Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian Studios is an absolute masterpiece you have to check out on PS5. Here’s our Baldur’s Gate 3 review!
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I have a blockbuster review for you from probably one of the best indie developers around: Larian Studios. It’s the team you might know as the developers behind the Divinity series. They’re one of my favorite studios, and everything they end up working on is a game I believe is going to be great since I have personally never been let down by any games they have made. I’m here for a Baldur’s Gate 3. And when I say it’s the best game they have made to date, I really mean the very best by far. They have really outdone themselves with Baldur’s Gate 3, so without further ado, let’s dig in and find out a bit more, shall we?
You can tell from the outset that this is a Larian Studios game with great storytelling and a rich cast of characters, and you can choose to create your characters from scratch if you wish, but I chose to use one of the original characters. Baldur’s Gate 3 can be played in so many different ways and completed in so many different ways, thanks to the huge amount of branching dialogue choices. And since the game is based on the Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition tabletop RPG rules, there are many playing styles for you to consider.
I found myself getting lost in the game, letting myself be absorbed by the story. I also usually decided to go off the beaten path to try and explore the game’s vast open world. It is fair to say that Baldur’s Gate 3 is nothing like the first two games, which I found fun but more difficult. Baldur’s Gate 3 is easier in many ways and much more accessible, so if you have never played a Baldur’s Gate game or found the earlier games’ rulesets a bit too challenging, then this version would be a good starting point thanks to a decent amount of accessibility options. And also the difficulty options, so if you want a solid experience, then Baldur’s Gate 3 has you covered.
Combat is fun and fluid and a little tricky early on if you are low-leveled and low on party members. At some point in the game, you will have the opportunity to recruit new party members for a fee. You will also meet new party members through natural progression who will join you with their own stories and agendas, often asking you for help in their quests; I personally would recommend working on their quests as these side stories are so rich and fulfilling and absolutely worth it.
You can select your character specialization once you hit level three. At that point, you become stronger and a more fleshed-out character with a good arsenal of spells, but as you progress in levels, your spells upgrade as well, making you more powerful. If you use a particular weapon or spell enough times, you become proficient and learn new spells from said weapon or spells. The weapon spells are known as Cantrips.
The spell slots are an interesting mechanic. On a per-day basis, you get a selection of spells – that you can pick out – to use, but it is advisable to use them very wisely, only in desperate situations if you can, as they are often one use only until you have a long/short rest before you can reuse them again. Think of it as a cooldown system. It is kinda of annoying you can’t use spells more than once, so what I did was each time I found a new waypoint, I would take a long rest – if you have a sufficient amount of camp supplies. I found it was an easier way of managing the situation, and often close to or near a waypoint, there is a good firefight, so it was a handy method for me, but you will find your own ways of working through this.
As I mentioned earlier, there are different ways to play and different outcomes. Because of this, my experience with the game is going to be different from yours. Baldur’s Gate 3 is very high in replayability, but it is also not going to be a short experience since you’re easily looking at 100+ hours to really give this game a good go. You could theoretically speed through it in, say, 60+ hours or so, but then you’d have to skip a ton of sidequests for that, which would be far from ideal since sidequests often weave into the main story. The leveling system is quite slow, so you do need to do other things besides rushing through, or else you’ll just be making things more difficult for yourself.
Aside from single-use spells, you can use cantrips without limits. The tadpole powers can be used multiple times before requiring rests. You can also find more of these tadpole parasites from powerful enemies that you can trade your humanity for psionic abilities, which will give you huge advantages in the rolls of the die. The combat and spell management will keep you on your toes and focused. I was certainly careful, and it felt rewarding when I came out of a tough firefight barely alive!
Baldur’s Gate 3 is perfect in every way: the art, graphics, lightning, voice acting – the whole nine yards. The story is so well written that I was and still am very impressed with how the game was designed. The accessibility level means the game is open to people of all playing skills. I actually find the game more enjoyable than the first two Baldur’s Gate games. Don’t get me wrong, those are true classics, but this one stands above and beyond them all. With well over 100 hours of gameplay in a very polished experience, there’s really nothing to complain about. Kudos to Larian Studios for bringing us a classic for the ages. Baldur’s Gate 3 is out on PlayStation 5 with a $69.99 price tag, and it’s worth every penny.
Disclaimer
This Baldur’s Gate 3 review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Larian Studios.
