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Baldur's Gate III

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
Genre: RPG/Strategy
Developer: Larian Studios
Release Date: Aug. 3, 2023

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'Baldur's Gate III' Details Upcoming Early Access Patch 4, Introduces Druids And More - Screens & Trailer

by Rainier on Feb. 17, 2021 @ 7:22 p.m. PST

Baldur's Gate III is the official next adventure in the venerable Baldur's Gate series.

You are burdened with a great power devouring you from within.
How far down the path of darkness will you let it take you?
The fate of Faerûn is on your party’s shoulders.
Will you carry it to salvation, or descend with it to hell?

Created in close collaboration with the Dungeons & Dragons team at Wizards of the Coast, Baldur’s Gate III is based off current D&D mechanics and spells and is the official new chapter in the legendary series.

Baldur’s Gate III will push the boundaries of the RPG genre and offer a rich narrative with unparalleled player freedom, high-stakes decisions, unique companion characters and memorable combat. It is Larian Studios’ biggest production ever and will be playable together with friends or as a single-player adventure.

Alone you may resist, but together you can overcome. Gather your party.

Forged with the new Divinity 4.0 engine and coming to early access later this year, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a world that truly reacts to your choices. A grand, cinematic narrative brings you closer to your characters than ever before as you venture through the Forgotten Realms of Dungeons & Dragons in Larian’s biggest adventure yet.


Larian Studios unveiled Baldur’s Gate 3’s fourth major update: Nature's Power.

This huge update will include the first new playable class for Baldur’s Gate 3, which launched into early access in October 2020. The changes coming to the game when Patch 4 arrives will be greater than all three prior patches combined!

The Druid class comes with over 30 spells and abilities, including Wild Shape. New dialogue and voice-over have also been recorded so that playing a Druid delivers the same deeply narrative experience as the other classes (Humans, Elves, Half-Elves, Halflings, Dwarves, Tieflings, Drow, etc.). We won’t spoil them, but those who visit Druid’s Grove as a Druid may enjoy a game of spot-the-difference. And of course, as a game that reacts to who you are, there will be new rewards, options, story moments, and interactions scattered throughout Act 1.

With the power of the wilderness at their fingertips, Druids can transform their shape to adapt to different situations. Crunch bones and slam into enemies as a Dire Wolf or Polar Bear. Spin your silken thread over the environment as a Spider. Soar above Faerun as a Raven. Sneak into hostile spaces unnoticed as a Cat. Burrow under the earth and ambush opponents as a Badger. Or temporarily embrace the tadpole that the Mindflayers have implanted inside you, discovering a new, mysterious Aberrant Shape.

There will be eight Shapes available: Deep Rothé, Cat, Raven, Dire Wolf, Badger, Spider, Polar Bear, and Aberrant. NPCs will react to your animal form in procedural ways. Bear blocking your path? Assume Bear Shape and speak his own language!

D&D fans will know that Druids traditionally come from one of a number of Circles. Druids will be able to choose from one of two Circles to inform how they play:

  • Circle of the Land: Keepers of the Old Faith, these Druids are connected to arctic wastelands, sunny coasts, scorching deserts, fair forests, green grasslands, tall mountains, treacherous swamps and even the vast, otherworldly realm of the Underdark. Based on what type of geography they’re connected to, they gain additional power.
  • Circle of the Moon: Changeable as the moon, these stewards of nature haunt the deepest parts of the wilderness. Transformation is no problem for most Druids, but those who keep the ways of the moon gain the ability to morph into more powerful combative Wild Shapes like the Polar Bear.

For further information on Druids in D&D, be sure to check out the VOD version of the Panel From Hell 2, where Lead Systems Designer Nick Pechenin and D&D Principal Rules Designer Jeremy Crawford explored the ways in which Larian has incorporated the versatile character class into the game. With the aforementioned Wild Shape ability taking center stage, the panel talked through many more spells, abilities and character interactions that the Druid has enabled.

 


Gather your party for a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Abducted, infected, lost... You are turning into a monster, drawn from a Mind Flayer parasite planted in your brain, but as the corruption inside you grows, so too does your power. That power may help you to survive, but there will be a price to pay. More than any ability, the bonds of trust that you build within your party could be your greatest strength. Caught in a conflict between devils, deities, and sinister otherworldly forces, you will determine the fate of the Forgotten Realms together. Resist and turn darkness against itself — or embrace corruption and become the ultimate evil.

Choose from a wide selection of D&D races and classes, or play as an origin character with a hand-crafted background. Play alone, selecting your companions carefully, or as a party of up to four in online multiplayer.

No two adventures will ever be the same. The Forgotten Realms are a vast, detailed and diverse world, and there are secrets to be discovered all around you -- even verticality is a vital part of exploration. Adventure, loot, battle, romance… how you survive, and the mark you leave on the world, is up to you.

Key Features

  • Online multiplayer for up to four players allows you to combine your forces in combat and split your party to follow your own quests and agendas. Devise the perfect plan together… or introduce an element of chaos when your friends least expect it.
  • Origin characters offer a hand-crafted experience, each with their own unique traits, agenda, and outlook on the world. Their stories intersect with the wider narrative, and your choices will determine whether those stories end in redemption, salvation, domination or other outcomes.
  • Evolved turn-based combat based on the D&D 5E ruleset. Team-based initiative, advantage and disadvantage, and roll modifiers join combat cameras, expanded environmental interactions, and a new fluidity in combat that rewards strategy and foresight.
  • Define the future of the Forgotten Realms through your choices and the roll of the dice. No matter who you play or what you roll, the world and its inhabitants will react to your story.
  • Player-initiated turn-based mode allows you to pause the world around you at any time even outside of combat. See an opportunity for a tactical advantage before combat begins? Want to pull off a heist with pin-point precision? Need to escape a fiendish trap? Split your party, prepare ambushes, sneak in the darkness — and create your own luck!

Larian Studios is developing and publishing Baldur’s Gate III on PC and Google Stadia.


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