Baldur's Gate III
Larian Studios · RPG, Adventure
Overview
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power.
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Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power.
Mysterious abilities are awakening inside you, drawn from a mind flayer parasite planted in your brain. Resist, and turn darkness against itself. Or embrace corruption, and become ultimate evil.
From the creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes a next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.
Choose from 12 classes and 11 races from the D&D Player's Handbook and create your own identity, or play as an Origin hero with a hand-crafted background. Or tangle with your inner corruption as the Dark Urge, a fully customisable Origin hero with its own unique mechanics and story. Whoever you choose to be, adventure, loot, battle and romance your way across the Forgotten Realms and beyond. Gather your party. Take the adventure online as a party of up to four.
Abducted, infected, lost. You are turning into a monster, but as the corruption inside you grows, so does your power. That power may help you to survive, but there will be a price to pay, and 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.
Forged with the new Divinity 4.0 engine, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a thriving world filled with characters, dangers, and deceit. A grand, cinematic narrative brings you closer to your characters than ever before. From shadow-cursed forests, to the magical caverns of the Underdark, to the sprawling city of Baldur’s Gate itself, your actions define the adventure, but your choices define your legacy. You will be remembered.
The Forgotten Realms are a vast, detailed, and diverse world, and there are secrets to be discovered all around you – verticality is a vital part of exploration. Sneak, dip, shove, climb, and jump as you journey from the depths of the Underdark to the glittering rooftops of Baldur’s Gate. Every choice you make drives your story forward, each decision leaving your mark on the world. Define your legacy, nurture relationships and create enemies, and solve problems your way. No two playthroughs will ever be the same.
Allows you to combine your forces in combat and simultaneously attack enemies, or split your party to each follow your own quests and agendas. Concoct the perfect plan together… or introduce an element of chaos when your friends least expect it. Relationships are complicated. Especially when you’ve got a parasite in your brain.
7 unique Origin heroes offer a hand-crafted experience, each with their own unique traits, agenda, and outlook on the world. Their stories intersect with the overarching narrative, and your choices will determine whether those stories end in redemption, salvation, domination, or one of many other outcomes. Play as an Origin and enjoy their stories, or recruit them to fight alongside you.
Based on the D&D 5e ruleset. Team-based initiative, advantage and disadvantage, and roll modifiers join an advanced AI, expanded environmental interactions, and a new fluidity in combat that rewards strategy and foresight. Three difficulty settings allow you to customise the challenge of combat. Enable weighted dice to help sway the battle, or play on Tactician mode for a hardcore experience.
Featuring 31 subraces on top of the 11 races (Human, Githyanki, Half-Orc, Dwarf, Elf, Drow, Tiefling, Halfling, Half Elf, Gnome, Dragonborn), with 46 subclasses branching out of the 12 classes. Over 600 spells and actions offer near-limitless freedom of interactivity in a hand-crafted world where exploration is rewarded, and player agency defines the journey. Our unique Character Creator features unprecedented depth of character, with reactivity that ensures whomever you are, you will leave a unique legacy behind you, all the way up to Level 12. Over 174 hours of cinematics ensure that no matter the choices you make, the cinematic experience follows your journey – every playthrough, a new cinematic journey.
With the looming threat of war heading to Baldur’s Gate, and a mind flayer invasion on the horizon, friendships – though not necessary – are bound to be forged on your journey. What becomes of them is up to you, as you enter real, vibrant relationships with those you meet along the way. Each companion has their own moral compass and will react to the choices you make throughout your journey. At what cost will you stick to your ideals? Will you allow love to shape your actions? The relationships made on the road to Baldur’s Gate act as moments of respite at camp as much as they add weight to the many decisions you make on your adventure.
So that when you hit ‘go live’, your stream isn’t interrupted by a bear, swear, or lack of underwear. Baldur’s Gate 3 has 3 different levels of streamer-friendly customisation. You can disable nudity and explicit content separately (or together), and you can enable Twitch integration to interact directly with your audience, just as we do at our Panel From Hell showcases! You’ll be able to stream Baldur’s Gate 3 without any problems, regardless of how you play, thanks to these options.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,996 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
Three years after launch, 93.9% of this slice recommend Baldur's Gate 3, and more than 700 reviews call it the best RPG or the best game they have played, or simply the GOAT. Players credit it with letting them solve problems their own way and then following the consequences through all three acts. Much of the affection goes to the companions (Shadowheart, Karlach, Astarion and Lae'zel above all) and their voice performances. Others value that it plays like real D&D 5e without needing a group or a schedule, and that new classes, origins and a Dark Urge run make replays feel different, with co-op, split-screen and an official mod manager on top. It also wins over people who expected not to like it: 41 reviews say they usually dislike turn-based games, and 37 of those recommend this one.
Long-standing bugs (broken quests, crashes, lost saves) come up in about 17% of negative reviews, about as often as dice, and players stress that some have survived years of patches. Reviews that pass judgment on Act 3 mostly call it the weakest stretch: sprawling, less polished, heavier on performance, with loose ends and a weaker finale. Dice rolls and misses divide players, and a minority find the camera, pathing, UI, inventory and onboarding clunky enough to quit. The negative reviews tend to come from two groups: players who bounced off turn-based, dice-driven play early, and players who hit a run-ending bug after dozens of hours.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Freedom of choice that actually mattersHigh
About a fifth of the substantive reviews explicitly credit choice, freedom or consequence, and others tell stories that make the same point: talking your way past a boss, throwing a devil's contract-holder off a ledge, stealing the key from a rat, or blowing up a villain with smuggled explosives. Several say the developers anticipated whatever they tried; as one puts it, "the devs thought of it and planned for it". Players also point to decisions in Act 1 that come back in Act 3, and to quests that can be skipped, broken or solved sideways without the game falling apart. A few experienced players note the limits: the evil route is thinner than the good one, and some late-game choices feel railroaded.
Companions, writing and voice actingHigh
Shadowheart, Karlach and Astarion are each named in more than a hundred reviews, Lae'zel in 65. Players describe crying over endings and reloading to keep relationships intact, and one calls the cast "among the best-written companions in any game ever made". The voice acting gets frequent praise, with Neil Newbon's Astarion and Amelia Tyler's narrator singled out. The criticism is specific: several reviewers feel Karlach deserved a happier ending, some find Wyll's arc underbaked or the companions too forgiving of the player, and a minority, often Divinity: Original Sin 2 fans, find the cast less fun or less funny than DOS2's.
The closest thing to real D&D without a groupHigh
D&D, tabletop or 5e references appear in about a quarter of substantive reviews. Some players value it as D&D without the logistics, a way to scratch "the itch for DND when you cant get your group together". Veteran tabletop players praise the faithful 5e translation (action economy, spell slots, advantage, saving throws), and some newcomers say the game got them into tabletop D&D. A handful of rules purists point out that its 5e is homebrewed in places.
Enormous replayabilityHigh
About a fifth of substantive reviews point to replay value: different classes, races and origins, the Dark Urge, multiple endings, and hidden content that players are still finding after 500 or 1,000+ hours. Dozens of players say they have started five or more runs. For some the habit becomes a real complaint, because they restart so often that they never finish (see the split on length below).
Creative turn-based combat that converts non-fansHigh
Players praise how the tactical combat uses the environment (shove, barrels, height, surfaces, and spells that interact) and describe fights as puzzles with many solutions. Some reviewers who avoid the genre say it changed their mind. One opens with "I never liked turn-based games" and goes on to praise the characters and choices; another writes "I hate turn based stuff and this still has all my love".
Co-op, split-screen and cross-playMedium
Playing with a partner or a group of friends comes up often, including couch co-op and full four-player campaigns that people actually finished. Players value cross-save between PC and PS5. The rough edges of co-op are covered under the frustrations.
Official mod support and the mod communityMedium
Players cite the built-in mod manager as a reason to keep playing: new classes and races, character creator extensions, combat speed-ups, and quality-of-life fixes. Some long-time players call the modded game even better. The requests are practical, such as "an enable all/disable all option" in the mod manager and updates that don't break mod setups.
A complete game at a fair priceMedium
Players praise the lack of microtransactions, paid DLC or content cut to sell separately, and "worth every penny" appears in 42 reviews. The usual advice is simply to buy it. A smaller group feels the full price is steep three years on (see frustrations).
Music, visuals and cinematicsMedium
The soundtrack (Raphael's song and "Down by the River" in particular), the art direction and the cinematic dialogue scenes get regular praise. Several players say it runs well on modest hardware and on handhelds like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally, although Act 3 is the usual exception.
Where players are split
Dice rolls, misses and save-scummingHigh
Dice and rolls come up in about a quarter of the longer negative reviews (94 of 382) and in about one in twenty longer positive ones. Detractors describe missing "95%" attacks over and over, dice they call "rigged" or "weighted", and losing fights or story outcomes to one bad skill check; one player lost the whole ending celebration to a single failed Constitution roll. Supporters say the randomness creates the tabletop drama and the memorable disasters, and some openly reload failed checks and call save-scumming legitimate. Karmic Dice and lower difficulties come up as fixes.
Pace of turn-based combatMedium
Some players like the deliberate pace, but a steady stream of reviews, positive ones included, complain about long enemy turns, slow animations and waiting "10 business days" for large fights to resolve. Several ask for an animation or combat speed slider like Owlcat's games have, and some call a combat-speed mod mandatory. Early quitters often reject turn-based play outright: in negative reviews from players under 10 hours, it comes up nearly as often as dice.
Romance and how forward the companions areMedium
Romance is a draw for many and a running source of affectionate jokes. Some players, though, find companions propositioning them within days "too fast", "too horny" or immersion-breaking, and want more control over which companions pursue them. These complaints are about pacing and writing, separate from the culture-war posts that were set aside.
Difficulty curveMedium
Players disagree on whether the game is too hard or too easy, and often say both: the early levels (1 to 4) are described as brutal for newcomers who wander into the wrong area, while Act 3 becomes easy once builds come together. Some newcomers feel the default difficulty assumes you know the exploits, and a few players recommend starting on Explorer.
Length, scale and burnoutMedium
The size is a selling point in many reviews, but some players talk about burnout, restart loops, never reaching Act 3, or Act 3's volume of quests feeling "diluted". Several say the game would be better if it were tighter.
Comparisons with Divinity: Original Sin 2 and the older Baldur's GatesLow
Some players who came from DOS2 prefer its freer combat rules, humor and surfaces, and call BG3 "Divinity 3". Fans of the original Baldur's Gate games sometimes object to how returning characters are portrayed. Others say BG3 improves on DOS2 in every way.
Character creatorLow
Some praise the creator, especially with mods. Others find it thin for a D&D game: few faces and body types, no sliders, and outfits that can't be mixed at camp.
What frustrates players
Long-standing bugs, crashes and broken savesHigh
Bugs come up in about 17% of negative reviews, as often as dice, and in about 23% of the negative reviews from players past 50 hours, who tend to hit them deep into a run. The reports are specific: quest-breaking bugs and softlocks, cutscenes starting as combat, companions falling through walls, crashes on save, quick-save or fast travel, multiplayer desyncs, and save files lost or corrupted after updates. Several players say some bugs have survived for years ("bugs from 5 years ago that are run breaking but still persist"), and a few say patches broke their mods or in-progress saves. Positive reviews mention bugs too, and some call them tolerable given the scope.
Act 3 is weaker than the first two actsHigh
Of the reviews that pass judgment on Act 3, most find it weaker: 66 criticize it and about a dozen praise it, and 49 of those 66 critics recommend the game anyway. Players describe the city section as sprawling and less polished, with too many quests, visibly cut or unfinished content (the Upper City especially), loose threads for some companions, a chaotic and frustrating final battle, and endings that some find thin. It is also where performance drops, with CPU-heavy lower-city areas stuttering on machines that ran Acts 1 and 2 fine. About 11% of negative reviews from players past 50 hours name Act 3, and one positive review sums it up as the game that "hobbles across the finish line".
Camera, pathing, controls and UIHigh
About 14% of negative reviews target the interface and controls, from short and long playtimes alike. Common points: a camera that struggles with verticality and multi-floor areas, the cursor picking the wrong target, poor ranged-attack positioning, party members failing to follow after jumps or teleports, small non-scalable text, a cluttered hotbar, and controller play that some find miserable (others love the radial menus).
Steep onboarding and unexplained mechanicsMedium
Newcomers say the game throws D&D terms (bonus actions, opportunity attacks, saving throws) at them with little explanation, and that they needed wikis or friends to understand it. Some say the learning curve is worth pushing through; for others it is part of the reason for an early negative review.
Inventory management and loot clutterMedium
Inventory is a recurring quality-of-life complaint: juggling items across four characters, a camp chest without good search or sorting, trade windows that scramble your organization, no easy junk selling, and a flood of low-value loot.
Missable content, timed quests and long-rest gatingMedium
Players dislike content that locks out without warning (for example, losing Withers' respec option), time-sensitive quests that fail if you long rest, and companion scenes that only trigger by resting at camp. The two pull against each other: you must rest to see the story, but resting can fail quests.
Co-op limitationsLow
In multiplayer, only the player who starts a conversation takes part in it, and dialogue checks use that character's stats. Players also report desyncs, crashes, lost co-op saves, and achievements not unlocking for everyone.
Sparse autosavesLow
Several players lost hours of progress to a crash or bug because autosaves are infrequent, and advise binding quick-save and using it constantly.
Price, install size and the Larian accountLow
A small group objects to the full $60/€60 price three years after launch and shallow discounts, the roughly 150GB install, and needing a Larian account or launcher for cross-play. A handful also object to an updated EULA after purchase.
Level cap and party sizeLow
Some players hit the level 12 cap early in Act 3 and want more progression. Others want a larger party or a fully custom party instead of the fixed origin companions.
3. The player conversation
The tone is affectionate, and much of the conversation has become ritual: thousands of one-line reviews ("masterpiece", "GOAT", "best game ever"), inside jokes about the bear, Withers and "Baldur's Gating", and players posting 500, 1,000 or 3,000 hours as the whole review. In the longer reviews, fans praise freedom, characters and replayability, and the critics fall into two groups. Early quitters, typically under 25 hours, bounced off turn-based combat, dice randomness, the camera and the onboarding. Long-haul players, often past 50 hours, complain about bugs that wrecked a run, Act 3's quality and performance, and polish that never fully arrived. Some negative reviews still call it a great game.
Sentiment barely moved across the summer 2026 period that makes up most of the slice: every week from mid-June to late September landed between 93% and 97% positive, through both the summer sale and the third-anniversary period. Some of the negative reviews in this window complain that game-breaking bugs remain three years after release.
4. What the developers could do
- Fix the long-standing quest-breaking bugs and save corruption. Bugs come up in about one in six negative reviews, and some come from players who lost hours of progress to a game-ending bug that "nobody has resolved YEARS later".
- Polish and optimize Act 3. Fans and critics alike name Act 3's sprawl, unfinished threads, chaotic finale and lower-city performance as the point where the game "hobbles across the finish line".
- Add a combat animation and turn speed option. Long enemy turns bother positive reviewers too, and players specifically ask for an Owlcat-style speed slider instead of relying on mods.
- Improve the camera, pathing and targeting. Camera, pathing, UI and control complaints show up in about 14% of negative reviews and push some players to quit, especially in vertical, multi-floor areas and during ranged targeting.
- Build a better tutorial and explain dice and core rules in the game. Newcomers who don't know 5e say they needed wikis to understand actions, saving throws and hidden dice, and some ask for a proper dice and combat tutorial.
- Overhaul inventory and loot management. A searchable, sortable shared stash, a junk-sell button and less trash loot would address a recurring quality-of-life complaint.
- Make autosaves more frequent and flag missable or timed content. Players lost progress to sparse autosaves and felt punished by quests that silently fail on a long rest or lock out without warning.
- Let every co-op player take part in dialogue. Co-op players like the mode but want everyone to join conversations and use their own stats for checks, plus fewer desyncs and crashes.
