D&D: Baldur’s Gate 3 Likely Goes Early Access In August – New Trailer Now
This weekend was a big showing for Baldur’s Gate 3, we have a tentative early access date, a new trailer, and some new changes to Larian’s formula. Check it out.
This past weekend at the Guerrilla Games Collective livestreamed event, Larian Studios had a lot to show off with their new feature for Baldur’s Gate 3, but perhaps biggest of all, a release date of August 2020 for their Early Access launch on both Steam and Stadia. Yes, despite being hit by difficulties springing from COVID-19, Larian Studios is fairly confident that they’ll be able to deliver the (early) goods in August, though, like everything these days it all depends on how the world handles the lockdown.
The primary difficulty facing them is dealing with motion and performance capture, which have started back up again, slowly, as lockdown restrictions ease. And having had a chance to check out both the early gameplay reveal in PAX and the Baldur’s Gate, that’s not all that Larian has been working on. They’ve made some substantial changes to the game, which has already received a graphics facelift from its earlier showing at PAX East. But here check it out for yourself. Here’s the new trailer, plus a two minute announcement:
As they say in the video, there’s a new livestreamed event to show off the most recent build of the game coming just ahead of D&D Live on the 18th, so it’s going to be a busy Thursday. And then the weekend after it, what with D&D Live, Roll With Advantage happening as well. But for now let’s take a look at some of the new features in BGIII:
- Narration has been switched from Divinity’s past tense narration to present tense.
This might seem like a very minor change, but it is surprising what a difference it makes. That, coupled with better displays of the rules (instead of percentages, for instance), might make it a smoother experience for players coming to the game from 5E.
- Graphic fidelity increase.
Just look at the trailer. This already looks world’s better. And as they’ve been working on the game, it looks like they’ve been making tweaks to combat, allowing for more robust freedom when out exploring the world.
- That’s probably a devil tempting you.
One of the biggest things we know is that the main character in the game is faced with a dilemma, a Mind Flayer symbiont is currently in the process of slowly developing to the point where it will one day devour its host brain, and undergo the painful transformation into a full fledged Mind Flayer:
And it looks like at least one devil is interested in saving your life. For a price, of course.
At any rate, there’s a whole lot more coming June 18th, so be sure and check back for more info then.
In the meantime, happy adventuring!
