Baldur's Gate 3

''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 (D&D'' 5e), A major feature is that outcomes are decided by rolling a twenty-sided die (d20). 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. The maximum player level of ''Baldur's Gate 3 is level 12; in the tabletop game, the limit is level 20. With each feat, players choose a new ability or increase their stats, which are called abilities''. with a large, explorable location tied to each. In non-combat scenarios, the game is primarily experienced in real time. with significant creative freedom as to how they are completed, 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, 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. Picking locks, disarming traps, and exploring locations grant experience. 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. Players can see the percentage-chance that an attack will hit before making it; this value is impacted by things like terrain. Environmental elements like explosive barrels can be exploited, 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 (2000) and shortly after the events of the D&D tie-in adventure, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus'' (2019). The game features monsters from the Forgotten Realms, including owlbears, gnolls, and mind flayers. 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. 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. In act two, players traverse the Shadow Cursed lands to reach Moonrise Towers, Only one companion is introduced in act two. The third and final act is primarily set in the dense city environment of Baldur's Gate, The city is the location of the tenth and final recruitable companion. 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 high elf vampire spawn rogue 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 (Tim Downie) is a human wizard from the city of Waterdeep, and the most popular choice for origin character playthroughs. • Shadowheart is a half-human, half-high elf 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 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. • Karlach is a tiefling and former soldier of Avernus who is a barbarian by default. She 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. The seventh origin character, the Dark Urge, cannot be recruited. The Dark Urge narrative is linked closely with the main narrative. In this origin, the player is the compulsively evil spawn of Bhaal, the god of murder, and can choose to resist or indulge these desires. There are four non-origin characters who can be recruited: • Minthara is a dark elf Paladin, initially encountered as an enemy, 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. • Jaheira (Tracy Wiles) is a half-elf druid and leader of the Harpers, an organization dedicated to the preservation of historical lore and knowledge. • Minsc (Matthew Mercer) 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''. The game's overarching villain is an illithid elder brain known as the Absolute, voiced by prolific voice actress Cissy Jones. Three other antagonists control the elder brain—Ketheric Thorm, Enver Gortash, and Orin the Red. Actor J. K. Simmons portrays Ketheric Thorm, a tragic villain planned as recruitable in early development. Jason Isaacs and Maggie Robertson portray Enver Gortash and Orin the Red, respectively. The Emperor is a mind flayer detached from the species' hive mind. A controversial, complex character, and a player romance option, he was voiced by Scott Joseph. Raphael, a devil, is a supporting villain encountered early who offers the player a deal to remove the parasite in their head. Voice actor Andrew Wincott portrays Raphael as a theatrical villain influenced by Shakespeare's Iago. Plot The protagonist wakes up inside a giant dimension-crossing illithid (mind flayer) flying ship. They are infected with a parasitic tadpole that enthralls and transforms people into illithids; however, the transformation does not happen, and the ship comes under attack from githyanki warriors riding red dragons. The mind flayer crew teleports the ship to the Nine Hells and are attacked by an army of Devils. The protagonist is freed during the fighting and steers the damaged ship to Faerûn, where it crashes. They encounter other survivors of the wreck, all likewise implanted with tadpoles. The party seeks to remove their parasites through numerous avenues, all of which fail to provide a cure. They are saved from the tadpoles' overwhelming psychic force by a "Dream Guardian" inside Shadowheart's mysterious prism, a device that is sought after by the githyanki. The protagonist then becomes involved in the fate of the Emerald Grove, where local druids and tiefling refugees face off against the goblin horde that worships a cult of the "Absolute". Once the party either sacks or saves the grove, they travel through the mountains or the Underdark to reach Moonrise Towers, a cultist stronghold, in search of a new cure. The protagonist seeks sanctuary from the curse around Moonrise Towers in a tavern called the Last Light, held by a group of tiefling refugees, Flaming Fist conscripts, and Harpers. General Ketheric Thorm, the reigning lord of Moonrise and Chosen of Myrkul, is using a relic named the "Nightsong" as an engine for his immortality. The party scours the Gauntlet of Shar, a deserted temple to the goddess of darkness and loss, in pursuit of the Nightsong, revealed to be Dame Aylin, a daughter of Selûne, the goddess of the moon and Shar's sister. After either slaying or freeing the Nightsong, the protagonist confronts Ketheric, as well as his cohorts—Orin the Red (the Chosen of Bhaal) and Enver Gortash (the Chosen of Bane). Through their Netherstones and a mysterious crown, the triumvirate collectively controls the Absolute (revealed to be an Elder Brain, the ultimate form of the illithid race) and seeks to rule the Sword Coast by manipulating everyone infected with a tadpole. Orin and Gortash depart with the Elder Brain for Baldur's Gate, while the protagonist defeats Ketheric and claims his Netherstone. The protagonist arrives at Baldur's Gate as Gortash and Orin attempt to pit them against the other, while the companions find closure for their personal quests. It is revealed that the "Dream Guardian" is, in fact, a visage taken by a renegade illithid called the Emperor, who resides within the prism and oversees the imprisonment of a powerful githyanki, Orpheus. Orpheus is the source of psionic resistance the party possesses against the Absolute, and the Emperor has been leveraging this in his favour. The protagonist eventually faces off against Gortash and Orin, assembling the Netherstones to subdue the Elder Brain. The Elder Brain, having anticipated the triumvirate and the protagonist's every move, overpowers the party before the Emperor comes to the rescue. Realizing that the Netherstones require an illithid wielder with Orpheus' powers to be effective, the protagonist can either allow the Emperor to consume Orpheus or else the player character, Karlach or Orpheus must transform into an illithid. If working with the Emperor, he or the illithid in the party consumes Orpheus; otherwise, the Emperor leaves to side with the Elder Brain to save himself while the party frees and allies with Orpheus. After defeating the Elder Brain, the protagonist can choose to either betray their comrades and rule as the Absolute, let the Emperor rule and serve at his side, or kill the Elder Brain and every illithid tadpole with it, ending the threat forever. == Development ==

Background The ''Baldur's Gate'' series began development in 1995 when Wizards of the Coast's predecessor, TSR, Inc., asked publisher Interplay Entertainment to produce a video game using the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) property. BioWare agreed to develop the title, having formed a partnership with Interplay for Shattered Steel (1996). Initially titled Iron Throne, the game was retitled ''Baldur's Gate'' (1998) at the suggestion of Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. Created by a largely inexperienced group of developers, BioWare delivered the game a year behind Interplay's schedule and achieved commercial success, leading to an expansion in 1999. Following a licensing issue, another Dungeons and Dragons video game, The Black Hound, was designated as the third game in the ''Baldur's Gate series; it was cancelled when Interplay lost the rights to release Baldur's Gate titles on PC. Canadian developer Beamdog made enhanced editions of the first and second games, followed by Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear'' (2016), a large expansion using the Infinity Engine. Cameron Tofer, co-founder of Beamdog, said making the third game was the studio's "long-term goal". Vincke first approached Wizards of the Coast (WotC) about making the game during Larian's development of Divinity: Original Sin (2014), but WotC declined, citing their inexperience. Shortly before the release of the sequel, Divinity: Original Sin II (2017), WotC were intrigued by prerelease footage and asked Larian for a pitch for ''Baldur's Gate 3. Vincke created a design document around a month before the release of Original Sin II in a hotel room with several designers and writers. The pitch was scheduled for the release day of Original Sin II'', leading to a short turnaround time. WotC did not like the pitch, but granted Larian's request for more time. A later pitch was received positively and WotC granted Larian the licence. Studio growth and challenges at the 2024 Game Developer's Conference|thumb|upright=1 Larian wanted to produce a game with triple-A production values, budget, and marketing; they viewed ''Baldur's Gate, alongside Fallout and Ultima,'' as an intellectual property capable of enabling that. Larian built new cinematic functionality into their game engine, viewing these capabilities as key to accessibility. The studio's cinematic ambitions came with challenges, Close-up dialogue scenes required new teams responsible for cinematics quality assurance and lighting. The size of the art and audio teams increased because the technical requirements differed from those of Original Sin II. Clothing designs and textures, for example, had to work from close and far perspectives because of the cinematic camera. ''Baldur's Gate 3'' uses technology from the eighth generation of video game consoles, like screen-spaced reflections and shadow maps for lighting and shadow. The studio's size increased from around 140 employees in 2017 to over 450 in 2023, making it one of the world's largest privately owned video game companies. In part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ''Baldur's Gate 3'' had an unusually long 6-year development cycle. Vincke described ''Baldur's Gate 3'' as Larian's "Covid game", with the pandemic reducing productivity, causing communication issues internally and with external partners, and preventing performance motion capture. The studio lost staff over the 6-year development period, The credits bear a dedication to Southworth. Mearls said that collaborating with Larian felt like a natural extension of Wizards of the Coast's D&D team, with both companies anticipating required adjustments to fifth-edition rules. Vincke suggested using mind flayers as antagonists after seeing an illustration in ''Volo's Guide to Monsters. Baldur's Gate 3'' is set over 100 years after the first two entries; Smith said WotC had "filled out" the intervening century because the area was integral to the Forgotten Realms and Sword Coast settings. Larian collaborated with WotC on a precursor module for the game, In development, the multiplayer mode allowed players to role play with their partner, but the feature was removed because of the added complexity. All 248 of the game's voice actors performed the motion capture for their characters. There are over 170 ending variations, which required substantial testing, and Larian's writers worked on ending dialogue and descriptions for over a year. Larian encouraged the main cast to interact with fans, which Devora Wilde, who portrays Lae'zel, said was unusual in the industry. Smith described the team's approach as "reactive", saying that identifying frequent player choices informed their writing decisions. Some characters were changed substantially throughout development. Larian reduced the hostility of companions to the player character, including Shadowheart and Lae'zel. Karlach's infernal heart was a late addition to the game. According to region producer Elena Statsenko, Larian aimed to incorporate moral dilemmas and outcome variety for different player types into quests. Other design considerations included integration with the main story and adjustments if the player controlled an origin character. == Release ==

Early access Larian Studios revealed ''Baldur's Gate 3'' with a trailer at a conference for Google's cloud gaming platform, Stadia, in July 2019. Following Google's discontinuation of Stadia in 2023, Vincke expressed regret, describing it as "a really stupid deal", but said the funds provided by the deal had funded the game's visuals. Larian partially released an unfinished version of the game's first act into early access in October 2020. The early access had over 2.5 million players The game's scope increased throughout this period. Eurogamer Ruth Cassidy said that the changes to characterisation before the full release, such as decreasing hostility to the player and increasing their vulnerability, felt like fan service. Continuous rewriting of the script required voice actors to return to the studio. IGN, PC Gamer and GameSpot reviewers said it was fun but that bugs meant waiting for the full release would be advantageous, with David Wildgoose describing the game as "rough", "messy", and "just barely hanging together". Full release Larian experienced issues while developing a version for Xbox Series X and Series S. Performance variation between the two consoles in split-screen co-operative play was an issue because feature parity was a requirement of the Xbox platform. Following an in-person meeting with Microsoft Games executive Phil Spencer at Gamescom, Vincke and Spencer arranged a compromise where the game could be brought to Xbox consoles without split-screen play on the Xbox Series S. In March 2023, Larian Studios staff were concerned that the game would be delayed to avoid competition from another title, Bethesda Softworks' Starfield, after the lengthy development cycle. Vincke accelerated the game's Windows release by four weeks, The game was released for Windows on 3 August 2023, and macOS on 22 September 2023. Following the PlayStation 5 version's launch, Larian revealed an animated short, "The Launch Party", co-produced with UK-based animation studio Mashed. On 7 December 2023, directly following The Game Awards 2023, Larian released ''Baldur's Gate 3'' on Xbox Series X and Series S. Post-release After release, Larian Studios provided new content and improvements via patching, with release dates sometimes varying by platform. Released for PC in August 2023, the first patch added over 1,000 bug fixes and balance changes, alongside increased polish for animations. The September 2023 update permitted players to customise their appearance, support for modding, and increased the number of endings for evil playthroughs. A November 2023 patch added customisation for player characters and hirelings; increased the frequency of autosaving; and new idle animations. In December 2023, the developer added two difficulty modes and an expanded epilogue featuring over 3,500 new lines of dialogue. An eighth and final patch was released in April 2025. The patch introduced 12 new sub-classes, a photo mode, cross-platform play, and co-operative split-screen for Xbox Series S. Jasmine Gould-Wilson regretted that GamesRadar+ could not name BG3 as their 2024 game of the year despite extensive changes. The developer was widely criticised for not providing full credits for localisation teams involved in the game. Vincke blamed the error on Larian's localisation provider, Altagram, and promised a fix. Altagram published an apology. Larian released a physical edition of the game but the disc did not contain the full game, instead providing a downloader for it. The game's full soundtrack was distributed across three discs, and it featured a cloth-printed map, stickers, and a chalk-paper mind flayer poster. == Reception ==

According to review aggregator website Metacritic, ''Baldur's Gate 3'' received "universal acclaim" from critics, Several reviews praised the characters as elevating the narrative above standard fantasy tropes and archetypes. Jackson praised the companion's reactivity, highlighting the vampire spawn Astarion's embrace of his freedom. Some reviewers praised BG3 combat, citing the range of options, Rebekah Valentine said the game's size concealed issues with the final act, describing it as less polished than the preceding two; several other reviewers highlighted bugs. According to IGN, bug complaints persisted months beyond release; PC Gamer Fraser Brown, meanwhile, expressed surprise at how few bugs surfaced on his playthrough given BG3 scope and complexity. In February 2024, Larian's publishing director Michael Douse said the game had over 10 million players. , Larian has not released precise sales figures. Vincke described the game's performance as "way beyond" expectations; he had been concerned the game's entire audience had purchased it during early access. In a Q4 2023 earnings call, Wizards of the Coast's parent company Hasbro said the game had earned the company $90 million. Douse said the game's player count increased 20% over 2024, with IGN Wesley Yin-Poole attributing this to modding support. By the end of 2025, the game had sold over 20 million copies. == Accolades ==

at The Game Awards 2023 ''Baldur's Gate 3'' had record-breaking award success continuing over a year beyond its release. According to Vincke, Larian sent rotating groups of staff to award ceremonies because it started to impact the studio's development activities. In April 2024, the game became the first to win Game of the Year, or the equivalent category, at all five major ceremonies: the Golden Joystick Awards, the Game Developers Choice Awards, the D.I.C.E. Awards, the BAFTAs, and The Game Awards. Several publications also selected ''Baldur's Gate 3 as the best title of the year, including Ars Technica, GameSpot, GamesRadar+, and PC Gamer''. It won the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work. At the Golden Joystick Awards, the game broke the previous record with seven wins, including Best Storytelling, Best Visual Design, and Studio of the Year for Larian. At The Game Awards, the game won in six of the nine nominated categories, including Best Role Playing Game, Best Community Support, and Best Multiplayer Game. ''Baldur's Gate 3'' was one of two titles to win multiple awards at the 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, receiving Role-Playing Game of the Year alongside Outstanding Achievements in Story, Game Design, and Game Direction. At the 24th Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco, it received four awards, including Best Narrative and Best Design. It led The Steam Awards in 2023 with two wins, including Game of the Year and Outstanding Story-Rich Game. The game's performances received awards recognition. Neil Newbon (Astarion) won Best Supporting Performer at the Golden Joysticks and Best Performance at The Game Awards. Newbon's performance was also nominated at the DICE Awards alongside Samantha Béart (Karlach). with Wincott's performance winning. At the 2024 Gayming Awards, it received four nominations, including two for Best LGBTQ Character, winning with Shadowheart, and the Game of the Year. The game's score, and composer Borislav Slavov, received several nominations. In 2020 and 2021, he received Hollywood Music in Media Awards nominations for Original Song – Video Games ("Weeping Dawn" and "I Want to Live", respectively), and for the full score in 2023. Slavov was nominated for Best Score and Music at The Game Awards. Slavov won in the Music category at the BAFTAs. == Future ==

Following its release, Larian Studios reiterated their commitment to supporting the game further would not commit to downloadable content (DLC). While delivering a March 2024 talk at Game Developers Conference, Vincke said the studio would not develop a sequel or DLC. While Larian started work on DLC because of fan demand, there was no passion for the idea internally. Larian subsequently said it was working on two projects, using their own intellectual property for both and targeting a pre-2030 release for the first. One of these projects was revealed to be Divinity at the 2025 Game Awards. Television series HBO announced the development of a television series continuing the story of ''Baldur's Gate 3'', set to be helmed by Craig Mazin, co-creator of HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us. Mazin indicated that he would contact the voice cast to gauge their interest in being involved. Vincke said Mazin and HBO had reached out to Larian for their input, and expressed excitement on behalf of the studio. Neil Newbon asked fans to give the adaptation a chance, "Let them cook, man." ==See also==