Baldur's Gate 3

As someone who's never played a Baldur's Gate game before and isn't a fan of turn-based combat, I was reluctant to buy the latest Baldur's Gate game. That could have been one of my biggest mistakes as a gamer. Of course, some familiarity with the previous Baldur's Gate games could have made the experience a little better due to a few recurring characters from the older games and a better understanding of the lore; nevertheless, this is in no way a prerequisite for an enjoyable experience.

As in many RPGs, you get to pick your character in Baldur's Gate 3 before starting the actual gameplay. Here you can either choose an origin character, which has been predefined by the game developers, or you can create your own custom hero. Since you'll get to meet and control all of the origin characters in the game anyway, creating a custom character will be the choice for many players. Here you get to pick one of the 11 races, 12 classes, and 12 backgrounds — plenty of choice for any playstyle you prefer. For indecisive players like me, the diverse party members you meet later in the game provide a perfect opportunity to experience different playstyles.

Once you've created your character, you'll get a first glimpse into the game's story in a short cinematic sequence. Immediately after, you are thrown into the first combat of the game. This serves as a tutorial introducing you to the basic mechanics of the game. The turn-based combat system is one of the highlights of the game; it's challenging just enough to require you to have a balanced party and think about your character's and party members' skills and equipment, but not to be frustrating. Taking advantage of the environment within the combat by destroying barrels with flammable liquid and igniting it, getting to higher areas to get a higher probability of hitting the target, and so on, is a necessity (except if you're playing on the lowest difficulty setting, of course). You'll also get to control all of your party members in the fights against various enemies like goblins, bandits, or demons, so if you couldn't decide whether to play as a barbarian or a mage, you'll get the chance to play as both.

Speaking about the members of your party, they're all memorable characters with an interesting backstory that you'll get to explore through well-written and engaging side quests. Your party can include up to three companions out of the many playable allies you'll get to meet at various points in the game. You can always decide to swap them out in the camp to get a different build for your next exploration or fight. You'll get to meet the most interesting and notable characters, like cleric Shadowheart, the daughter of darkness, or Lae'zel, the githyanki warrior, very early in the game, and they're all a vital part of the story.

With Baldur's Gate 3 being a D&D game at its core, most of your success in combat, dialogs, pickpocketing, and other activities is decided by a roll of a dice for which you gain an advantage or a disadvantage based on your skill modifier. That's again where your companions come into play. Does your hero lack some charisma? Use a companion to talk yourself out of a fight. Is your hero not really agile? Use another companion to pick a lock.

The story of Baldur's Gate 3 is split into three acts, which all build on top of each other and will take you to diverse and colorful environments. The story revolves around curing a parasite that's threatening your very existence — that's all the detail I will go into in this review, not to spoil the fun for you. The story is well-written and never gets boring; your choices will notably impact the game's outcome. And if you're curious, yes, you can run into a game-over screen quite early in the game.

The graphics of the game are maybe not the most impressive from a technical standpoint, but the level of detail in all the different environments is breathtaking and helps paint the picture of a vast fantasy world. And don't get me wrong, Baldur's Gate 3 looks really good. All of the stunning visuals are supported by an amazing soundtrack, which is really the last piece of the puzzle for you to feel drawn into the game.