Baldur’s Gate 3 Review

Larian Studios isn't a studio we always talk about, mostly because it was never too well-known. Founded by Swen Vincke in 1996 and based in Ghent, Belgium, Larian Studios slowly climbed their way to the top. However, they started at the bottom like everybody else, and this began with their very first release, The L.E.D. War is a well-thought-out strategy that was released in 1997.

Shortly after that, they released Divine Divinity in 2002; yes, this is the original game of the Divinity series. After being quite well received, they carried on with the world in Divinity and released Beyond Divinity in 2004, Divinity II: Ego Draconis in 2009, Divinity: Original Sin in 2014, and Divinity: Original Sin II in 2017, each one bringing its unique flare to the Action RPG genre.

With all this backing up their glowing reputation, Larian Studios went several steps further when they started the development of Baldur's Gate 3, and on 3 August 2023, they released their creation into the world. There was already some serious buzz around the game since it's been well over 20 years since Bioware released Baldur's Gate 2.

The latest game in the Baldur's Gate series didn't just promise a great game and mind-blowing visuals. It also silently promised a more refined take on the DND experience. Suffice it to say, the game over delivered…

A little disclaimer before we jump into the thick of it: Dungeons & Dragons was originally a tabletop game with an unholy multitude of mechanics. While you'll see most of them in Baldur's Gate 3, there are a few that aren't mentioned or used in the game or are just handled automatically.

The world of Baldur's Gate 3 can also be just as over the top and sometimes confusing, but it gets a lot more interesting and in-depth as you go. For those who aren't new to Baldur's Gate 3 or DND, you already know what's to come. Without further delay, let's paint a pretty picture of the world of Faerun.

Your epic quest in Baldur's Gate 3 starts with a cinematic showcasing the Nautiloid, a mind-flayer ship and mobile home of sorts. One of the ship's residents walks in and partially opens one of the pods. The pods currently house you and several others around a mind-flayer nursery. The nursery is like a giant bowl that keeps the mind-flayer tadpoles safe until they're implanted in unwilling victims.

At the same time, we'll see our captor take one of the tadpoles from the nursery and implant it into one of your prospective party members, Lae'zel, a Githyanki Fighter. After her, you're the next implantation victim, but this gets cut short, and you're thrown into character creation.

This goes without saying, but character creation in Baldur's Gate 3 is an absolute joy. For those who don't want to go down the vaunted custom creation route and prefer something pre-made, there is the option of using an origin character.

These characters are all people from around Faerun whom you can meet and convince to join your party in the game. You can still customize them to your unique flare or choose between origin creations like Gale, the Human Wizard, Astarion, the High Elf Rogue, and several others. Each has its skills and classes.

For the vast majority of people who prefer going down the very custom creation route, be prepared for a lengthy process. You'll be able to customize literally everything. Starting off with races, you'll have most of your standard races like Elf, Tiefling, Drow, Human, Githyanki, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Gnome, Dragonborn, and Half-Orc.

Along with the race, you'll also have to choose the subrace, and this is where things get a bit more complicated. Each race and subrace comes with its own set of stats, actions, proficiencies, and race features.

After you've decided on your race and subrace, you'll need to make the even more daunting decision of what your class is going to be. Once again, running with the standard layout of classes available like Barbarian, Bard (We're watching you Bard players), Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue (Because nothing is safe unless it's nailed down), Sorcerer, Warlock (Eldritch Blast, need we say more?), and the all too famous Wizard class (*takes 1d4 emotional damage then dies*).

Your class is the biggest deciding factor as to what type of equipment you can use and which abilities/spells you'll have at your disposal. However, your more magical classes have a key difference from their physical counterparts.

Magical classes can use physical abilities, but they are rather basic, and they're meant to rely more on their magic in the form of spells and cantrips. However, as you'll soon discover, mages need to prepare spells in advance, which is also limited by the number of spell slots you have available. Then there's also the matter of spells needing a recharge in the form of a short or long rest, but there are class-specific abilities that can let you recharge spells.

Luckily, if you're hurting for some magic, cantrips are your best friend because they're always available and don't need a recharge. Like with all things, going for a mage class comes with perks in the form of versatility and power, but it balances out with the recharge and typically… A lack of HP.

Physical classes are a lot more straightforward and varied. You'll still have access to cantrips and abilities, which can be limited to needing a recharge, but they're a lot more forgiving. Physical classes also typically have proficiency for higher-rated armor and different weapons.

Aside from this, there's also the tiny matter of them being generally more blessed on HP. With the classes in mind, there is one last big thing to keep in mind, and this probably plays the biggest role in how future encounters and dialogues will go.

Worry not; you're not stuck with one single class until the end; that wouldn't be in the spirit of DND, after all. After you've progressed enough, you'll eventually get to meet Withers at your camp. There's not much lore as to what he is or why he's choosing to help your party, but there's no point in looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Withers, in all his cryptic strangeness, can help you change your class and revive dead party members. However, this comes at a small fee, and gold isn't always easy to acquire. However, he can also give you some extra help in the form of fallen spirits, though for a fee as well. For something immortal and timeless, it's strange that he would need gold.

On the other side of this conundrum, there's also multi-classing. It's rather straightforward: raise your level high enough, and you can unlock a second class. However, you'll need to decide which class is going to be your primary class. There's no perfect split for this mechanic, though it would also cripple you slightly.

You'll have to consider skill checks. Intimidation, deception, persuasion, athletics, arcana, history, and so much more, each one bringing its touch to your character and what you'll be capable of. You're not just creating a character; you're going much deeper and a lot more in-depth because almost everything comes with a skill check.

Skill checks can be somewhat forgiving and give you a nice advantage when you need them, provided you have the right skills. Not having the skills means you'll fail the check, and it could backfire quite badly. For instance, you'll need stealth and sleight of hand if you want to pickpocket someone, failing the stealth check means you'll attract unnecessary eyes and failing the sleight of hand check will earn you some serious trouble since you'll be caught red-handed.

But wait, there's more. It would be terribly boring without the other half of the character customization. You'll be happy to know that Baldur's Gate 3 offers a fairly wide range of customizations for hair and cosmetics like jewelry, makeup, hairstyles, face shapes, and much more.

What makes this stand out even more is the even bigger variety of colors to choose from. This might not sound that interesting, but everything can be recolored while still looking somewhat natural. So, you'll have a lot of free roaming to create your perfect being down to the last detail.

Now that the long process of character creation is done and over with, you'll get to create your guardian, too, though this is a lot simpler. As for what your guardian does, you'll have to wait and see because his purpose is quite deep in spoiler territory. However, his purpose does make life in Faerun a lot more fun, even if your party members are a little hesitant to join you with what he or she's suggesting.

Before any of that takes place and after you've created your alter ego in Baldur's Gate 3, you'll be thrown into another cutscene. Back to the mind flayers, and one is piloting the Nautiloid over a town, causing chaos and gathering up more future victims. This goes as badly as one can hope until a swarm of dragon-riding Githyanki comes to the rescue through a portal. Naturally, they didn't show up to admire the sights, but they do have the Nautiloid in their sights.

After doing some serious damage to the Nautiloid, the part of it that you're stuck in takes a hit, and it frees you from your pod. Unfortunately, the tutorial doesn't really give you much to work with, so some experimentation and reading up will be a massive help before you venture further. At the same time, take the time to explore what's around you; every bit of loot can be a major help later on, even if it means selling it to the first merchant you find.

However, now that you're free to move around and do as you please, you'll also need to get acquainted with the movement controls. Aside from clicking to move and panning the camera around, you'll have other actions you can perform, too, like jumping.

It might sound like an odd example, but jumping is an actual action that needs to be performed, along with actions like shoving to knock enemies over, aiding your allies when they're ensnared or downed, and sneaking. It goes without saying that the world only looks limited until you try jumping onto other platforms or you succeed in a perception check that reveals something else.

No DND-style game would ever be complete without lore, and Baldur's Gate 3 has lore coming out of every single crack there is. Some of the lore can be somewhat pointless, while others will actually give you hidden locations or reveal a few interesting secrets. Speaking of, as much as there is in lore, the world of Faerun is just as overrun with secrets. It's up to you to be sure that you have the right skills or equipment to discover them; you never know what you'll find.

On to the action of Baldur's Gate 3, because who doesn't love a good fight? Granted, battles are more tactical and strategic, but some caution is advised. Most of your battle encounters will start with you walking into the wrong place at the wrong time, which will usually leave you at a slight disadvantage.

Apart from that, you might have one saving grace, initiative. At the start of a fight, your party will roll for initiative alongside the enemy party, and that decides the order in which every member of both sides will get to fight. From there, you just need to win the fight.

However, you can't just fling attacks and spells and then hope for the best. Range is your biggest crutch, and you'll naturally have to move your party members around. Unfortunately, moving your party members is depending on how much movement they have, and the environment around you will affect that too.

So, aside from repositioning your party members, things like icy ground or grease will negatively affect your movement. Though at the end of it all, you'll get to loot the corpses around you at least, so there's that. One other thing to keep in mind is your party's health. You'll be able to use cantrips and spells to keep their health up, but you can also always rely on items too… Until those run out.

Consumable items are a godsend in Baldur's Gate 3, as you'll end up using them more often than you'd like. However, restocking them is a whole other nightmare that will lead you to excessive looting, buying more from merchants, or making alchemy your best friend to make more.

Unfortunately, Alchemy isn't really touched on in the tutorial. You'll need to discover it on your own and experiment as well. Luckily, you'll find most of what you need for your consumable items throughout the world as you explore. From there, you just need to start crafting what you need.

To save the best for last, this is the side of Baldur's Gate 3 that will likely give it the most popularity. Dialogues, like any other game, have interesting dialogues between party members and other NPCs, but Baldur's Gate 3 goes above and beyond with what can take place.

Sometimes, you're not fighting a battle with swords and spells but with words, and you'll need to weigh your options with each round to get the outcome you're after. However, this is easier said than done because one failed skill check or even just a bad choice during a conversation can make life a lot harder or make your party members hate you.

There is a different side to the conversations, though, and romances are just as interesting as getting your way with a silver tongue. Lucky for you, building relationships with your party members and helping romances to bloom can lead to more 'intimate' things that they take a full view of. And just like that, Baldur's Gate 3 lost what little innocence it had because everybody likes a good romance, for achievement or just curiosity.

As a bonus, Baldur's Gate 3 also features a fairly decent multiplayer system. For those who don't want to go at it alone, you can invite friends to join you on your epic adventure and make choices with you, both good and bad. However, it comes with a severe flaw… Friends can join your session, but even after they leave, they become a permanent part of the party that can never be removed.

It's not clear if this was intentional or possibly a bug, but it's a little damning if you've made really good progress on your single-player save file only to be stuck with a party member you don't want after they leave. Aside from this, you'll also have to share control of the non-player party members, and this can make things a little confusing at times.

Baldur's Gate 3 just kept giving, and when you stop to smell the roses, you'll see just how much work went into them. With a beautifully crafted world to explore and an unholy variety of monsters to see, it's a 'hats off' moment with just how detailed the visual side of Baldur's Gate 3 is.

The same can be said for the visual effects when casting spells or performing certain attacks. However, where the game really shines is with the detail in each race and the layouts of the dungeons. There's never a dull moment, and you'd be surprised at how much more you'll find when revisiting places you've been to before.

On the sound engineering and music side, you'll need this in your life for the audiophiles. The sound engineering alone is already great, but it pales in comparison to the voice acting. Baldur's Gate 3 is fully voiced along with a narrator because every DND session needs a Dungeon Master to tell the story.

However, the narrator alone builds a great ambiance with her talk and doesn't distract from the scene. The rest of the voice acting has parts where it feels a bit lacking, but the rest really helps the immersion along in all the best ways.

Though Baldur's Gate 3 wouldn't be complete without music, a good majority of the background soundtrack will keep you sucked in, but if you pay attention and talk to the right people, your background music will shift. The only hint for this is to talk to a certain bard and help her finish her song. You won't regret the result.

Overall, Baldur's Gate 3 is the long-awaited masterpiece we all need. It might not have all the mechanics from Dungeons & Dragons, but it does have enough for even a newcomer to start getting into it while getting an intensely rich story to experience as well.

With its epic character customization, dialogues, and vast world, this is definitely the type of game you'd get lost in for hours on end. Aside from the unfortunate downside to going multiplayer, this game is still best experienced with friends, provided you get along well enough. Or not, the chaos is still great.