GO FOR THE EYES, BOO
Is 'Baldur's Gate 3' The Second Coming Of Western RPGs? Here's What The Reviews Say
Two decades have passed since the last proper installment in this "Forgotten Realms" epic series, but Larian Studios has finally brought it back to life using the much-improved fifth edition of the "Dungeons & Dragons" system. Nerds far and near can now rejoice as long as they have a Windows PC with some hefty specs.
The first two "BG" games made BioWare a household name for RPG nerds, but that studio has been busy with its own franchises like "Dragon Age" and "Mass Effect." Instead, the creators of beloved RPG "Divinity: Original Sin" were tapped to resurrect the franchise. Thankfully, they did a heck of a job.
This is a massive game that can easily take over a hundred hours to complete, but there are reports that reviewers were only given a few days to play the completed project. Even though the first act has been in early access for years, half a week is simply not enough time to come to firm conclusions on the entire package
As such, most reviews are unscored at launch, and will be updated over the coming days and weeks with more information. So with that in mind, let's see what the early impressions are looking like.
They did the damn thing
This is an entire, years-long pen-and-paper roleplaying campaign realized in beautiful fidelity, in a way that brings every tiny detail of your mind's eye to life. It's a "Witcher"-style elevation of its source material, a game that lives and breathes its tabletop origins so deeply that to see it transfer them so completely from the page to the screen almost feels wrong.
Although my time with the game hasn't been enough to yet form a full critique, I can already tell that "Baldur's Gate 3" is a very impressive feather in Larian Studio's cap. The shining star for me so far is the story, characters, lore, and voice acting, but the flawless implementation of "Dungeons & Dragons 5e" mechanics is coming a close second. If it can continue to impress on these fronts, even some irritating bugs won't stop it from dominating the RPG space.
With a game this big, there are bound to be issues
It definitely has some blemishes, from minor bugs to a combat system that I don't exactly adore at lower levels. But I've been waiting 14 years for another alignment of the planets like "Dragon Age: Origins," when an old-school CRPG got a big enough budget to look like a high quality animated movie — but the design hadn't been completely steered in the wrong direction in a misguided attempt to reach a different market like the later two "Dragon Ages." This is the closest anyone has ever come to recapturing that magic.
What currently holds it back from a perfect score is how the clunkiness of gameplay mechanics can sometimes hold you back from playing the story your way, and how new players are tossed into a jarring game.
Choices are what matter most
For those of you who have never played "D&D," "Baldur's Gate III" is about as close to a digital version as you can get. Building your character may seem overwhelming at first — or underwhelming if you were hoping to customize your character's face — but it gives you plenty of control over your character's identity, and that truly seems to affect some of the narrative choices you're presented with, as well as the course of (some of) the story. Building a character is a lot like pulling apart a Matryoshka doll; within every race, there is a sub-race, a class, a background, and — in several cases — a litany, of spells and cantrips to assign.
There is simply nothing like "Baldur's Gate III" anywhere. Not even the likes of "Fallout," "Skyrim," or any other massive RPG can compete with what's on offer here. Even super powered choices-matter-titles like "The Witcher III: Wild Hunt" don't offer the interactivity and flexibility of this title.
TL;DR
"Baldur's Gate 3's" world is beautiful, layered and complex, and challenges you to attack it how you want.
It's the type of game that both makes players want to invest all their time into finishing it while simultaneously keeping them thinking of what their next build will be when they inevitably decide to replay it to see all of the things they missed the first time.
"Baldur's Gate 3" is out now on PC, and will release on PS5 September 6. An Xbox Series X/S version has been confirmed to be in development, but does not have a release date.
[Image: GameSpot]
