Baldur’s Gate 3 is happening - it’s officially been confirmed that the long-awaited follow-up to one of the greatest classic role-playing games ever made is being developed by Larian, the makers of the popular Divinity: Original Sin RPG series.
With that in mind, we’ve got an abundance of details to share, such as release date, co-op, gameplay, screenshots whether it’s coming to Steam, and other assorted info about the highly anticipated Baldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3 Release Date
Baldur’s Gate 3 was announced as a Google Stadia flagship, however, it wasn’t going to be exclusive to Google’s streaming platform.
Developer Larian Studios has confirmed that the title will also launch on PC and, much like Divinity: Original Sin 2 before it, will go through a period of Early Access first.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s early access release date was locked down to October 6, 2020, when everyone willing to jump in could try out a slice of the title that was built upon in subsequent updates.
During 2022’s The Game Awards (and after the announcement that Google Stadia would shut down), Baldur’s Gate 3’s full version got itself an August 2023 release date.
The developer then narrowed down its launch to August 31, before announcing a change of plans on June 29.
Baldur Gate 3’s PC release date is now slated to occur on August 3, 2023. Its PS5 version is set to launch on September 6, 2023.
Baldur's Gate 3 Steam
Baldur’s Gate 3 has already got a proper Steam page, where you can already follow, wishlist, purchase the game, and partake in discussions with other users.
The RPG has been confirmed to first go through a Steam Early Access phase during which developer Larian Studios will seek player feedback on the game’s various features.
Baldur's Gate 3 Story
Baldur’s Gate 3 starts on a Mindflayer ship and sees your character and a few other unlucky souls having illithid tadpoles inserted in their brains by a not-so-friendly Mind Flayer. The ship eventually crashes – after attempting to harvest more people from a major city and being chased off by adventurers on dragons –, which leaves you and the other characters stranded in a wilderness.
Baldur’s Gate 3 will “touch upon the story of [its predecessors] in meaningful ways”, Swen Vincke revealed in a Reddit AMA and will feature returning characters.
Players will be able to explore along the banks of the river Chionthar, its surrounding wilderness and settlements, as well as the city of Baldur’s Gate itself.
While the gameplay reveal didn’t delve much into the story per se, learning more about and removing the ilithid tadpoles will play a major role, at least in the first part of the title.
We’ll then get to venture across quite a few areas, including the city of Baldur’s Gate, while attempting to learn more about and thwart the plans of antagonists Lord Enver Gortash and General Ketheric Thorm.
Baldur's Gate 3 Gameplay
Built on the new Divinity 4.0 engine, Baldur’s Gate 3’s gameplay is visibily informed by Larian Studios’ previous hit cRPG Divinity: Original Sin 2 while weaving plenty of Dungeons & Dragons in for good measure.
Things kick off with the character creator, where you’ll be able to select the race, class, background, ability proficiency and stats of your character. Baldur’s Gate 3 also offers pre-made characters with origin stories and a more fleshed-out place in the lore. Both pre-made and custom characters have full voice acting.
While you can play Baldur’s Gate 3 using an isometric camera, you also have the option of zooming in to a third-person perspective. Cutscenes and dialogue also zoom in on the characters whose models are quite visibly improved from Larian’s previous projects.
Combat is, perhaps, Baldur Gate’s 3 most notable departure from the previous titles in the series. It no longer features real-time with pause combat, favoring turn-based battles in which each character takes its turn while the others wait. Players can, however, initiate turn-based mode on their own to set up ambushes.
Aside from moving and attacking, characters can also perform bonus actions like shoving enemies into environmental hazards or throwing inventory items like boots at them. Some bonus actions are determined by weapon type.
The respite between combat encounters counts as short rests in Baldur’s Gate 3 – during which Warlocks have all spell slots restored –, while long rests require the entire party to head back to camp and spend the night there. Long rests also lead to opportunities for characters to reflect on the state of things.
Dialogue plays a large role in Baldur’s Gate 3, the available choices varying based on the race, class, and background of your character. The gameplay reveal featured a vampire spawn who could hide his true nature from his allies and had the option of drinking their blood.
Alignment won’t be featured extensively throughout the title but repeatedly performing actions your allies disagree with will see them turning against you or leaving. Simultaneously, the way you build your character will also determine your available actions. As Swen Vincke put it, “a drow will get different options compared to a Paladin of Tyr”.
While the majority of dice rolls are performed in the background, you will see dice occasionally popping up on the screen in such moments as when you need to perform a persuasion or stealth check. You only need to click the dice once and pray to the RNG gods for luck, but having a visual representation of some dice roll adds to the feeling that you’re playing a Dungeons & Dragons game.
Baldur’s Gate 3 also rewards exploration with cool items, like amulets that let you speak to the dead, encounters, or deadly traps that require adapting to a new situation on the spot to successfully navigate.
Baldur's Gate 3 Co-op
Like Larian’s previous, extremely popular offerings, Baldur’s Gate 3 also supports cooperative multiplayer, alongside the usual single-player mode, in which one player controls all characters.
Baldur’s Gate 3 will feature options for both online and local co-op. Its online mode will support up to four players while locally, two players can adventure together in split-screen.
Baldur's Gate 3 Screenshots
Baldur's Gate 3 Trailer
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