Four years after its announcement, three years after its early access launch, and nearly a quarter of a century after the series began, Baldur's Gate 3 is almost upon us. Kicking off an astounding RPG double-header alongside Starfield, it's the product of developer Larian's years of expertise as perhaps the final remaining guardians of the fantasy CRPG formula.
If you've played any of the game's early access over the past three years, you'll know just how big Baldur's Gate 3 is. But if you haven't, suffice to say that with dozens of potential characters, hundreds of hours of gameplay, and thousands of potential endings, this is a monumental game. Our Baldur's Gate 3 review in progress will be published later this week, but just one playthrough barely scratches the surface of everything this game has to offer.
Which brings us to this blog. Baldur's Gate 3 promises to be so massive that it's likely to be weeks before all of its secrets have been uncovered. It would be impossible to share every interesting detail, but as the community starts to get its teeth into the game over the weekend, we'll be sharing some of their most exciting discoveries, as well as our own perspectives on the game. It'll be live throughout launch week, so keep checking back for more.
First things first, logistics. The Baldur's Gate 3 release times confirm exactly when you'll be able to start downloading the game - unfortunately, due to the game's existence in early access, there is no Baldur's Gate 3 pre-load. That's bad news for people with slow internet, and… still bad news for people with fast internet, because it means a longer wait.
Also, a reminder that the Baldur's Gate 3 release date occurring this week is only for PC - a PS5 version is on its way on September 6. Sadly, there's nothing concrete on an Xbox release just yet - Larian has said it's working on a port, but it won't be ready for the other launches.
Still, whether you're diving straight into the download or waiting for a console release, you can get prepping. Long-time fans have been busy helping out, making their own character creators, offering crash courses on D&D-style combat, and pointing out the things that early access players might have missed. All that community help should make the wait slightly easier.
Something that won't be easy, however, is the fact that Baldur's Gate 3 is about to wipe all your early access saves, and make any mods you've got installed incompatible with the game. So you might want to work on that before launch, too.
As I mentioned earlier, our Baldur's Gate 3 review in progress will drop on Thursday, August 3, along with the game itself. But we've had plenty of time with the game already, both with our initial Baldur's Gate 3 early access preview from 2020, and hands-on with the full release alongside Larian thanks to our Baldur's Gate 3 preview. That's in addition to several hours with the early access build as it's developed over the past few years (although I personally steered clear until more recently so I could enjoy the full release in all its glory).
Early access has been hugely important for helping Larian playtest the game, with story, characters, classes and far, far more all coming under the magnifying glass over the past few years. It's a limited slice of the game, but one with a huge amount of depth that's only served to make what's coming even more exciting.
As for my hands-on with the full release last month, I came away from that blown away by Baldur's Gate 3's depth. From a heist gone wrong to evidence of the game's interweaving narrative strands, I saw how the game's size and density play out as we reach the titular city. Lead writer Adam Smith outlined how all that creative decision making led to a game more like a Dishonored-style immersive sim than a traditional CRPG, with the consequences of your actions spiraling away from one another off the whims of a single dice roll.
As you approach that first playthrough, an all-important question arises: what are you playing in your first playthrough? It's a tricky question, although thankfully there's some official guidance which should help out.
Game director Sven Vincke said that your first Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough should be with a custom character - one created from scratch, rather than one of the seven Origin characters. What race that character should be is mostly a matter of personal preference, but choosing the best Baldur's Gate 3 class can be a bit trickier. If you're familiar with early access, I think the Bard should be your first playthrough character, thanks to its knack for finding novel ways to talk themselves out of a tricky spot. I'm also enjoying having a Rogue in my party for sneaking and lockpicking, but if you're a less experienced player, a more simple class, such as a Fighter or Wizard, might be a better pick. The developers have their own preferences, however - Vincke likes a Paladin, while lead writer Adam Smith says that the Monk's speed makes them Baldur's Gate 3's true best class.
After that first playthrough, you've got Larian's official permission to play an Origin character. There are seven Origin characters in Baldur's Gate 3, who all have predetermined stories and (mostly) predetermined races and classes:
- Astarion, an mean-spirited elvish Rogue who also happens to be a vampire
- Lae'zel, a short-tempered Githyanki fighter
- Gale, an eloquent human wizard
- Shadowheart, a half-elf Cleric with a dark affinity
- Wyll, a human warlock with a noble past and an unfortunate patron
- Karlach, a tiefling barbarian held captive in hell for a decade
- The Dark Urge, who we'll come back to shortly
As I said, I'm a fan of Astarion's roguishness, but if I had to pick, I'd opt for Shadowheart of Lae'zel, whose stories seem to be closest to the core narrative of Baldur's Gate 3. If you deem yourself a true expert, however, you may choose to opt for The Dark Urge, instead. The final addition to the Origin character roster can be any race or class you choose, but their story will remain the same. That story is one of a mysterious thirst for blood, violence, and murder, and it's likely to substantially derail some parts of the game. With that in mind, Vincke has suggested that you probably don't want to pick them up for your first playthrough.
It's worth pointing out, however, that the best way to play is your own personal favourite way to play, as eloquently outlined in this post from the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit last month:
baldursgate3 from r/BaldursGate3
Or, as I put it - I'm eating my way through Baldur's Gate 3, and there's nothing you can do to stop me.
Assuming you stick to those rules, you'll be settling in for several hundred hours of Baldur's Gate 3. There are 17,000 permutations of its ending, and it'll take you anywhere from 75 to 200 hours to get to just one of them. Sadly, I've got no way of helping you find those endings out just yet, but I assume some dedicated speedrunners and/or dataminers will be doing their damndest to work things out as soon as possible.
Elsewhere, there'll be people doing their damndest to get their rocks off. Baldur's Gate 3 Romance is set to be an important part of the game, whether you're doing the dirty with a druid wild-shaped into a bear, or convincing yourself you can 'fix' an evil assassin.
For what it's worth, that bear moment is part of a presentation that helped push Baldur's Gate firmly into this month's gaming mainstream. Not long after the most recent Panel From Hell - where Larian outlined that you might get busy with a grizzly if you play your cards right - the game shot to the top of Steam's charts. All I'm saying is that it it's not not a coincidence.
That legacy is certainly interesting, however, not least because Baldur's Gate 3 seems to be leading a full-fledged Moment for CRPGs as a whole. In the last year alone, the number of people who own a CRPG on Steam has risen by three million, and it's not hard to see which frontrunner might be driving that surge in interest.
The impending launch of Baldur's Gate 3 has also revived a classic CRPG debate: is it cheating to pickpocket your own money back? Sure, you might have the skills to snatch 200 gold out of the pockets of the merchant you just traded with, but will you be able to sleep at night?
And speaking of classic CRPGs: there have been reports of Xbox Game Pass notifications indicating that the enhanced editions of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 will soon be added to Microsoft's subscription service. This remains unofficial for now, but a fresh release like this would be a great way for fans to catch up on the series. Just be warned: these games definitely play like relics of another era.
