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Baldur's Gate 3

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This article is about the 2023 video game. For the cancelled video game, see Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound.

Baldur's Gate 3
Developer(s)Larian Studios
Publisher(s)Larian Studios
Director(s)Swen Vincke
Producer(s)David Walgrave
Programmer(s)Bert Stevens
Artist(s)Joachim Vleminckx
Writer(s)Adam Smith
Composer(s)Borislav Slavov
SeriesBaldur's Gate
Platform(s)
Release
  • Windows
  • 3 August 2023
  • macOS, PlayStation 5
  • 6 September 2023[a]
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Baldur's Gate 3 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main game in the Baldur's Gate series, which is based on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing system. A partial version of the game was released in early access format for macOS, Windows, and the Stadia streaming service, on 6 October 2020. The game remained in early access until its full release on Windows on 3 August 2023. macOS and PlayStation 5 versions are scheduled for release on 6 September 2023.[a] The Stadia version was cancelled following Stadia's closure.

Baldur's Gate 3 was acclaimed by critics, who praised the gameplay, narrative, amount of content, and player choice.

Gameplay

Baldur's Gate 3 is a role-playing video game that offers both a single-player and cooperative multiplayer element. Players can create one or more characters and form a party along with computer-generated characters to explore the game's story. Optionally, players are able to take one of their characters and team up online with other players to form a party.[2][3] Unlike previous games in the Baldur's Gate series, Baldur's Gate 3 has turn-based combat, similar to Larian's earlier games Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin II; all combat is based on the D&D 5th Edition rules.[4]

Plot

The game is set in 1492 DR, over 120 years after the events of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and months after the events of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. It features a branching plot typical of CRPG's where the main beats of the story stay mostly the same no matter the players' choices, but with considerable variation in the details, especially concerning the numerous side quests. The player can, at the beginning of the game, either create an original character who is essentially a "blank slate" in terms of back story, or choose one of seven pre-made "origin characters".

The first act begins with the player character finding themself taken captive by mind flayers who have launched an invasion of Faerûn in their spelljamming ship (the D&D equivalent of a spaceship, only powered by magic instead of rocket fuel). They have implanted the protagonist with illithid tadpoles, parasites capable of enthralling and transforming them into other mind flayers; however, before transformation is complete, the ship comes under attack from githyanki warriors and their red dragons. The ship flees through multiple realms, including Avernus, the first of the Nine Hells. The protagonist is freed during the fighting and steers the damaged ship back to Faerûn, where it crashes. As the protagonist searches for a way to remove their parasite, they encounter other survivors of the wreck, all likewise implanted with tadpoles: the githyanki fighter Lae'zel, the half-elf cleric Shadowheart, the high elf vampire rogue Astarion, the human wizard Gale, the human warlock Wyll and the tiefling barbarian Karlach.

The protagonist eventually encounters a goblin cult which worships a new god they call "The Absolute." It is soon revealed by a mysterious guardian known as the Dream Visitor that there is a battle underfoot against The Absolute that puts the whole realm in peril. The guardian encourages the protagonist to not shy away from the magical powers afforded them by the parasite but instead use them to their full extent, to be able to win over the evil god. After breaking into the ruined Moonrise Towers, in Act 2, the player spies the masterminds behind the cult of the Absolute - the champions of the gods known as the Dead Three, Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul. These champions have dominated an illithid elder brain through ancient Netherese magic and are using it to control cult and mind flayers alike, planning to lead them to attack the city of Baldur's Gate. The protagonist and their party eventually manage to wrangle control of the brain from its handlers in Act 3, and the player is then, depending on choices made in the game, given a choice to either make the brain destroy itself or take control of it and take over the entire realm.

Development

See also: List of Dungeons & Dragons video games

The original Baldur's Gate game was developed by BioWare and Black Isle Studios, and published by Interplay Entertainment in 1998. The game used a licensed version of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) rule set, specifically in the Forgotten Realms setting. The game's success led to a sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and its expansion pack, as well as Icewind Dale and its sequel, and finally, Planescape: Torment. Black Isle Studios began work on a further sequel, Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, in 2003, but Interplay faced significant financial crisis that year and shut down Black Isle, cancelling the game. Interplay lost the license to make D&D video games to Atari in 2008.[dubious – discuss] Atari later[dubious – discuss] released Neverwinter Nights and its sequel, Neverwinter Nights 2. Wizards of the Coast had acquired ownership of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise as part of their purchase of TSR in 1997, and had been making updates to the core rule sets over the previous years. The new sequel from Larian Studios has no connection to the cancelled Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound.

The series' intellectual property (IP) had been sought after by multiple developers. This includes Brian Fargo, the founder of both Interplay and inXile Entertainment, as well as Feargus Urquhart of Obsidian Entertainment, who were seeking the IP rights for at least a decade.[5] Larian Studios was interested in making a sequel in the Baldur's Gate series for some time, having first approached Wizards of the Coast after their release of Divinity: Original Sin around 2014. At this time, Wizards of the Coast felt the studio was still too new to the industry to be trusted with the Baldur's Gate license. Larian then developed Divinity: Original Sin II, which was released in September 2017. Pre-release materials related to the game impressed Wizards of the Coast, so they contacted Larian to ask if they still had interest in Baldur's Gate 3. Larian accepted, and while working to wrap up the release stage of development for Divinity: Original Sin II, a small group gathered to develop the design document to present to Wizards of the Coast with their ideas for the new Baldur's Gate.[6]

Group of people playing Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG.
Baldur's Gate 3 is based on the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG.

The game is based on the 5th-edition Dungeons & Dragons rule set, though it will include tweaks and modifications that Larian found necessary in adapting it to a video game. For example, the combat system is expected to be weighed more in favor of the player than in the tabletop version, to make the game more enjoyable.[3]

Larian Studios teased Baldur's Gate 3 in the week prior to E3 2019.[7] They formally revealed it during Google's presentation on the Stadia platform just ahead of E3, confirming its release for both Windows and Stadia.[8] The tabletop adventure Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus was published by Wizards of the Coast in September 2019, and has been described as a "prequel" to Baldur's Gate 3. The Descent into Avernus adventure takes place roughly 100 years after the events of Baldur's Gate II, and the story of Baldur's Gate 3 takes place immediately following the events of the Descent into Avernus tabletop module.[9] On 5 October 2020, Larian Studios announced the game would be released for macOS in addition to Windows and Stadia.[10]

Baldur's Gate III was originally set to be released in early access on 30 September 2020.[11] This date was later delayed to 6 October 2020.[12] The early access version contained only the first act of the game, amounting to approximately 25 hours of content and one-fifth of the game world's map. The character creator also initially included a selection of 16 races and six classes from which to choose, with more planned for the finalized release.[13] Additional features and content, including multiplayer functionality and more classes, were gradually added to the early access version through patches as development progressed towards the final release.[14] Save files created during early access are not transferable to the completed game.[15]

The game remained in early access until its release in August 2023.[16] Following Stadia's closure on 18 January 2023, the full version for Stadia was cancelled.[17] On 23 February 2023, it was announced that Baldur's Gate 3 would be fully released on 31 August 2023 for macOS, Windows, and PlayStation 5.[18] A later announcement amended the PC release date to 3 August, and the macOS and PlayStation 5's to 6 September.[19][20][21][1] An Xbox Series X and Series S port was also confirmed by Larian to be in development, but was not officially announced as it ran into technical issues with split-screen co-op on the Series S. Larian also mentioned that the game is not a PlayStation console exclusive and might get released on Xbox should the issues get fixed.[22] Due to the Xbox Series S's limitations and Series X's parity mandate, the Xbox Series X/S port may potentially be delayed to a 2024 release.[23] Spike Chunsoft published the PlayStation 5 version in Japan.[24]

Reception

Critical reception

The PC version of Baldur's Gate 3 received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[25]

Critics praised the quality of the writing, including the detailed depiction of the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Faerûn;[36][37][38] the intertwined storylines enabling alternate story moments and a large degree of player freedom;[36][38] and the characters, particularly companions, that feel interesting and memorable.[38] Critics also praised the production quality, including the voice acting,[38] character and facial animations,[39] and detailed environments.[39] The game's implementation of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition ruleset was well received,[40] although some critics were concerned that the complexity of the system could be daunting for players wholly unfamiliar with the tabletop version of the game.[28][32] The technical performance and few bugs were highlighted, especially given many vast and complex game systems and interactions.[32] Critics were more lukewarm on the inventory system and some aspects of the user interface, such as needing to micromanage the equipment of multiple characters.[38]

Fraser Brown of PC Gamer called the game "the new pinnacle of the [CRPG] genre"[32] while IGN Portugal called it a "must-play masterpiece that sets a new bar in the RPG universe".[37]

Upon its release, the game ignited a debate about the current state of gaming and the gaming industry. Commentators, such as Destin Legarie of IGN, highlighted statements of the developers unaffiliated with Baldur's Gate 3 who were concerned that its success may result in a perceived raising of expectations among the consumers. In response, Legarie asserted the developers should strive to meet and exceed the game's newly set standard in terms of quality and completeness, and that the developers should focus on technical stability, feature completeness and player expectations, rather than focusing on monetisation strategies and releasing unfinished products.[41] Alex Battaglia from Eurogamer praised the game's performance on PC, and added that "Baldur's Gate 3 launches in a polished state with no game-breaking issues, shaming the technical quality of other big AAA releases".[42]

Sales

Baldur's Gate 3 became the best-selling game on both Steam and GOG.com on the day of its early access launch.[43] On Steam, the game had about 537,000 concurrent players on the day of release, and peaked at over 712,000 concurrent players on the 3rd day after release.[44][45] On 4 August 2023, the CEO of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, revealed that Baldur's Gate 3 had sold 2.5 million copies on PC via Steam Early Access.[46] The sales of the game had surpassed the studio's expectations.[47]

Notes

  1. ^ a b PlayStation 5 users who purchased the Digital Deluxe Edition are set to receive access on 3 September 2023.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Faulkner, Cameron (3 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 PS5 pre-order guide". Polygon. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  2. ^ Wilde, Tyler (7 October 2020). "How to play Baldur's Gate 3 co-op, and whether or not you should". PC Gamer.
  3. ^ a b Brown, Frasier (6 June 2019). "Baldur's Gate 3 will combine the best of Divinity and D&D 5th Edition". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  4. ^ Dingman, Hayden (6 June 2019). "Baldur's Gate III is finally happening, 19 years later". PC World. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  5. ^ MacCafferty, Ryan (18 June 2019). "Obsidian and inXile Both Tried to get the Rights to Baldur's Gate 3 – E3 2019". IGN. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  6. ^ Brown, Frasier (6 June 2019). "Larian was shot down the first time it wanted to make Baldur's Gate 3". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  7. ^ McWhertor, Michael (30 May 2019). "Divinity: Original Sin studio teases new game, signs point to Baldur's Gate 3". Polygon. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  8. ^ Grant, Christopher (6 June 2019). "Baldur's Gate 3 announced for Stadia launch, watch the trailer here". Polygon. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  9. ^ Hoffer, Christian (11 June 2019). "Dungeons & Dragons Clarifies Relationship Between Descent Into Avernus and Baldur's Gate III". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  10. ^ Baldur's Gate 3 [@baldursgate3] (5 October 2020). "We've got a big surprise for Mac fans. Baldur's Gate 3 will also launch on Mac, tomorrow 10am PT! Now, Mac fans will very much be part of the Early Access journey" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020 – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ O'Connor, James (18 August 2020). "Baldur's Gate 3 Will Release In Early Access In September". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  12. ^ Larian Studios [@larianstudios] (23 September 2020). "We're delaying to October 6, by a week" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ Watts, Steve (6 October 2020). "Baldur's Gate 3's Map Is Already Big In Early Access". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  14. ^ Ruppert, Liana (17 February 2021). "Baldur's Gate 3 Adds Druid Class, Loaded Dice Option, Better Cinematics, And Multiplayer". Game Informer. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  15. ^ Ruppert, Liana (13 October 2020). "Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access Saves Won't Transfer Over At Launch". Game Informer. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  16. ^ Romano, Sal (8 December 2022). "Baldur's Gate III launches in August 2023". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  17. ^ Cranz, Alex (29 September 2022). "Google is shutting down Stadia". The Verge. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  18. ^ Vincke, Swen (23 February 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 launches on PS5 August 31". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Archived from the original on 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  19. ^ "Baldur's Gate 3 - FAQ". Steam. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  20. ^ "Baldur's Gate 3 - Community Update #20: A Dragonborn, a Half-Orc & a Monk Walk Into a Tavern - Steam News". Steam. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  21. ^ Mahardy, Mike (29 June 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 will launch four weeks early on PC, delayed on PS5". Polygon. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  22. ^ Phillips, Tom (24 February 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't have PlayStation exclusivity, but isn't coming to Xbox for now". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 24 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  23. ^ McWhertor, Michael (3 August 2023). "When does Baldur's Gate 3 come to Xbox? Maybe not until 2024". Polygon. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  24. ^ "Baldur's Gate 3 PS5 Publishing Rights Snagged by Spike Chunsoft in Japan". Push Square. 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  25. ^ a b "Baldur's Gate 3 for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  26. ^ Cassidy, Ruth (16 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 review - a critical success, with critical failures". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  27. ^ Broadwell, Josh (16 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 Review - A True Soul Stirrer". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  28. ^ a b Jones, Ali (14 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 review: "A new gold standard for RPGs"". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  29. ^ Lloret, Alberto (6 August 2023). "Análisis Baldur's Gate 3, el juego de rol con el que llevas soñando toda tu vida". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  30. ^ Hafer, Leana (18 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 Review". IGN. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  31. ^ "Baldur's Gate 3 : nouveau prétendant au GOTY 2023 et meilleur RPG de son temps !". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). 11 August 2023. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  32. ^ a b c d Brown, Fraser (16 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  33. ^ Dammes, Matthias (16 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 im Test: Dieses Rollenspiel ist ein Kunst- und Meisterwerk". PC Games (in German). Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  34. ^ Kelly, Paul (10 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 review – an instant RPG classic". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  35. ^ Jackson, Gita (18 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 is a masterpiece built on a bad tabletop game". Polygon. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  36. ^ a b Reuben, Nic (9 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 review – awe-inspiring D&D rendition is a towering landmark". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  37. ^ a b Pestana, Pedro (9 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 - Análise". IGN Portugal (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  38. ^ a b c d e Moyer, Shane Robert (4 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 Review". Game Rant. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  39. ^ a b Sinha, Ravi. "Baldur's Gate 3 Review – Stand and Deliver". GamingBolt. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  40. ^ W-K, Edie. "Baldur's Gate 3 Review-in-Progress — Open wide and bear witness". Checkpoint. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  41. ^ Legarie, Destin (10 August 2023). Baldur’s Gate 3 is Causing Some Developers to Panic. IGN. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  42. ^ Battaglia, Alex (12 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 PC tech review: polish that puts other AAA games to shame". Eurogamer. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  43. ^ Donovan, Imogen (4 August 2023). "'Baldur's Gate 3' overtakes 'Sons Of The Forest' to become Steam's second biggest launch of 2023". NME. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  44. ^ Jonathan, Bolding (5 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 enters top 10 all-time peak Steam games, knocking Apex Legends out". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  45. ^ Franzese, Tomas (4 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 launches to jaw-dropping success on Steam". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  46. ^ Sinha, Ravi (4 August 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3 Sold over 2.5 Million Units in Early Access". GamingBolt. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  47. ^ Fenlon, Wes (8 August 2023). "Larian's boss worried Baldur's Gate 3 had peaked in early access, so its massive 800K concurrent player launch was 'way, way beyond' expectations". PC Gamer. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

External links

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