Baldurs Gate 3 Early Access Is Here

This is the big one: Baldurs Gate 3 Early Access is here, and it was well worth the wait. Out now on Steam, GOG and Google Stadia, the game features some 25 hours worth of content.

Larian Studios have a huge title here with over 46,000 dialogue lines in English, 600 NPCs and 146 spells and actions. Let’s forget about the next-gen console release dates, lock the doors and barricade ourselves in.

With 16 races to choose from in the character creation within the game, we’ll be able to experience six different classes with their own subclasses. I predict the first hour of gameplay will be debating about what build to start with.

In case you aren’t familiar with the story in Baldurs Gate 3, a parasite has been planted in your brain, and you awake on board a burning Nautiloid Shop, instigating an epic fight between Mind Flayers and red dragons. You’ll return to the forgotten realms ‘in a tale about fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival – and the lure of absolute power’.

Key features in Baldurs Gate 3 Early Access include:

• Online Multiplayer for up to 4 players allows players to combine their forces in combat, and split their party to follow their own quests and agendas. They can concoct the perfect plan together… or introduce an element of chaos when their friends least expect it.
• Evolved, turn-based combat, based on the D&D 5e ruleset. Team-based initiative, advantage & disadvantage, and roll modifiers join combat cameras, expanded environmental interactions, and a new fluidity in combat that rewards strategy and foresight.
• Defining the future of the forgotten realms through their choices, and the roll of the dice. No matter who they play, or what they roll, the world and its inhabitants will react to their story.
• Player-initiated turn-based mode allows the players to pause the world around them at any time even outside of combat. Whether they see an opportunity for a tactical advantage before combat begins, want to pull off a heist with pin-point precision, or need to escape a fiendish trap. They can Split their party, prepare ambushes, sneak in the darkness – and create their own luck!

For an Early Access game, Baldurs Gate 3 is quite a hefty filesize that would make PS4 owners gulp thinking it’s Red Dead Redemption 2 all over again. Having freed up some space, I’m not going through the motions of downloading and will report my findings in due course.

In the meantime, here’s a Baldurs Gate 3 trailer:

Out now on Steam, GOG and Google Stadia in Early Access mode, it’s available for PC and Mac, so it’ll be a rare treat to play this on my workstation as opposed to gaming one.