‘Baldur’s Gate 3’: You Can Stack the Crates and Other Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Playing
Baldur’s Gate 3 is out in the wild now. And we’re here to get you started with these five things I wish I’d known when I started playing.
Say what you will about Baldur’s Gate 3, that it’s big, that you love it, that you wish you could have sex with more hot druids/demons/whatever kinky fantasy trope you’re secretly into, but it is a game that wants you to break out of the typical D&D/video game “habits.” That is, it’s a game that rewards creativity and curiosity so much.
But you have to get out there and discover it for yourself (or have a helpful guide to point you in the right direction) or you might miss it. I did when I first started playing. Here are some things I wish I’d known when I got started in Baldur’s Gate 3.
You Can Pick Up Basically Everything in Baldur’s Gate 3
You might be used to the idea that chests and crates are for opening and smashing, and that’s it. Even in D&D, which utilizes the nearly limitless power of the imagination, ask yourself genuinely, when was the last time you moved something around? When was the last time you picked up a chair and put it somewhere that it wasn’t?
It’s understandable you haven’t, because why would you? But the answer is, to do mischief. To access otherwise inaccessible places. To dream the impossible dream. As long as that impossible dream is picking up that thing over there.
You’d be surprised at how much stuff your character can carry around and throw or use to block places. You can make enemies waste movement trying to get to you with the right amount of prep.
More Importantly, You Can Stack It
Okay. In a nutshell, Baldur’s Gate 3 has a physics mini-game in basically every part of the map. You can stack crates and then climb on them to reach hard-to-reach places. You can use them to get on top of houses or to climb through an inaccessible opening otherwise. And in this game, verticality is key. Get up high and you can see more, shoot more, and be harder to hit.
And that’s before you start finding explosive barrels or pushing snipers from their perches to their satisfying deaths below. Whether you need to stack things or fly or just jump real good, that’s just one part of how Baldur’s Gate 3 works. But these objects interact with each other. You can block off the vents that release poisonous gasses. You can pin down enemies. There’s so much to do with stuff it’s worth just clicking around to see what your options are.
You Can Change, and Even Weaponize, the Environment
Baldur’s Gate 3 does what few other D&D games actually do: it uses the lighting rules. To great effect. Light the candles placed on the table to illuminate the dining room you’re about to fight in. Can’t see down the dark tunnel? Throw your torch to see things.
Just be careful about what you throw your torch into, you could cause an explosion. Because Baldur’s Gate 3, like Divinity: Original Sin before it, weaponizes its environment. Do you need crowd control in a pinch? Freeze that blood your enemies have spilled on the ground. Enemies in water? Hit ’em with a lightning spell. Set a fire. You’d be surprised at how much you can burn in this game.
Talk to Everything You Possibly Can
From corpses to animals to random NPCs, almost everyone has something to say. Not everyone has something important to say. Sometimes all you get is the occasional wild line/bark. But, it is worth the effort/resources to talk about the most unusual things. When Larian Studios added Speak With Animals to the game, they went back and gave dialogue to all the critters they could find.
You can talk to bears, badgers, and more. Or if you want to entertain yourself, talk to the corpses of your enemies right after you’ve killed them.
Shenanigans By Design
This is a game that rewards curiosity and creativity. It’s also a game that was explicitly designed to let you be an evil, horny bastard at the drop of a hat. Steal back that hard-earned gold you just paid that merchant. Lure that NPC you don’t like into an ambush. There are plenty of ways to mess with the world. And it gets better the more you experiment.
Good luck out there in Baldur’s Gate!
