Baldur’s Gate 3 is finally here, with over 200 thousand concurrent players on Steam within two hours of the global launch and counting. Reviews for the epic Dungeons & Dragons RPG have been few and far between due to a short access time for outlets prior to launch, with many opting to provide reviews-in-progress as they work through the absolutely massive game.
On the whole, early impressions have been overwhelmingly positive for the TTRPG mechanics, story, and graphics, with some minor bugs not quite enough to mar what seems to be a fantastic game in the early stages.
Kotaku Australia has its own review of Baldur’s Gate 3 incoming soon, but are in the same boat as other outlets, so will be taking a bit more time adventuring in Faerûn and beyond before we share our thoughts with you.
While you’ll have to dip your toes into the world of Baldur’s Gate 3 and get the full digital D&D experience to make up your mind for yourself, we’ve rounded up reviews so you can see what the critics make of the game so far. Given how few reviews are out in the wild, we’ve not split this one up into our usual Aussies versus the rest of the world – once more outlets have sat with the title, we’ll update this with their full thoughts.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Reviews (So Far)
IGN is one of the many outlets to publish a review-in-progress, saying, “On the whole, I really am loving Baldur’s Gate 3 so far. It definitely has some blemishes, from minor bugs to a combat system that I don’t exactly adore at lower levels. But I’ve been waiting 14 years for another alignment of the planets like Dragon Age: Origins, when an old-school CRPG got a big enough budget to look like a high quality animated movie…This is the closest anyone has ever come to recapturing that magic.”
GamesRadar’s early impressions of the game were highly positive, with writer Ali Jones saying, “After 60 hours with the early access and review builds, Baldur’s Gate 3 might prove to be the best D&D game ever made”
PC Gamer was equally positive, and said while they weren’t ready to give the game a score just yet, “if it wasn’t immediately obvious: Baldur’s Gate 3 is utterly brilliant. So far. Let’s see if it can keep this up for the next 80 hours.”
Our local friends over at Checkpoint Gaming said, “Although my time with the game hasn’t been enough to yet form a full critique, I can already tell that Baldur’s Gate 3 is a very impressive feather in Larian Studio’s cap. The shining star for me so far is the story, characters, lore, and voice acting, but the flawless implementation of Dungeons & Dragons 5E mechanics is coming a close second. If it can continue to impress on these fronts, even some irritating bugs won’t stop it from dominating the RPG space.”
PCGamesN (with yet another review in progress) shared their early impressions, saying, “Baldur’s Gate 3’s world is beautiful, layered and complex, and challenges you to attack it how you want. And though this is what makes it a little daunting, it’s also what makes me eager to dive back in and see where the adventure is going.”
ScreenRant was slightly less complementary in their early thoughts on the title due to bugs, but still seemed to enjoy what they’d played so far, saying, “For all its flaws, Baldur’s Gate 3 is engrossing at almost all times. It’s the type of game that both makes players want to invest all their time into finishing it while simultaneously keeping them thinking of what their next build will be…It remains to be seen if the swelling story manages to stick the landing once some more secrets are unveiled, but it’s so far, so great for Larian Studios and a riveting installment in the Baldur’s Gate franchise.”
Destructoid’s Eric Van Allen said, “whether you just want to experience what a high-production CRPG might have to offer, or romance some companions, or play some virtual D&D, I do think Baldur’s Gate 3 brings something for every one of those interests to the table. Embrace the successes and failures, talk to party members, read the spell text, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you’re taken in. It’s a great start, and I’m hopeful that Larian can keep up the pace moving into the later areas of Baldur’s Gate 3.”
Ars Technica said while they couldn’t quite yet provide a full overview of the game and their thoughts, “in just the opening hours of the campaign, any lingering doubts about Larian’s ability to bottle up and distribute the freedom of the role-playing experience have been overcome.”
So there you have it, folks! Baldur’s Gate 3 is shaping up to be one of the big games of 2023, and it looks like the critics are mostly loving it so far. We’ll be keen to see how reviews turn out once they’ve had more time with it to see if the momentum of the early game can carry through – keep your eyes out for our full take on the game very soon too.
Are you playing Baldur’s Gate 3, and if so, what’s your early impressions? We’ve covered off some important things to know as you jump in as well.
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