Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn were developed by BioWare. A third game, subtitled The Black Hound and developed by Black Isle, was cancelled in 2003 following a licensing dispute. Dungeons and Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast declined Larian's first pitch to make the game following the release of Divinity: Original Sin. Impressed by prerelease material for Divinity: Original Sin II, WotC welcomed a new pitch and eventually greenlit Larian's development. The company grew considerably in the six-year production. In August 2020, Larian released the game's first act in early access, providing them with player feedback and revenue. After the full release, Larian added free new content to the game until the final patch in April 2025.
Baldur's Gate 3 received critical acclaim and had record-breaking awards success, with praise directed at its cinematic visuals, writing, production quality, and performances. It became the first title to win Game of the Year at all five major video game awards ceremonies and received the same accolade from several publications. It was both a financial and critical success, generating significant profits for Larian Studios and for Hasbro, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest video games ever made.
Gameplay
Baldur's Gate 3 is a role-playing game, and can be played in single-player or multiplayer. It has a free-floating camera, with players able to adjust the perspective from top-down isometric to third person. Based on the fifth edition rules of the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons, several mechanics are identical between the two. A major feature is that outcomes are decided by rolling a twenty-sided die. Some rolls occur with "advantage" or "disadvantage", meaning two d20s are rolled and the player receives the best or worst result, respectively. The game includes support for modding, but using them disables achievements.In character creation, the player selects a class, species, and backstory. If the selected class uses magic, they will also choose their starting spells. Characters level up by collecting experience points by several means—examples include exploration, combat, and solving puzzles. Levelling up provides access to new class features. The maximum player level of Baldur's Gate 3 is level 12; in the tabletop game, the limit is level 20. Available at certain level intervals are feats. These diversify or specialise a character's style of play. With each feat, players choose a new ability or increase their stats, which are called abilities. After levelling up, players can also choose to place a level into a different class, known as multiclassing.
Quests and exploration
The game is divided into three acts, with a large, explorable location tied to each. In non-combat scenarios, the game is primarily experienced in real time. There are 288 quests, with significant creative freedom as to how they are completed, some being mutually exclusive, and some unfolding across multiple arcs. Companions have their own side quests, but the game can be completed without companion presence. Almost any character can die, including those integral to the narrative, and all speaking characters are fully voiced. Using a spell or potion, players can speak to any encountered animal, and a more limited number of corpses.Players can set up a camp as a way to rest from the adventure and talk with companions. There are 17 unique camp locations, contextually dependent on where in the game world the camp is set up. A non-player character based at camp, Withers, allows players to respec. Limited resources—for example, hit points and spell slots—are replenished by resting. There are two types of rest: long and short. A short rest restores 50% of the characters' maximum hit points alongside some class-specific features. Players can short rest twice before they must long rest to replenish them. Long rests teleport players back to camp and fully replenish resources.
Players select items in the world, such as chests, to interact with them. Items, like explosive barrels, can be sent to a camp stash and retrieved later. Picking locks, disarming traps, and exploring locations grant experience. If the player attempts to pick a lock, the game rolls a dice; the result is compared against the value required to open the lock. A character's skills or abilities can add to the rolled value, making it easier.
Combat
The game's combat systems are modelled on D&D 5e. Entering combat switches the game to turn-based mode. A d4 roll, called an initiative roll, determines the order in which each character acts. In a turn, each character has limited resources. The primary resources are actions, bonus actions, and movement. Major instructions to a character, like attacking with a sword or casting a spell, consume an action. Smaller commands, like jumping or drinking a potion, consume a bonus action. Characters can also move a set distance. When the player has finished the available actions for a character, their turn ends; combat is finished when all enemies are defeated. The player can also have controlled characters leave combat by moving sufficiently far from enemies. The outcomes of player actions—for example, whether an attack hits and how much damage it deals—are primarily determined through dice rolls.When a character attacks, the game rolls a d20—this is called an attack roll. The result is compared against the target's armour class; if the roll value is lower than the armour class, the attack misses. Players can see the percentage-chance that an attack will hit before making it; this value is impacted by things like terrain. Some attacks have damage types. These can amplify one another or counteract the other's effect. Environmental elements like explosive barrels can be exploited, and weapons can be dipped in poison.
Social
Conversations are another area of gameplay in Baldur's Gate 3. Some conversations include skill checks, wherein the player rolls a d20, with the result affecting the outcome. Players can initiate combat by selecting an aggressive dialogue option, or use dialogue to avoid combat entirely. This is a major feature of the charisma-focused bard class. Dialogue options can involve persuasion, intimidation, and deception.Player characters can initiate romance or sexual relationships with many non-player characters. Actions and dialogue options affect relationship outcomes. Characters that can be romanced are "playersexual", meaning the player character's gender does not impact romance availability. The game has thirteen romance options.
Narrative
Setting
Baldur's Gate 3 shares its Dungeons and Dragons setting, called the Forgotten Realms, with previous games in the franchise. BG3 and its predecessors take place on the continent of Faerûn, primarily near or inside the namesake city of Baldur's Gate. BG3 occurs over 100 years after the events of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and shortly after the events of the D&D tie-in adventure, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. The game features monsters from the Forgotten Realms, including owlbears, gnolls, and mind flayers.The game's first act has no designated tutorial, but certain resources and encounters throughout the act are deliberately constructed to guide the player. The act is primarily set around a mind flayer ship wreckage. Players have access to several locations, including a druids' grove, goblin camp, and a monastery set against a mountain pass. Writer Ali Jones characterises the first act as "fairytale backdrop", and IGN Leana Hafer said it was "mostly idyllic wilderness". Eight of the game's ten companions are introduced in act one, with six recruitable near the start. The Underdark is a large subterranean area accessible through multiple locations; each entrance leads to unique environments. Act one ends when players traverse the mountain pass or Underdark to reach act two's setting. In act two, players traverse the Shadow Cursed lands to reach Moonrise Towers, an oppressive and dark environment. Only one companion is introduced in act two. Locations explored include the Last Light Inn and the Gauntlet of Shar. The third and final act is primarily set in the dense city environment of Baldur's Gate, but with some areas accessible outside of the city, like a visiting circus and the shoreline. The city is the location of the tenth and final recruitable companion.
Characters
The world, alongside the player's thoughts and observations, are recounted by the game's narrator, acting as BG3 dungeon master. While the narrator was originally planned to deliver lines contemptuously, Larian was impressed by Tyler's deadpan delivery. Of the ten companions, six can be chosen as the player character in the character creator. Known as origin characters, they have a pre-set character class, race, and appearance. Although their classes can be changed, origin character personalities and backstories are sometimes related to them.- Astarion is a hedonistic vampire spawn voiced by Neil Newbon and written by Stephen Rooney. At the game's start, Astarion has recently escaped his vampire master, Cazador. Newbon's performance was partly inspired by the harlequin figure of commedia dell'arte. Of the origin characters, Astarion was the second most selected protagonist.
- Gale is a wizard from the city of Waterdeep, and the most popular choice for origin character playthroughs.
- Shadowheart is a cleric of Shar, the goddess of loss, portrayed by Jennifer English and written by John Corcoran. Originally pitched as a Jason Bourne-style character, she has no memories of her past. She is the most popular romance option for players in the game.
- Lae'zel is a fanatical githyanki with a default base class of fighter. She is quick to anger, disobliging, and the first companion encountered in Baldur's Gate 3. Lae'zel was portrayed by Devora Wilde, with Kevin VanOrd working as her lead writer. Vincke said VanOrd found Lae'zel's "voice" early in development, changing least of the companions during development.
- Wyll is a warlock folk hero. After early access, Wyll's voice actor was changed, with Theo Solomon portraying him in the final release. Wyll's character underwent extensive rewrites following the early access.
- Karlach, a tiefling who is a barbarian by default, was portrayed by Samantha Béart and written by Sarah Baylus. Karlach was heavily iterated across development. According to Béart, she was changed due to similarities to Lae'zel.
There are four non-origin characters who can be recruited:
- Minthara is an antagonist whose recruitment at launch required an evil playthrough, but Larian made recruiting her easier following release. Written by Sarah Baylus, she was portrayed by Emma Gregory.
- Halsin is a wood elf druid and the master of the druids' grove that the player visits during the game's first act. Initially not recruitable during early access, player reception to Halsin was so positive that he was given a companion role.
- Jaheira is a half-elf druid and leader of the Harpers, an organization dedicated to the preservation of historical lore and knowledge.
- Minsc is a human ranger who carries a hamster named Boo with him; Jaheira and Minsc previously appeared in both Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.