5 Things You Should Know About Baldur’s Gate 3

Can I interest you in a tadpole in your brain?

With the full reveal of Baldur’s Gate 3 happening on the night of February 27th, we now exist in a world where we know a bit more about Baldur’s Gate 3. We got to watch a fair bit of gameplay, and there are some incredibly exciting things to talk about. As such, it seemed wise to put together the five most exciting things about Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s important to note that none of them are the little tadpoles that enter your brain through your eyes. Nope.

It’s Coming To Early Access In The Next Few Months

While we did already sort of know this thanks to Hasbro, it’s still nice to hear it from Swen Vincke, the head of Larian Studios himself. His exact words were that the game would hit Early Access “in a couple of months” but that they “don’t know exactly when”. Given that it’s nearly March, that could mean seeing the game as early as May, though it’s probably more likely to be a little later than that.

Verticality Is Important

We got to see what is probably the biggest new addition to the Larian formula; true verticality. You can properly have characters on multiple levels to allow for strategic alpha strikes where you eradicate your enemies in one turn. It’s very exciting just in terms of combat, but that’s not the only thing it could affect. After all, the potential for hidden areas and secrets could go up exponentially as well because…

Some Environments Are Destroyable

We got to see a rock smash through a floor and open up a new path into a dungeon. It’s unlikely that everything will be destroyable, but it certainly adds a lot of new options for the player when approaching some of the combat. It could also mean hidden boxes and loot under the very ground you’re standing on, or behind a weak wall. It could also mean that you get a ceiling dropped on you at some point, but try not to worry about that.

It Has Four-Player Co-op

This isn’t a huge surprise given Larian’s previous games, but it’s still nice to have it confirmed. We don’t get many multiplayer RPGs, not unless they’re of the MMO variety, so it’s good to see that Baldur’s Gate 3 will be upholding this rarest of things. It could also mean some infuriating or incredibly fun interactions as you try and sweet talk an enemy as your friends pickpocket them. Though you could always just do that yourself too.

It’s Got Real-Time Turn-Based Combat

Much like D&D, Baldur’s Gate 3 has turn-based combat, but each turn is the equivalent of six seconds. Rather than each unit having a turn, it’s simply divided by the teams. This means you can move one unit, use a different want to attack something, then go back to the first one to deliver the finishing blow. It opens up a lot of new options when it comes to strategy, and you can even activate the turn-based movement outside of battle. This allows you to slow things down and overcome tricky puzzles or traps, or just fail in a slower manner; either way, it’s very exciting.