Over two decades after the thrilling conclusion of the Bhaalspawn Saga and following roughly three years of early access, Baldur’s Gate 3 is now live on Steam and GOG and available through Nvidia’s GeForce NOW service, priced at $59.99 or your regional equivalent. The game’s PlayStation release is tentatively scheduled for September 6, 2023, while those of you with an Xbox console will be getting it at a later, yet unspecified date.
Check out the official launch trailer:
Larian’s properly turn-based take on the legendary series is described as a story-rich, party-based RPG that will once again take us on a heroic journey through the Forgotten Realms and offer a fresh story full of “fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power.”
Based on a somewhat modified 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, Baldur’s Gate 3 features 11 races and 12 classes straight out of the D&D Player’s Handbook, which can be further customized through various backgrounds, subraces and subclasses. All of this comes together to create what the developers describe as unprecedented breadth and depth that you can experience solo, or in co-op together with up to three other players.
Considering the game’s impressive scope and the fact that the review build only became available a few days ago, most of the reviews are currently marked as unscored or in-progress. As such we don’t have the full picture for how successful Larian’s attempt to resurrect this series ended up being. Still, you can find links to a handful of sample reviews below to get a better feel for the early sections. And in any case, the game’s concurrent Steam player peak of almost 500,000 players on the first day is nothing if not impressive.
So! I might not be ready to give it a score yet, but if it wasn’t immediately obvious: Baldur’s Gate 3 is utterly brilliant. So far. Let’s see if it can keep this up for the next 80 hours. And I’ll be updating this review-in-progress in the meantime, so come back for my thoughts on things like co-op and the titular city. Pretty much all of us at PCG are playing, too, so expect plenty of takes, features and guides on every aspect of this mammoth RPG.
Being a game that can last 100 hours of playtime and above, not to mention all its replayability, it is impossible to score Baldur’s Gate 3 with only a fraction of that playtime. While Act 1 feels as polished as expected, it remains to be seen if the following acts maintain the same quality, especially when it comes to the world reacting to the player’s choices. As of now, however, I feel Larian Studios has done a tremendous job, creating one, if not the most engaging cRPG in a very long time. Hopefully, it will stay the same as I continue my journey in Faerûn to save my Gold Dwarf Barbarian or eventually turn into a dreaded mind flayer.
On the whole, I really am loving Baldur’s Gate 3 so far. It definitely has some blemishes, from minor bugs to a combat system that I don’t exactly adore at lower levels. But I’ve been waiting 14 years for another alignment of the planets like Dragon Age: Origins, when an old-school CRPG got a big enough budget to look like a high quality animated movie – but the design hadn’t been completely steered in the wrong direction in a misguided attempt to reach a different market like the later two Dragon Ages. This is the closest anyone has ever come to recapturing that magic.
It’ll be a close run thing, and we also haven’t decided whether Badlur’s Gate is deserving of a 10/10 score, but the fact that it’s even a question should give you an indication of just how good this game is.
That said, for all its flaws, Baldur’s Gate 3 is engrossing at almost all times. It’s the type of game that both makes players want to invest all their time into finishing it while simultaneously keeping them thinking of what their next build will be when they inevitably decide to replay it to see all of the things they missed the first time. It remains to be seen if the swelling story manages to stick the landing once some more secrets are unveiled, but it’s so far, so great for Larian Studios and a riveting installment in the Baldur’s Gate franchise.
And yet what I’ve played so far has me utterly enraptured. Now I’ve spent time learning to fight by the game’s rules, learning that if I want to succeed I have to read everything, study every spell, understand the intricacies of the dice rolls both shown and hidden, I am beginning to understand what the game wants from me. It’s gargantuan, intricate, complex and utterly unwilling to treat anyone softly and Larian don’t seem overly worried that this may put people off. Time will tell if it does, but for now I’m both stunned and awed by the potential here, and I’m happy to be intimidated by the adventure that lies before me.
But none of this changes one thing – Baldur’s Gate 3is the adventure of my dreams. I’m curious what other attractions lie there before me and whether they’ll warrant giving this game the perfect score. It certainly is possible, so don’t be surprised if praises for Larian’s production increase even more after we update this review. But don’t worry – this is just the beginning of my bromance with BG3. I hope it won’t burn out too quickly – instead, it will remain fiery until the end!
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Val Hull
Resident role-playing RPG game expert. Knows where trolls and paladins come from. You must fight for your right to gather your party before venturing forth.
