what’s best.”
In a few days, Slavov will perform ‘The Symphony Of The Realms’, a live performance of Baldur’s Gate 3’s soundtrack at the Game Music Festival. The concert at Royal Festival Hall is “beyond exciting” but a “little bit frightening” for Slavov, who has never performed in London before. He teases some “surprises” – including an all-new arrangement of ‘Down By The River’ – but most of all, he’s excited to see some of the fans who have made his last year so special.
“One of the most exciting and emotional moments for me, during a concert, is meeting people,” he explains. “It’s an unforgettable experience – I don’t know their faces, but when our eyes meet, I know these are my people. I’ve never met them before in my life, but the moment they say hello, give me a hug, or shake my hand, I realise I’m at home and it was all worth it. That’s why we are all here – to share emotions and celebrate video game music as a medium in its own right, as an art.”
“A lot of passion, a lot of love, was invested in this concert,” he adds. “After all of the [attention] surrounding the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, having a mind-blowing celebration of video game music in Royal Festival Hall is beyond amazing.”
Whenever Slavov talks about his life after Baldur’s Gate 3 – whether it’s this prestigious concert, his BAFTA win, or the wider success that his score has found – he often pauses, struggling to find the right words to express his gratitude. Likewise, he speaks about Larian and his colleagues with an emotional reverence. It comes as no surprise, then, to hear that he’ll be working on the studio’s next game.
While we don’t know what that will be, Larian has confirmed that it won’t be Baldur’s Gate 4. In an industry that’s often reluctant to let go of anything profitable, the studio’s decision to move away from Baldur’s Gate 3 – one of the most critically and commercially successful games in recent memory – is as bold as it is refreshing. For Slavov, his ambition trumps any pressure that may stem from following up the megahit.
“[Success] is just one of the steps toward making the ultimate role-playing experience that we’ve been dreaming about,” he shares. “Personally for me, I want to build upon this achievement, because that’s the only way I can prove to myself that we’re on the right path. The ultimate goal is when we’ll be able to say: “You have all the freedom in the world. The player agency is 100 per cent there for you to develop the way you see fit, to write your own story in our worlds.”
Though he remains cryptic, Slavov can’t resist teasing what’s next. “We’re just warming up my friend,” he says. “I wish I could give you a hand, or tell you what we are cooking at the moment. But the only thing that I can tell you is that from a music perspective, it’s going to be wild. It’s going to be the biggest, most ambitious music system we’ve ever aimed for.”
Game Music Festival: The Symphony Of The Realms takes place on May 4.
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Andy Brown
NME
