D&D: Come Spend An Hour In Baldur’s Gate III
One of the biggest reveals this past week has been an hour inside the new Baldur’s Gate game from Larian Studios. Check out an hour of gameplay!
Baldur’s Gate III promises mind flayers, devils, and hellish bargains to be made as your character gets swept up in planar conflicts as cosmic powers vie for control and influence. Do you give in to the whispers of the Mind Flayer? Make a deal with a literal devil? This past weekend, players had a chance to watch an interactive stream where Larian CEO Swen Vincke showed off the latest build of Baldur’s Gate 3. There are many big updates, and some surprising story reveals. Come take a look at what’s new in another hour or so of gameplay.
One of the first big changes we mentioned was that the narration style is present tense. Larian have always been big about listening to community feedback, and you can see already how the game has changed, both in terms of conversation and quality of graphics. But we also got to see a lot more party dynamics on display in this playthrough. One of the big defining aspects of Baldur’s Gate 3 in the first place was the interplay between party members. Not just between the main character and the NPCs, but between NPCs themselves. Jaheira and Minsc and Boo had words of advice for each other. And the same is proving to be true in BG3 as well.
Vincke showed off in-camp conversations, and as they were wandering in the world we had a sense of the characters communicating with each other a little more. And a big surprise, the Inspiration mechanic made an appearance.
It looks like the mechanics of 5th Edition are seeping into the gameplay of Baldur’s Gate even more now. We have seen how the initiative system has changed, switching over from player side then enemy side to a more interleaved format, though you can swap initiative around with party members that are adjacent to each other.
Another thing that struck me was how vertical all of these battle maps. There are roofs to climb atop, cliffs to throw enemies off of. And a whole lot more besides. We also got a glimpse at some of the big plot moves happening in the game. Spoilers ahead:
Here we see a meeting with someone who speaks in creepy rhymes.
Spoiler alert, he turns out to be a devil.
That’s the old version, here’s a look at the new one:
After dealing with some uncomfortably charming adversarial conversation, the quest took a turn going after more goblins, who seem pretty over-the-top, but you can end up introducing yourself to the goblins and interacting with them. There’s a surprising amount of encounters that don’t necessarily have to end in combat. As they say, if you can win the fight without swinging a sword, you’ve truly conquered them.
You can watch the full video above. For early alpha, it’s looking pretty good, and you know it’s only going to get smoother. With dungeons, dragons, and many other popular D&D monsters, there’s a lot to look forward to with this game. We’ll be watching carefully to keep you updated.
Happy Adventuring!
