Baldur’s Gate 3 is finally set for a full release on August 3 for PC and September 6 for PS5, with Xbox consoles not yet officially confirmed. This comes after many years of waiting and months in early access perfecting the game. With extensive character customization, important decision-making, and tactical turn-based combat, this sequel appears to be the follow-up fans of the most well-liked Dungeons & Dragons offshoot have been dreaming of.
You should be prepared to start your adventure the instant the game launches on your preferred platform, regardless of whether you have been following the game’s development through the early-access versions or are simply waiting for the finished result. While we can’t assist you in creating your character sheet, we can at least ensure that you are prepared to roll your character as soon as Baldur’s Gate 3 is released.
What’s the Baldur’s Gate 3 release date?
On August 3, 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 was fully released after leaving Early Access. The end of the month was originally the planned release date for Baldur’s Gate 3, but Larian accelerated the schedule due to Starfield. We have no way of knowing if that is the official answer, but it makes sense given that Bethesda’s space RPG is expected to eclipse all others when it launches.
The Game Awards 2022 announced an approximate August release date for Baldur’s Gate 3, and Larian creator Swen Vincke said he is “reasonably confident” about that timeline. Larian made his preparations official by setting a date in February 2023.
Baldur’s Gate 3 file size
The official requirement from Larian Studios for PC users to install Baldur’s Gate 3 is 150GB of free space, however director of publishing Michael Douse later clarified that the game itself only needs 122GB, adding, “We like you having at least 150GB because that’s just good for you.” We advise having 150GB available just in case, just to be safe.
The PS5 version’s file size is still a mystery.
How does Baldur’s Gate 3 play?
In keeping with the series, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a party-based RPG game where you assemble and control a group of archetypal fantasy heroes and learn about their backstories while pursuing your own main goal. Similar to Larian’s Divinity Original Sin 2, your main character will begin the game as either a “origin character”—a figure created by the creator with a distinct background and unique story and dialogue hooks—or as a character you create entirely from scratch.
Larian’s D&D 5e-inspired fighting system is one of the game’s many systems-driven features. “We’ll stay true to our roots,” says Sven Vincke, the founder of Larian, “so we’ll give players lots of systems and lots of agency to use these systems and try to accomplish what you need to on your personal adventure and your party’s adventure.”
That is exactly what we discovered when reviewing Baldur’s Gate 3. “Spells, abilities, and physical control of the environment around you open so many doors, both literally and figuratively. If you want to win a battle with a trio of ogres, shatter the flimsy pillars supporting the structure they are hiding out in, transform into a gas to squeeze through tight spaces or use magic to convince animals to rebel against their owners, says Fraser.
In this game, an unassuming object like an empty box can become crucial to your strategy as you move it about to access higher ground, neutralise poison-spouting vents, or just drop it on an unwary foe. There are opportunities to feel like the brightest person in the room everywhere you turn.
While out-of-combat action is normally in real-time, switching to turn-based gaming outside of battle also allows you to act out more intricate plans. It’s very helpful while sneaking about and taking things, or when navigating a dangerous room filled with traps without the rest of your group tripping over every mine. Real-time and turn-based gameplay can coexist in multiplayer; your partner may go shopping while you fight.
Additionally, Karmic Dice can be activated, which, in Larian’s words, “helps smooth out the extremes of the bell curve [but] retains the core elements of RNG, ensuring a player can no longer be unlucky or super lucky with several dice rolls in a row.”
The edition of Dungeons & Dragons that Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on.
The Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rulebook, which Larian’s wizards rearranged to fit a virtual environment, served as a major source of inspiration for Baldur’s Gate 3. The firm has laboured to develop an original game system that’s fun to play as a digital game while remaining loyal to the D&D spirit, according to CEO Swen Vincke, who noted that some rules and systems don’t entirely translate from tabletop to digital game.
What classes and races are available?
Larian pledged to include each playable race from D&D 5e, along with all of its numerous subraces, in Baldur’s Gate 3. The High Elf and Wood Elf subraces, for instance, are available when making an Elf character, whereas the Hill Dwarf, Mountain Dwarf, and Duergar subraces are available when creating a Dwarf character. There are a total of 10 subraces available to dragonborn characters, one for each draconic heritage. Here are all the details on the playable races in Baldur’s Gate 3 at launch.
The same is true with classes; you can choose any of them, even subclasses. A monk, cleric, fighter, ranger, warlock, wizard, druid, sorcerer, barbarian, bard, or wizard are among the available classes. Our guide to Baldur’s Gate 3 classes gives you a detailed overview of the class you should choose based on your playstyle.
Expect your class to have an impact on your role-playing both on and off the battlefield. In our initial look at Baldur’s Gate 3, senior writer Adam Smith stated, “The stories are very much tied to class at times.” “Class is such a part of identity in D&D, in a way that it wasn’t in DOS2.”
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What’s the level cap in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Initial plans called for the level cap to be level 10, but a Baldur’s Gate 3 community update in June 2023 announced that it would be raised to level 12. The cap increase, it appears, was primarily made so that players would have access to the 6th level spells in D&D 5E. With spells like Planar Ally, which allows you to summon an extraterrestrial entity to give yourself a new holy (or unholy) combat partner, sixth level magic can get rather crazy compared to spells of the fifth level.
How do custom characters work in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Similar to Divinity: Original Sin 2, you have two options for choosing your player character: you can either create a wholly original character from start or select a “Origin character”—a custom character with its own fully-authored story from Larian. Divinity OS2’s studio-made main characters were superior because they had more unique dialogue options and plot hooks, while Larian claimed in an AMA on Reddit that in BG3, “custom characters have a far closer relationship to the universe and the primary arc of the tale. If you decide to play as a bespoke character, we are confident that you won’t feel cheated in terms of the breadth and complexity of the narrative.
The decisions you’ve made for your personalised character will be reflected in a number of dialogue and quest hooks, which Larian has worked hard to provide. “When we say there are serious consequences to your choices, we really mean it,” Larian stated. “As you move through your adventure, you’ll discover quest-lines and stories that relate directly to the character you’re roleplaying, and the things that you’ve done.”
Advice from Swen Vincke, founder of Larian? Save the characters from Origin for a later playthrough. According to Vincke, they “work better if you’ve already played the game because you see it through their eyes,” in an interview with Dropped Frames. “What did Shadowheart consider when she first saw you? And you now recognise when you are inside their thoughts.
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Are there companion romance options?
The decisions you make as the player character, such as which groups you want to support and whom you decide to kill, will be subject to discussion by the other members of your party. Back at the party camp, where you can also partake in more private activities, you can debrief on everything that happened. And yes, there are romantic possibilities in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s character interactions were discussed in detail by Larian, and suffice it to say that the game’s “M” rating by the ESRB is well-deserved. You will absolutely be able to act on the physical aspect of it if you’ve been able to get into a romantic connection with a member of your party.
Larian utilized expert intimacy coordinators for the game’s sex scenes, according to a BBC interview with two BG3 cast members, Jennifer English and Devora Wilde, who play companions Shadow heart and Laez’el, respectively. Hopefully, if you do wind up becoming close to your companion paramour, it won’t be as uncomfortable as previous video games have made it seem.
Lead author Sarah Baylus said, “We are attempting to make these interactions feel authentic and feel like the ones you have in the actual world. “Some people you meet won’t have anything in common with you, while others will be helpful to collaborate with, but that will be the extent of it. However, there may be circumstances in which you get along exceptionally well, have similar objectives, and enjoy travelling together.
Gale the wizard was the most romantic character in early access, but people are also not afraid to act evilly in order to gain some action. The early players, according to Vincke, “are all horny.”
FAQs
- Does baldurs Gate 3 have a release date?
- On October 6, 2020, a portion of the game was made available in early access for macOS, Windows, and Stadia. Before being fully released on Windows on August 3rd, 2023, the game was only available through early access.
- How many acts are released in Baldur’s Gate 3?
- Three acts make up Baldur’s Gate 3.
If you count the Prologue, a very brief but technically separate act, you might count there to be four. Acts 1, 2, and 3 are substantially lengthier than the rest. To give you some perspective, we played the game for 50 hours without ever progressing past the Last Light Inn.
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