Prior to playing this game, my experience with Dungeons and Dragons was limited to watching the Jeremy Irons movie from 2000. As I’m sure you can imagine, this did not set my expectations very high. Nonetheless, I decided to check this game out anyway and oh boy do I regret that decision. Too much of my time has now been taken up not just by playing Baldur’s Gate but also playing D&D with my neighbour Keith in his basement. The lack of sunlight I see on Sunday’s is truly troubling, but Keith’s storytelling is impeccable, the man has a way with words. Possibly not as good as the storytelling within Baldur’s Gate 3 but he doesn’t get paid to write our campaign so you can’t expect too much from him.
This game really excelled at utilising the best parts of D&D, creating such an immersive experience within a world that feels lived in. The incredible characters and voice acting help to make the player feel like they are actually a part of this tale, something Keith could improve on as the only accents he can do are Jamaican and South African. Another area BG3 tops Keith would be the atmospheric music. He would never have a villain singing their own theme song during their boss fight, which really made Raphael a standout for me in this game. The entire period spent in the House of Hope was one of the tensest sections of a video game I have ever played, knowing that at some point Raphael would show up but not when. Then when he finally does, he is singing the battle music himself, absolute madman.
The ensemble of characters that make up the adventuring party within this game are excellent company throughout the game, all offering different skills and personalities to aid in the fight against the absolute. The ability to swap them in and out depending on what you need is quite helpful, and I wish I could swap out Keith’s friend Louise as she is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying, but I guess that’s just another thing BG3 has over actual D&D.
Overall, I would highly recommend this game (and D&D in Keith’s basement) to anyone interested in playing and would absolutely place BG3 within my top 7 games on Steam.