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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' Reveals Titular City In-Game for First Time in 20 Years - Screens & Trailer

by Rainier on June 11, 2023 @ 6:18 p.m. PDT

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 provided players with their first look at the iconic Forgotten Realms city of Baldur’s Gate in decades.

Opening on an image of the sprawling waters of the Chionthar River, in-game footage reveals a fully next-gen reimagining of this iconic fantasy setting while the development team discusses the daunting undertaking of recreating Baldur’s Gate for a modern RPG. The city of Baldur’s Gate is a metropolis of labyrinthine streets, with alleys, temples, and crowded public houses teeming with life, and stories woven into the lives of every local you encounter.

Baldur’s Gate is back and bigger than ever

“We can put lots more of the city on screen than we could in 1998,” said narrative design expert Lawrence Schick. “We can do something that is more immersive, richer, has more texture to it."

The city itself is also bigger than any iteration of this setting that’s come before it. The streets -- which span the menacing roads of the Outer City, the opulent estates of the Upper City, and the dark alleys of the Lower City -- are populated with a rich cast of characters, each possessing their own untold stories, well-kept secrets, and personal reactions.

“You have crowds that are walking around everywhere. You can talk to pretty much anybody, and they react to every single thing,” said Swen Vincke, creative director at Larian Studios. “It’s very alive in that sense.”

“One of the things that’s done is it’s added this level of believability and immersion and also complexity that wouldn’t have been there otherwise,'' said associate writing lead Chrystal Ding. “It feels like you are walking around a place where there are lots and lots of people living their actual lives.”

Larian originally prototyped Baldur’s Gate as a series of smaller contained regions connected by teleports, but midway into developing the city, decided to make some major changes.

"[Swen] said, like, can't we just connect everything?" said world building director Farhang Namdar. "And that was an interesting day."

Come launch, players will be stepping foot in a Baldur's Gate made up of three seamless open world districts. No matter if you’re investigating underground crypts, wandering the chambers of a towering citadel, or descending into hidden cellars, there will be no visible loading screens to interrupt your experience.

“We spent I think three times, four times more effort on the city than we originally planned to, but the result, the feeling of walking in there, is just fantastic,” said Vincke. “So the thing that I was the most afraid of when we started making this game turned out to be the thing that I’m the most proud of.”

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!

Baldur’s Gate III is coming to PS5 and PC on Aug. 31, 2023.


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