One of the best games I've ever played. Period. It sounds like hyperbole to come out of the gate with a claim that big, but Baldur's Gate 3 is just THAT bitch. I don't think I'd seen a single bit of gameplay, any reviews or even really a trailer for this when I bought it, and four weeks later, my back aches from hunching over my PC like a little gremlin playing hours upon hours of it every single night. Lengthy RPGs just don't usually grab me like this anymore; I've long attested that I lust after a sexy ol' 15-hour game these days because it's all my adult, ADHD-riddled brain can pay attention to. But this is everything I look for in a game packaged into one super ambitious bundle. It's immersive, it's involving, the story is fantastic, the writing is top-notch, the combat is unbelievably fun and, at every turn, it goes out of its way to offer you something memorable, original and rewarding.
It's rare you find a role-playing game that trusts you as much as Baldur's Gate 3 does. It hands you the tools to sculpt really any character you want, and initially, your understanding of most modern RPGs tells you that you shouldn't spend too much time figuring out who that person is or what cool elaborate headcanon you want to impose onto them, because you're going to wind up being either a wet wipe good guy, a moustache-twirlingly evil villain or, my favourite modern RPG archetype, the obnoxiously sarcastic dude from Fallout 4. But Baldur's Gate 3 really does just say: "go wild bro, invent whatever you want. I'll make it work." And goddamn, it really does.
Catching up with people also playing this game, I'm amazed at how different my experience has been. There's so much to do and see here alone; over 100 hours of it, to be precise. And chatting with people about what you've all found is cool, but the real hook of Baldur's Gate 3 is that HOW you interact with every event is so varied and personal that you're never going to have the same experience twice. Early into this, I got given a quest to track down and acquire a mysterious flask. So I follow the quest and trace the flask to a cave, where it's being guarded by several soldiers under attack from monsters. Now, my friend solved this situation by helping these guys push back the monsters, earning their trust and the flask in the process. Me? I told them I was going to help, waited for them to round the corner, nicked the flask and then pissed off through a secret exit, leaving them to get mushed to shit.
And, like the cool older cousin that Baldur's Gate totally is, it virtually high-fived me, gave me an inspiration point for creativity and then I carried on my way. It welcomes experimentation and values your interpretation, to the point where the entire adventure felt exclusive to me. And that's without even getting into the combat, which I personally get isn't everyone's cup of tea but, to me, absolutely sings. Every scenario is as much about tactics as it is creative thinking, whether that's considering how to utilise the environment to take an enemy out fast, using certain abilities to negate the effects of specific enemy strategies or remembering that shove is the most OP ability in the game and will get you out of about 95% of situations unscathed. It's just as open to interpretation as the role-play elements, and the creative kills you can concoct to clear a room are endless.
Coming from someone who doesn't play D&D, this has dominated my life for the last few weeks. People are going to tell you it's very technical and it's a big time sink, and in some ways, they're right. But it's one of those games that goes out of its way to earn the time and effort you spent learning how it works. It takes some time to sink in, but when you finally get a grasp on how all the systems interact, you can play in almost any way you want. I'm never going to be one to tell you that massive blockbuster games are "dropping off" or becoming less innovative, because they absolutely aren't. We're in the best year of games potentially ever. But what I will say, for a game on this scale, it's almost unbelievable how quality-rich this is. Every square inch has time, attention and effort squeezed in, and it makes for an adventure that I reckon will go down as one of the all-time greats. Hail that hype train my fellow nerds and take your seats. We have an absolute belter on our hands.
... But that being said, Act 3 is so buggy, omg. PSA, spam quicksave like your life depends on it as soon as you reach the final area. That shit's a bizarro land where octopus men fly upside down, characters mime all their dialogue and occasionally a dude will just sink through the floor and into the void of eternal darkness below.
It's rare you find a role-playing game that trusts you as much as Baldur's Gate 3 does. It hands you the tools to sculpt really any character you want, and initially, your understanding of most modern RPGs tells you that you shouldn't spend too much time figuring out who that person is or what cool elaborate headcanon you want to impose onto them, because you're going to wind up being either a wet wipe good guy, a moustache-twirlingly evil villain or, my favourite modern RPG archetype, the obnoxiously sarcastic dude from Fallout 4. But Baldur's Gate 3 really does just say: "go wild bro, invent whatever you want. I'll make it work." And goddamn, it really does.
Catching up with people also playing this game, I'm amazed at how different my experience has been. There's so much to do and see here alone; over 100 hours of it, to be precise. And chatting with people about what you've all found is cool, but the real hook of Baldur's Gate 3 is that HOW you interact with every event is so varied and personal that you're never going to have the same experience twice. Early into this, I got given a quest to track down and acquire a mysterious flask. So I follow the quest and trace the flask to a cave, where it's being guarded by several soldiers under attack from monsters. Now, my friend solved this situation by helping these guys push back the monsters, earning their trust and the flask in the process. Me? I told them I was going to help, waited for them to round the corner, nicked the flask and then pissed off through a secret exit, leaving them to get mushed to shit.
And, like the cool older cousin that Baldur's Gate totally is, it virtually high-fived me, gave me an inspiration point for creativity and then I carried on my way. It welcomes experimentation and values your interpretation, to the point where the entire adventure felt exclusive to me. And that's without even getting into the combat, which I personally get isn't everyone's cup of tea but, to me, absolutely sings. Every scenario is as much about tactics as it is creative thinking, whether that's considering how to utilise the environment to take an enemy out fast, using certain abilities to negate the effects of specific enemy strategies or remembering that shove is the most OP ability in the game and will get you out of about 95% of situations unscathed. It's just as open to interpretation as the role-play elements, and the creative kills you can concoct to clear a room are endless.
Coming from someone who doesn't play D&D, this has dominated my life for the last few weeks. People are going to tell you it's very technical and it's a big time sink, and in some ways, they're right. But it's one of those games that goes out of its way to earn the time and effort you spent learning how it works. It takes some time to sink in, but when you finally get a grasp on how all the systems interact, you can play in almost any way you want. I'm never going to be one to tell you that massive blockbuster games are "dropping off" or becoming less innovative, because they absolutely aren't. We're in the best year of games potentially ever. But what I will say, for a game on this scale, it's almost unbelievable how quality-rich this is. Every square inch has time, attention and effort squeezed in, and it makes for an adventure that I reckon will go down as one of the all-time greats. Hail that hype train my fellow nerds and take your seats. We have an absolute belter on our hands.
... But that being said, Act 3 is so buggy, omg. PSA, spam quicksave like your life depends on it as soon as you reach the final area. That shit's a bizarro land where octopus men fly upside down, characters mime all their dialogue and occasionally a dude will just sink through the floor and into the void of eternal darkness below.