Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t just a game, it’s a tidal wave of emotions. From the moment I dove in, I felt like part of its world. Astarion’s hidden pain, Karlach’s heartwarming spirit, Shadowheart’s tangled faith, they weren’t just characters, but old friends. My choices shaped their stories, their fates, and it hit me hard, sometimes breaking my heart, sometimes filling it with hope. The battles and strategies are great, but it’s the heart you pour into every dialogue and decision that matters. Each choice felt heavy, real, like it was my own life. Larian didn’t just craft a game; they built a bond. When it ended, I felt both fulfilled and like something was missing. This was an unforgettable journey.

This game has 400k steam reviews so no one will read this, but I just wanted to say thank you to Larian for being such a wonderful creative bunch of people.

This game has a unique ability to make you think about your next play through while you're still playing your current one. It's awesome.

After having spent about 700 hours and having unlocked every achievement in the game, I figured I should write a review about one of my favorite, if not my favorite game, Baldur's Gate 3. (This will be a spoiler-free review)
The developer's previous game (Divinity: Original Sin 2) was my favorite CRPG, so when I got into the early access of BG3 I wasn't expecting it to be that good in comparison, and boy was I wrong.
Graphics
First of all, and the main reason BG3 gave so much visibility to the CRPG genre, the graphics are amazing. The game is beautiful and has tons of real-time cutscenes with fully voiced dialogues that make the game so much more alive than DOS2, Pathfinder, Solasta and all the others in the genre.
Which is refreshing; you live the dialogues and you really feel like you're the hero of the story, you don't have to read walls of text with a PNG of the character you're talking to next to it.
Freedom
But I'm not the type to judge a game solely on its graphics so let's talk about what this game is really about: choices.
You'll have tons of choices to make. The first time you launch the game, you'll spend about an hour creating your character because of all the different choices you can make.
This game truly captures the creation of a DnD character and lets you make all sorts of choices. Obviously, you can choose among different classes, races, subclasses, deities, origins, spells, etc., but you'll also spend time creating your protector and choosing whether you want a cut or an uncut penis, which, funnily enough, is always the sign of a great game.
The game lets you do whatever you want, and I'm not talking about all those games out there that tell you you can make your own choices and influence the story when there are 3 endings in total.
Here you'll truly be the hero of your own story. It will even be difficult at first to think outside the box and to understand that you can actually do exactly what you want without having to worry about breaking the main quest or missing out on the rewards.
The characters
Larian sure knows how to make memorable and impactful characters. All characters have their own side story, whether you are a wizard that got dumped by your goddess lover, a big red muscle mommy that escaped the hells or even a sociopath killer that doesn't remember anything about his past life, you'll have your own questline in addition to your companions' ones.
You will learn to love some and to hate others but you'll always have companions by your side that feel like they really are a part of the story; they are not simply there to look good and fight by your side. Decide to kill one, ignore another or even romance them and your game and story will be affected.
You will be surprised to learn what happens to them as you make different choices through your campaigns (because you will play more than one campaign).
And we have to talk about the voice acting. It is incredible. The actors did an amazing job bringing the characters to life and you really feel their emotions by listening to them. On top of that, having a Narrator describing your actions like a real Dungeon Master adds so much to the immersion.
Let's not forget to mention romances, it is Baldur's Gate after all. There are 8 main romances in the game, with choices ranging from the hot emo girl with parental issues to the druid who wildshapes into a bear in the heat of the moment.
You can decide to totally ignore romances if you'd like (though I don't understand you), but beware of Gale: he tends to misread friendliness as romantic interest.
Combat
You have a wide range of options to choose from.
Let's say you arrive at a bridge with a few goblins guarding it, what will you do ?
Whether you want to attack discreetly, charge head-on, drink an invisibility potion and go past them, charm them, threaten them, place barrels of smokepowder on the bridge, make it rain then electrocute them all, make stairs with boxes and jump over them, grab a goblin to hit another, knock them out, build a barrier with boxes and let them come, throw them off the bridge with a wind burst, the choice is yours.
You will never be bored in a fight and you will love long fights with tons of enemies because that's when you'll be able to experiment, search your bag for scrolls, potions, arrows or magic artifacts you forgot about and win in ways you would have never thought about in any other game.
Soundtrack
The OST is amazing and deserves to be talked about. Borislav Slavov composed a masterpiece that defines the atmosphere of the game. From the haunting melody of "Down by the River" in the character creation screen to the battle themes that shift dynamically depending on the action, everything is perfect.
There's even a boss fight in the game where the boss sings his own theme song, which is one of the most epic gaming moments I’ve ever experienced.
NPCs
Every NPC that you can talk with has unique dialogues and could be a part of a quest depending on the choices you make. Animals too can be talked to if you can communicate with beasts and all have things to say; even the corpses have stuff to say if you can talk to the dead. And almost all of them can help you in your quest or give you new ones.
Once you understand that, you will find new ways to play the game. Are you looking for someone that escaped? Chug a potion of animal speaking and talk to cats in the street to see if they've seen him. Are you looking for information but have already killed most of the town? Cast a 'Speak with Dead' scroll and ask the corpses.
Speaking with every NPC you find will never disappoint you, even if they don't have much to say to you now, you may find them 30 hours later and have new interactions with them because you took the time to speak with them.
Conclusion
I’m going to wrap up this review because I’m getting carried away by the passion I have for this game, and you shouldn’t be wasting your time reading this when you should be out there buying and playing it.
Just know that whether you are a veteran of CRPGs or a newbie that never played one and has always been intimidated by the tactical side, the walls of text, the top-down view, or underwhelming graphics, this game will redefine your vision of the genre. It's no wonder it caused such a stir when it came out.
Karlach / 10

Get half way through act 3. Want to try something different. Start a new run.
Get half way through act 3. Want to try something different. Start a new run.
Get half way through act 3. Want to try something different. Start a new run.
Still haven't finished the game.

Started a playthrough with friends one day, wanting to see it through the end.
Now, one year later we're not done because we can never get together to keep the campaign going.
10/10, it truly is a perfect video game representation of a pen and paper role-playing campaign.

Saving the World… After I Finish My 70 Naps
Baldur's Gate 3 isn't merely a great role-playing game; it is a structural anomaly. It is, in effect, a proof-of-concept that demonstrates what happens when a major budget is deployed not in pursuit of the live-service treadmill, but in absolute service to player agency.
Larian Studios took the chaotic, magnificent spirit of Dungeons & Dragons and rendered it with systemic integrity, solving the decades-old issue of the illusion of choice that plagues the modern RPG genre. The triumph here is not its narrative, though it’s often compelling, but its terrifying mechanical consistency.
The Freedom of Choice
One of the reasons why Baldur's Gate 3 is successful is its refusal to treat player choice as a mere series of dialogue prompts. Where other titles offer a tightly curated set of branching paths, Larian delivered a simulated reality governed by D&D 5E's core rules. If a character is meant to be unreachable, they are not protected by an invisible wall; they are simply separated by geometry and elevation, obstacles that can be overcome with a simple Misty Step, an improvised jump, or a strategically placed oil barrel.
This systemic fidelity grants players the genuine, unsettling freedom to break the game's intended path, and the underlying code is trusted to calculate the consequence. This is the difference between performative agency (AKA when dialogue leads to the same outcome) and true consequence. This approach generates those singular, emergent moments (like the infamous scene involving Halsin, or the bizarre solutions to dungeon puzzles) that are unique to the player’s session, proving that the digital medium can finally emulate the chaotic collaboration of a tabletop campaign. It sets the standard for interactive design by demonstrating that the designer's job is not to dictate the story, but merely to construct the responsive simulation.
Atmoshpere
The art direction shifts between the grimy, oppressive environments of the Goblin Camp and the breathtaking, bioluminescent splendor of the Underdark, establishing a clear mood for every narrative beat. Crucially, the camera's shift from the isometric viewpoint to the tight, cinematic focus during dialogue acts as a crucial validation mechanism. It signals to the player that their decisions are being treated with the same industrial-scale seriousness as a major pre-scripted cutscene.
With two million words of recorded dialogue, the quality is often exceptional—particularly the companion performances, which carry the majority of the game’s emotional load. In a game designed to let you talk, sneak, or murder your way out of every encounter, the quality of the dialogue delivery must be consistent to maintain the player’s immersion in the responsive simulation. The orchestral score, while expertly crafted, serves primarily as an effective, atmospheric support layer, underscoring the player’s action without dominating the soundscape.
The Pacing Paradox and the Narrative Debt
However, such radical ambition inevitably encounters the untenable volume required to sustain it. While Act I and Act II thrive on a tight, interconnected geography, Act III marks where the simulation’s sheer weight begins to crush the narrative's structure.
The urgency of the main plot (the ticking mind flayer parasite clock) is utterly contradicted by the administrative load of the finale. The game implicitly requires players to wade through thirty or more hours of companion resolutions, murder mysteries, and urban political intrigue to cash in the emotional and narrative debt accumulated over the previous two acts.
Crucially, many vital character moments are tied to the Long Rest mechanic, forcing the player, in a moment of narrative crisis, to repeatedly retreat to camp just to ensure companions receive their overdue emotional cutscenes. In my playthough, this resulted in making the plot's climax feel less like a roaring crescendo and more like an abrupt conclusion following an exhaustive slog through content administration. But, everyone's playthrough is different.
Why We Won't See This Again
This brings us to the uncomfortable truth and that is Baldur's Gate 3 is a profound exception. We will not see another game of this specific caliber for at least the next decade.
Larian Studios is privately owned meaning they are allowed the luxury "freedom". A six-year development cycle, an eventual team size of 450, and the ability to fund the game through the success of their previous independent IPs and a long, stable Early Access period is what made Baldur's Gate 3 the game it is today. A game which sold a complete, single-player experience with zero monetisation hooks, simply does not fit the modern spreadsheet.
The game’s creation required producing over two million words of voice-acted dialogue and animating hundreds of unique cinematic scenes designed for outcomes only a fraction of players will ever see. For your typical AAA studio, this is not something they would do - they operate on the principle of the Minimum Viable Product, maximising monetisation on predictable, repeatable structural foundations.
Conclusion
In the end, Baldur's Gate 3 is an astonishing work of art—a towering monument to the possibilities of player agency. Its flaws are the scars of its own radical ambition, the inevitable trade-off when simulation dares to surpass scripted narrative. It is a masterpiece, not because it is perfect, but because it exposed how far the industry had drifted from simply making great games for the sake of making great games.