Larian has opened preorders for an $80 physical Deluxe Edition version of Baldur's Gate 3 on PC, PS5, and Xbox. The new variant comes with disc copies of the game and soundtrack, as well as assorted "feelies" like stickers and a poster, all in a glorious throwback case that feels like the PC big boxes of yesteryear. The Deluxe Edition is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2024.
I was forever scalded by the horrendous "Inquisitor's Edition" of Dragon Age: Inquisition back in 2014—I was just a boy! It was a bunch of cheap plastic crap! God may forgive BioWare, but I won't. Ever since, I've avoided preorder videogame collector's editions.
This, of course, bit me in the ass when I realized Baldur's Gate 3 might be my new all-time favorite just in time for its mondo-monster collector's edition (complete with giant Illithid statue) to start commanding four-figure price tags on eBay. This new Deluxe Edition feels like divine intervention—I'm saved! More dorky tchotchkes for me to put on my bookshelves.
The Deluxe Edition comes with the pre-existing Digital Deluxe goodies like Divinity-themed items and a digital art book, but we're here for those full-on classico PC big box feelies. You get a Mind Flayer poster, Flaming Fist and Absolute patches, 32 stickers that seem to include class and faction logos, as well as physical disc copies of both the game and its soundtrack.
The big draw for me, though, is my dear old friend, the cloth map. It's never seen in-game, but Baldur's Gate 3's art book actually has a sick world map done in the style of the ones from Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, with little caricatures of each location popping out of the Dungeon Master's Guide-style paint-and-parchment terrain. As a noted cloth map aficionado, this is a huge value-add for me.
You better believe I immediately copped a pre-order before even thinking about writing this article, though you likely don't have to worry about supply—given that these are pre-orders, Larian can probably adjust for an outsize demand accordingly. The Q1 2024 window for fulfilment means that we'll be seeing these in the wild by the end of next March barring any delays.
