It took twenty years — but Baldur’s Gate 3 sets the bar for the modern RPG

I couldn’t bear the idea of getting my hopes up just to be disappointed. Then it won Game of the Year.

As quantity increases, quality decreases. It’s the inverse relationship that the gaming industry is built upon. Everyone knows the bigger the game, the harder it is to ensure the world, the sound, even the gameplay itself, is something that is polished. When a game’s scope is smaller, odds are that the developers of the game will get the focus and time needed to deliver a quality product.

Quantity versus quality is a constant uphill battle: a Sisyphean boulder that the gaming world cannot stop rolling.

Baldur’s Gate 3 shoots that boulder out of a cannon and sends it into the upper stratosphere.

A single playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 can take anywhere from 60-100 hours. Every nook and cranny of this action-RPG (set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons) has a secret to be uncovered. Every hour is thoughtfully designed, intentional, and enjoyable.

 The gaming community was flabbergasted.

Other developers put out statements asking gamers not to expect Baldur’s Gate 3 levels of quality from them anytime soon, saying that the game was “once-in-a-lifetime” and no one should expect a “10, 20, 40-person team to make one.” They argued that what Larian Studios had achieved was impossible to replicate. Pop culture became flooded with streamers working their way through the game and fan edits of a certain hot vampire rogue inundated TikTok. 

Baldur’s Gate Three inevitably won Game of the Year, beating the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Wonder, and fan favorite Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man fans were livid. They couldn’t comprehend how a smaller IP from a newer studio had swept gaming’s biggest awards ceremony.

Frankly, I didn’t get it either. Baldur’s Gate 3 had been in development for six years and early access for three – from 2020 to the time of its release in August of 2023. It garnered some attention but managed to stay under the radar in a year of pandemics and presidents. When it popped back up in my periphery, I dismissed it as another developer overpromising and under delivering; flying too close to the sun. I’m a huge fan of D&D and I couldn’t bear the idea of getting my hopes up just to be disappointed. Then, it won Game of the Year, critical acclaim, and the adoration of millions of fans. So I let myself be a little excited – for around 70 hours.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is built for the curious player, and it revels in that fact.

The proof lies in the pudding. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a turn-based, top-down RPG using the rules and setting of Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons. You customize your own character, giving it a race, class, and backstory, and then place it directly into the world. You gather a party of (sometimes) like-minded characters, then take off to save yourselves and the world. 

What makes this Game of the Year material is the sheer amount of content crammed into every aspect of the experience.

Perhaps it’s most laudable achievement, Baldur’s Gate 3 boasts a passionate and talented cast of voice actors that bring a charming and deeply human menagerie of characters to life. You’re joined in your adventure by an ill-tempered alien soldier , a tiefling warrior who has just escaped from Hell, and a hedonistic vampire spawn – and that’s just to name a few. Every character has thousands of voice lines and possible interactions, each one played with comedy, sincerity, and an overall joy that is impossible to miss. You can even romance every party member, even the morally gray ones (a shoutout to everyone’s favorite war criminal Minthara). This is one aspect of what makes this otherwise traditional fantasy RPG feel like a real D&D game. The characters are fleshed-out, fun, and attach you to the stakes of the world in a way that’s bewildering to experience.

And what a world there is! Baldur’s Gate 3 is built for the curious player, and it revels in that fact. The game is split into three or four maps, with each one taking 20-30 hours to explore in full. My first run took just under 70 hours to complete, and I still missed dozens of Easter eggs and quest lines. There’s a genre of videos online called “Here’s what you missed in Baldur’s Gate 3.” It’s intimidating, and incredible, and rewarding. Few quests feel underbaked or meaningless. And if you’re not interested in pursuing one? Just skip it. Choice is squarely in the hands of the player at all times – another way Baldur’s Gate 3 emulates the D&D formula so faithfully.

At first glance, the gameplay may seem direct. But looks can be deceiving.

Gameplay itself is a classic turn-based affair. You control all four party members – including your own – and can sling spells around, interact with the environment, and generally hope not to die. While combat can be tough, especially in Act 3, it never crosses the line into unfair territory. Exploration and puzzles take a slight backseat to interacting with the characters of the world, but don’t detract from the overall experience. And the endless permutations of character class and build you can create allow for a guaranteed replayability within the confines of the system presented.

It’s difficult to convey the true sandbox nature of Baldur’s Gate 3 without playing the game for yourself. Every challenge can be approached a million different ways, from stealth to brute force to pushing your enemies down a pit and running away. Baldur’s Gate 3 lives in this creative space. To illustrate such a space, let’s look at an example: the “Owlbear from the Top Rope” maneuver.

A character with access to Wild Shape can transform themselves into an Owlbear form as early as level six — and gain the Crushing Flight move in particular. With Crushing Flight, damage is increased by mass and height, allowing the player to slam their massive bear/bird bodies into enemies of any kind and deliver impossible numbers of damage. Speedrunners are one-shotting endgame bosses with the power of gravity, and it’s arguably one of the more straightforward techniques in Baldur’s Gate 3. At first glance, the gameplay may seem direct. But looks can be deceiving — the only limit (mostly) is your imagination.

There weren’t any jaw-dropping cinematic shots, but Larian didn’t need that.

Speaking of looks, the game borrows a photo-realistic art style and hovered around 50 frames per second my entire time playing on my PS5. While dips in graphical quality are unfortunately more common in the back half of the game, particularly once entering the titular city of Baldur’s Gate, it was something I was willing to forgive on the grounds of how much I enjoyed the game. There weren’t any jaw-dropping cinematic shots or really brilliant designs, in my opinion, but Larian didn’t need that. I was too busy marveling at the hundreds of hours of quests, fights, and romantic walks on the beach with Shadowheart (my personal favorite romance option) to gripe about the one or two frames of low-res polygons. 

I rarely replay games. I like to move on once I hit credits, and if I do return to a game, it’s usually years later. That rule, like that pesky “quantity and quality” rule, may change with Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s hard to overstate just how revolutionary the game feels while you’re playing it. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, as the gameplay and length could turn off the casual gamer. If so, that’s alright. Baldur’s Gate 3 is about, above all, freedom of choice. Befriend everyone in the world or ice the first character you come across – it’s the player’s call. There’s always more to discover in Baldur’s Gate 3. Just make sure you carve out some time in your calendar. You won’t regret it.

SCORE: 10/10

Baldur’s Gate 3 feels like an unprecedented experience in an ocean of triple AAA titles, marrying quality and quantity in a way never before seen.