This review contains spoilers
The game is "just okay".
The characters are written okay, some of them excel in their writing material (Astarion) but the others have their meat and giblets offered to you by mid-Act 2 if you've been diligent with not pissing them off and haven't gone the "other way" with the story; I wouldn't mind it if it weren't that it offers such a different experience between differing gameplays.
The plotline is "just fine": it's your average WOTC campaign without a human DM.
The mechanics are "just okay": while using D&D 5e as a base core system, the games chickens out of taking the full potential of spells and mechanics due to restrictions of the core game itself. Biggest gripe I have is that a fight can last way longer than it's meant to be due to fumbling rolls consistently for multiple turns on end, on multiple characters. Is it mechanic-adherent? Yes, but a DM can usually intervene to fix the pacing while in BG3 you're only at the mercy of whenever your dice will roll decently or Karmic Dice will either help you or screw you over.
The enemies are "okay", they're your standard fare for a D&D 5e experience: goblins, gnolls, kobolds, mindflayers, some higher CR enemies sprinkled there and then. I was pleasantly surprised by the Shadow-cursed enemies in Act 2 and the Underdark's presence in Act 1.
The Dark Urge writing was put together with a lot of care and thought, which made for an enjoyable second playthrough that felt a bit more different than the first complete one.
All in all, it could've been much better as an experience but it's a good starting point to see where it'll end. Definitely made some of the lore of D&D more accessible to people.
The characters are written okay, some of them excel in their writing material (Astarion) but the others have their meat and giblets offered to you by mid-Act 2 if you've been diligent with not pissing them off and haven't gone the "other way" with the story; I wouldn't mind it if it weren't that it offers such a different experience between differing gameplays.
The plotline is "just fine": it's your average WOTC campaign without a human DM.
The mechanics are "just okay": while using D&D 5e as a base core system, the games chickens out of taking the full potential of spells and mechanics due to restrictions of the core game itself. Biggest gripe I have is that a fight can last way longer than it's meant to be due to fumbling rolls consistently for multiple turns on end, on multiple characters. Is it mechanic-adherent? Yes, but a DM can usually intervene to fix the pacing while in BG3 you're only at the mercy of whenever your dice will roll decently or Karmic Dice will either help you or screw you over.
The enemies are "okay", they're your standard fare for a D&D 5e experience: goblins, gnolls, kobolds, mindflayers, some higher CR enemies sprinkled there and then. I was pleasantly surprised by the Shadow-cursed enemies in Act 2 and the Underdark's presence in Act 1.
The Dark Urge writing was put together with a lot of care and thought, which made for an enjoyable second playthrough that felt a bit more different than the first complete one.
All in all, it could've been much better as an experience but it's a good starting point to see where it'll end. Definitely made some of the lore of D&D more accessible to people.