I’m looking over the shoulder of my friend, Iulia, as she boots up her PC. “You’re going to lose your mind,” she grins. Iulia and I share a love of fantasy worlds, hot monsters and video games, and she’s invited me over to her flat to show me something “really special”.
Iulia admits, with a mixture of guilt and pride, that she’s already spent over 100 hours exploring the first act of a new game. She clicks through the opening, rhapsodising about the beauty of the environments, the intricacy of the turn-based combat and the glory of something or someone called “Astarion”.
Her enthusiasm is contagious, and I pre-order the game as soon as I’m home. I’m now truly hooked. That game is Baldurs Gate 3 – set in the world of the tabletop fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons – and it has just won Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
