If you’re a gamer, Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) likely needs no introduction. Early access began in 2020, with the full release in 2023. This game won all the awards, even after its release year.
It is now 2026, and after multiple starts and start-overs across 180 hours between PC and PS5, I finally finished the game. In this post, I’ll share my thoughts on the game and explain why it took me so long. Minor spoilers throughout.
tl;dr
I loved it. I’ll play it again.
Trailer
PS5 Trailer
My Background
Like many, I learned both about video game RPGs and D&D mechanics from Baldur’s Gate (1998) and Baldur’s Gate 2 (2000). I remember spending countless hours in college wandering around in awe of the freedom in those games and the stories you could find lurking behind every corner. It informed my gaming, my writing, and my own live Dungeons and Dragons adventures decades later.
I was also no stranger to Larian Studios. I would call Divinity Original Sin II my favorite game, even ahead of BG3. I have completed that game three times and have hundreds of hours invested across many characters. When I found out they were making BG3, I had high expectations. I was not disappointed!
The Game
There is far too much for me to cover in BG3 in this simple post, but let me work through some of my favorite aspects.
Character Creation
I’m not usually one to care too much about the character creator in most games. And I still didn’t spend a whole lot of time on my appearance in BG3, but could still spend an hour or more fiddling with all the options. And once done with your character, you get to customize a second NPC character!
There are several origin characters to pick from, or you can make one from scratch. If you don’t select an origin character, you’ll run into them in the game and recruit them to your party. The origin characters are all fun, though, and come with entire backstories and narratives within the larger story of BG3.
For the run I finally finished, I played the Dark Urge. This character has no memory of their past, but feel like murdering most everyone they meet. You can reject those urges like I did in my playthrough, or indulge them and march toward the end of the game on a trail of blood.
As far as classes to play, there are plenty of those, too. Play as a barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. Each has several subclasses to choose from. You can also mix and match by multiclassing as you level up during the game.
The Story
You find out at the start you’ve been infected with a mind flayer tadpole. This is normally an incredibly bad thing, as it will destroy its host and become an evil, mind-controlled mind flayer. For some reason, though, your character has not changed. Your mind remains your own, mostly.
The story branches from here, based on your choices. It is hard to say it is a “good” story in the normal sense, as the story itself is entirely dependent on the actions you take. The player has a lot of agency in choices that impact everything from the immediate in a combat to the final cutscenes once you’ve won or died trying.
Role Play
This is also where the RP of RPG comes in. You are the co-author of the story, and it happens each time you click. You can be a stealthy rogue, sneaking around and avoiding battle. You can be a tactful diplomat, talking yourself out of combat before it happens. You can be an incredible master of magic and weaponry and simply cut down anyone who stands in your way. You can save the innocent or make their lives worse. This is classic Dungeons and Dragons.
If you want to play it as an action game and skip through the cut scenes and avoid the plot, you can. If you just want to go from fight to fight, or start fights for the fun of it, you can do that too. If you want to talk to every NPC, open every door, and read every document to learn all the lore, it is possible.
There are so many stories in BG3 to explore outside the main quest. Each of your companions has things they want to do, learn, or see. Every NPC you speak has their own goals as well. Everyone else is the hero of their story in the middle of your heroic story.
So Why 3 Years to Finish?
The options within the game can be overwhelming. I kept thinking, what if I played a different class? What if I’d made other choices? What if I did it with mods? Without mods? So I’d quit, and months later, start again.
I finished this time with the help of mods along with a solid heaping of stubbornness.
Content Warnings
I judge no one for playing or not playing this game. But many of my readers have teenagers who might express interest in this game. If you’ve come here looking for that answer, I have to say I do not know you or your children. Watch the videos above and make your call, but here is some other info from my perspective.
Language. There is plenty of foul language to go around, including taking the in-game gods’ names in vain.
Nudity/Sex. You can turn most of this off in the options, but there are options to fully render genitals in cutscenes and for cutscenes to show all the sex your character can choose to have. Even if you turn this off in the options, there will be plenty of references to sex you cannot avoid.
Violence. ALL the violence.
Dark Themes. Just like in real life, people do bad things in this game. The game doesn’t shy away from talking about them. There are consequences to actions, and many of those can be very dark indeed.
So why did I play it?
See my comment on real life above. While we do not have vampires or mind flayers or an evil plot to destroy the world, life is full of people. Those people have free will and get to make decisions. I turned off the options for sex, nudity, and some gore and enjoyed the story for what it is.
I played as a paladin, so I tried to make the right choices in the game. Like in life, that did not always lead to the best outcomes. Or the easiest path. And sometimes, I made mistakes. I wanted to see how it ends.
Also there was a dog. And an owlbear. You can pet both.
Mods I Used
- All Camp Clothes And Dyes
- Ancient Mega Pack
- Better Inventory UI
- Extra encounters and Minibosses
- Faerun Colors
- ImpUI
- Level Up – Giant a Feat on Every Level
- Longstrider QoL
- Mystra’s Spells
- PixcellBytes’ Adjustable Party Limit
- Starting Armor (Enhanced)
- Weightless Gold
Final Thoughts
This game is great and deserving of all the awards it won. The question isn’t if I’ll play it again, but how long I’ll wait to do so.
What did you think of the game?
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