I'd rather not mince words right out the gate: Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the greatest RPGs ever made and it's primed to become a landmark release in the history of gaming. Developer Larian Studios are no strangers to the gaming industry, having made the critically acclaimed Divinity games which the foundation of Baldur's Gate 3 is built on. By taking what BioWare already established with the first two games, Larian has now perfected their own formula - and in many ways, created the perfect role-playing game in the process.



Set in the expansive Dungeons & Dragons fantasy universe, Baldur's Gate 3 tells the story of a custom-created character who awakens on board a Mind Flayer ship. With a strange tandpole squirming behind their eyeball seemingly gifting them psychic abilities, the protagonist sets off on a journey to remove the tadpole while gathering the company of several diverse companions who all face a similar dire dilemma.



Admittedly, I was never a huge D&D fan (having only played the tabletop game a few times) but I always appreciated the amount of thought, creativity and work that went into this incredible fantasy universe. It's ripe with different cultures, races, history, politics and more that make it such a believable and lively world - one that Baldur's Gate 3 absolutely leverages at every turn. It's not as much of an "open world" as it is a carefully curated amount of large, explorable zones interconnected in clever ways but it absolutely leans into its fantasy setting and delivers some of the most memorable and densely packed lands I've ever seen in a video game.

I spent more time defining my character's traits, background, skills and personality thanks to the dozens of possible characterisations, classes, subclasses, races, subraces and more to consider.

Before we can even set foot on land, we first have to make our character, and this is where Baldur's Gate 3 makes a very strong first impression. In most RPGs that allow custom-created characters, I often take my time focusing on the aesthetics but in this game, I spent more time defining my character's traits, background, skills and personality thanks to the dozens of possible characterisations, classes, subclasses, races, subraces and more to consider. It's staggering just how much thought went into creating your character alone, something that's so easily glossed over in modern RPGs, but Larian took the extra steps to ensure that the protagonist (or antagonist) we make has immense role-playing freedom which only adds to the immersion once you do jump into the game.



In the end, I settled on making a Lolth-Sworn Drow Fighter with some extra proficiency in intimidation, persuasion and deception (because speech checks are great), but I also dabbled in the Warlock, Wizard and Barbarian classes as well. Almost immediately, I began to see how the simple choice of a race or class can impact the world and other characters. With each race and class, you unlock unique dialogue that no other option has access to. Drow, for example, tend to get a fearful reaction from goblins because of their violent history. This gives Baldur's Gate 3 an incredible amount of replay value, and I'm already thinking about what I'm going to play as next.

Gameplay is where Baldur's Gate 3 could very easily alienate newcomers but Larian strikes a fine balance between accessibility and intricacy in combat. Battles play out in a top-down turn-based format like a tabletop game where you can command your character and companions to perform certain actions and bonus actions per turn. It requires a good amount of strategy and a deep, almost personal understanding of your party's various strengths and weaknesses to succeed. For example, Wizards are glass cannons that can blast enemies with powerful elemental spells from a distance while Fighters can get up-close with hard-hitting melee strikes. Obviously, switching these roles around will almost guarantee failure so you have to be mindful of not only your party's skills but how to best synergise them during tough encounters.



Almost every single action you perform in the game, whether it's a dialogue check, simple attack or spell cast, is determined by a roll of D&D's classic polyhedral dice. Depending on your proficiencies in certain skills, you gain additional points to every roll (or detract from them if you're less proficient in that skill). Of course, this also comes down to your build and what you choose to specialise in, but most of the time, big decisions can often boil down to a game of chance... or luck. Initially, it bothered me that I could roll low and potentially wreck my entire playthrough but thankfully, Larian Studios gave players multiple - and I mean multiple - ways to tackle situations.

The amount of freedom you have to experiment with different ways to solve problems is astounding and the game never penalises you for it.

With a bit of creativity and observation, most situations or encounters in Baldur's Gate 3 can be circumnavigated by either choosing a different path, taking your chances with speech checks, or simply just talking to someone else that eventually leads to your desired outcome. The amount of freedom you have to experiment with different ways to solve problems is astounding and the game never penalises you for it. In fact, it constantly encourages you to play the way you want to play.



Baldur's Gate 3 kind of throws a lot of mechanics at you initially and if you aren't familiar with cRPGs, you might initially have a hard time grasping everything. Thankfully, after some trial and error, it all eventually clicks. Combat is less about punishing the enemy quickly and more about preparing your next moves a few steps in advance, requiring some degree of patience, planning and observing your surroundings. This makes each battle a test of wits and outsmarting enemies more than having the most firepower (I learned that the hard way). It ultimately makes each battle feel incredibly rewarding and addictive.

Exploration is not as open-ended as your traditional open-world game but make no mistake, each of Baldur's Gate 3's act-specific zones are massive and often packed with secrets, side activities and treasures to find that only add to the incredible world-building. Furthermore, side activities and quests are given a tremendous amount of attention and care, with some being short but emotionally powerful while others warrant a few well-earned laughs. In most cases, side quests were just as good, if not better, than the main quest but the game has an amazing way of not stacking activities on an arbitrary checklist like other RPGs. Instead, these detours are embedded in the world so venturing off the beaten path is only fueled by your own curiosity and desire to explore these great stories and multi-layered characters.



Speaking of characters, the true heart and soul of Baldur's Gate 3 is its companions and extraordinary writing. Each companion is well-rounded with their own defining personalities, backstories and history that you gradually begin to learn more about as your bond deepens with them. Most companions even have personal quests that eventually loop around to the main story, so their (and as a result, your) progression feels natural. While some are certainly stronger stories than others - Karlach has a literal fiery heart of gold but Lae'zel or Astarion's cruel and almost sadistic demeanours help you understand their personal histories better - each companion is memorable and wonderful to engage with thanks to strong writing.

All of these morally grey options weigh heavily on you throughout the game and they make for some of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in an RPG.

That complex writing extends to the structure of Baldur's Gate 3's phenomenal choice/consequence system. Each decision, not matter how small, often has huge ramifications in places you least expect. For example, choosing to spare someone's life might eventually lead them to join your cause later in the game and actually join your party to assist in particularly tough battles. On the opposite end, maybe you figured rationally talking with another character instead of killing them was the right thing to do at first, but it leads to a dark, tragic turn of events down the road for another character. All of these morally grey options weigh heavily on you throughout the game and they make for some of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in an RPG - which is a testament to just how good the writing is.



As far as the PS5 version of Baldur's Gate 3 goes, the improvements and little tweaks are impressive. Instead of the point-and-click traversal of the PC version, PS5 players can toggle a third-person perspective that gives you direct control of your character like a traditional game, which I stuck with throughout my playthrough. Actions and items are now stapled to a radial menu which is intuitive and easy to navigate in the middle of combat. Adaptive triggers add weight to your attacks and haptic feedback informs you of nearby items or actions taken. Larian clearly put a lot of effort into streamlining the console version and its complex systems work almost flawlessly on PS5.

That said, there are some minor technical hiccups (at least on PS5) that you need to be aware of. I rarely came across frame rate dips but texture pop-ins were frequent. In some cases, textures, especially on skin, forgot to load on character's faces so they appeared rubbery and smooth, while entering certain buildings needed a few seconds to load ground textures properly. These issues are too far and few between to make a fuss about and in the grand scheme of things, they're a minor nitpick at best. Overall, the game's presentation and excellent art direction are prestine.



Baldur's Gate 3 is a once-in-a-generation masterpiece made with care and passion by the talented Larian Studios that elevates not only the RPG genre, but the entire gaming medium. Packed with creative spins on classic fantasy tropes, excellent writing, terrific world-building and some of the most well-written characters in video games, it's a trend-setting title that I sincerely hope the rest of the AAA gaming industry looks to an example of what talent and determination can achieve.

*PS5 Review code provided by Larian Studios