Baldur's Gate 3

Overview

Baldur's Gate 3 throws you into a story-heavy, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons. You make a character or step into an Origin hero, then push through betrayal, survival, sacrifice, and power as a mind flayer parasite alters you from the inside.

Choice carries real weight here, from character creation to how you solve problems and how fights end. Built on the Divinity 4.0 engine and framed by the Forgotten Realms, it also lets you bring together a party of up to four online. The journey runs from the Underdark to Baldur's Gate itself.

Exploration, conversation, and combat all follow the same ruleset. You can sneak, climb, jump, and poke at the world in different ways, while turn-based battles and dice rolls settle many of the finer points. It all adds up to a game that favors flexibility over fixed routes.

Why play it

• Choice drives the story.
• Party-based play supports co-op.
• Large world with distinct regions.
• Character creation has real variety.

Quick facts

Beginner walkthrough

Build your character first

You can choose from 12 classes and 11 races from the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, or play as an Origin hero with a hand-crafted background. The Dark Urge is another option if you want a customisable Origin hero with unique mechanics and story. Class choice also matters for starting spells if you pick a magic user.

Use camp to recover and adjust

Camp is where you rest, talk with companions, and manage your resources. Short rest restores 50% of maximum hit points and some class-specific features, and you can short rest twice before needing a long rest. Long rests fully replenish resources and send you back to camp. Withers at camp allows respec.

Expect plenty of freedom in how you solve things

The game rewards different approaches to encounters and exploration. You can sneak, dip, shove, climb, and jump, and outcomes are often decided by dice rolls based on the rules system. Exploration, combat, and puzzle-solving all grant experience, and many quests can be handled in more than one way.

Key characters

• Dark Urge custom Origin hero

  The Dark Urge is a fully customisable Origin hero with its own mechanics and story.

• Withers camp NPC

  Withers is the camp-based character who lets you respec.

Our take

Baldur's Gate 3 is a wide-ranging, systems-heavy RPG that leans into party play, character building, and branching outcomes. It gives you space to tackle quests and combat in different ways, then keeps that freedom alive through exploration, camp management, and co-op. If you like a structured world with plenty of moving parts, there is a lot here to dig into.

FAQ