Baldur’s Gate 3: Review

This game was reviewed on PC.

Reviewed by:  Nikola Hristov

Well, Baldur's Gate 3 has taken the world by surprise. As someone who has never been into CRPGs before I really had to try out this game, because everyone was saying it's next masterpiece of the gaming industry. And after a very long playthrough of the game, I can safely say this is one of the most polished experiences I've ever played.

What exactly makes Baldur's Gate 3 so special, compared to other titles? Well, it's a combination of many things, but I personally believe it's because of the love, care and passion that the developers of Larian put into this project. It is obvious in every aspect of the game that everything is thought out and polished to give the player as much freedom as possible to interact with the world of Dungeons and Dragons. As someone who's never been a fan of the actual DND game, exploring this world was a completely new experience for me and I think it made the game better. But at the same time, it's also a love letter to classic DND fans. So, you really can't go wrong with playing this game – there's something for everybody.

The narrative is probably the most insane aspect of this game. There are so many choices you can make, so many alterations to the story you can experience, that in order to say you've 100% completed the game you probably need at least 6 playthroughs. The characters are amazing – all of them have great storylines and side quests, all of them are unique and lovable in their own way and all of them are romanceable – so this is the perfect game for horny people! It's truly crazy how much care and effort is put into the world of Faerûn. So much so that I don't want to spoil anything in the story whatsoever, even the beginning. But the characters absolutely carry this game – Shadowheart, Gale, Karlach and many others have constant interaction with the player and by the end of your journey you understand every single one of them. No matter which 3 characters you have alongside you in your party, you'll always have a great time with them – but choose them strategically not because of story reasons, but because of combat.

Exploration is heavily rewarded in this game. Constantly having to jump to places to find hidden chests, rolling a d12 to find a hole you can dig with your shovel, interaction with the environment by having someone reduce your character's size so they can fit into a small hole and so many more options. This game truly lets you do whatever you want in the world of DND and that's undoubtedly its best feature. However, the traversal is slow at times. It's the nature of the game after all – you can play through everything with just you mouse and because you're constantly clicking to move and act you don't really feel like you're actively traversing the world. That's why the devs keep you engaged by creating so many different secrets for you to find, that way you're never bored on your adventures.

Of course, this wouldn't be an RPG without your full customization options – you can be an armored knight with a greatsword, a mage who has many spells at their disposal, a healing cleric, a rogue who assassinates and many other options for you to choose from. By the end of the game you'll be having so much fun with the combat options given to you – because once you upgrade your character to a decent enough level, there's nothing that can really stop you on your way to discover the mysteries of Faerûn. The actual character model customization is decent, but not on the level of Elden Ring for example. But you can change your genitals – which I'm sure excites many people!

In terms of performance, I cannot really complain so far. Some gameplay mechanics are annoying and reduce my fps from time to time, like Gale spawning a green acid if he dies during combat, which makes reviving him more annoying than it should be. Some combat scenarios, like a specific raid on a grove that happens in act 1, feature lots of different enemies and well, explosions. When you put those things together, even my RTX 4060 cannot avoid the frame drops. Outside of those specific scenarios and character voice-lines repeating, I cannot really complain – the game is quite polished, which is so impressive considering how gigantic in scope it is.

Overall, this has got to be one of the biggest Game of the Year contenders so far. I would argue that it deserves it even more so than Tears of the Kingdom – despite how amazing that game is as well. But BG3 really sets a new gold standard not just for RPGs but for gaming as well – because the philosophy of giving the player so much freedom to choose is something we've not seen, not at least to this degree. As hype as I am, even Spider-Man 2 will have a hard time beating this masterpiece at the game awards. I can safely say that Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the best games I've ever played, and it will resonate with me for a long time.

Reviewed by: Nikola Hristov

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://keymailer.co