Key Takeaways
- Baldur's Gate 3 continues the series' tradition of opening outside the city, setting the stage for a grand journey back home in Act 3.
- The game's predecessor built the city's history by beginning in other locations, and while interesting, there is potential for a full game set in Baldur's Gate.
- A sequel could fully explore the city, including the Upper City that BG3 scrapped, providing a richer experience overall.
One of the defining features of Baldur's Gate 3 is its dramatic prologue. Set on a nautiloid and traveling between several different planes, including Avernus, the player character meets Lae'zel and Shadowheart and makes a desperate attempt to return the nautiloid to Faerun. Once there, the ship crash lands somewhere on the Sword Coast, and it's not until Act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3 that the party returns to Baldur's Gate.
Opening a Baldur's Gate game outside of Baldur's Gate may seem like a novelty, but it's actually a tradition from Baldur's Gate 3 predecessors that the game continues. Thus far, all the games in the series have opened in a different location, and the story eventually shifts to the city. Baldur's Gate 3's successor, however, could break this tradition by opening in Baldur's Gate itself, or setting the entirety of the game within Baldur's Gate, making full use of the vibrant city, including all its factions, different levels, surrounding villages, and the cultures that have gathered there over the centuries.
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The City's History in Past Baldur's Gate Games
Baldur's Gate is set over 120 years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3, and opens in Candlekeep, a library-fortress located along the rural Sword Coast. Baldur's Gate is depicted in the game, but the protagonist sets out from Candlekeep, rather than the titular city. Likewise, Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn begins in another nation entirely, instead beginning in Amn's capital city of Athkatla. Although most of the available player characters, including the Dark Urge and Tav, the customizable character, originally come from Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 3's story begins proper on the rural Storm Coast, with much of the story taking place on the journey back to the city.
Baldur's Gate 3 showed much more of the city, but its cut content meant that an entire section of the city - the Upper City - was not depicted. Some players were hopeful that the Upper City would be restored in a DLC, but those hopes were dashed when Larian announced it was not creating DLC content for Baldur's Gate 3. Baldur's Gate 4 could instead take advantage of this and show Baldur's Gate in its full glory, with a restored Upper City as well as an expansion on the areas that were depicted in Baldur's Gate 3.
The Potential of Baldur's Gate as a Setting Over an Entire Game
Once the nautiloid crashed, Baldur's Gate 3 was set along the rural Sword Coast, much like Baldur's Gate, but the journey to the city takes dozens of hours and two entire story acts, with the city always mentioned but feeling as though it was just beyond reach. Baldur's Gate itself has plenty of content despite having the Upper City removed from the final product, but it also serves as a tantalizing example of the city's potential if the entirety of the game were set there.
Baldur's Gate is an incredible setting, and its depiction in Baldur's Gate 3 was fantastic despite its limitations. Still, that does not change the fact that only the Lower City and outer regions were depicted in Baldur's Gate 3, with the Upper City being cut from the final game. A Baldur's Gate 3 sequel set entirely within Baldur's Gate could make full use of the location and its surrounds, exploring more of its factions and the different levels of society. Including the Upper City would be an obvious way to flesh out the titular area, as it could be feasibly much larger than the Lower City that was depicted in Baldur's Gate 3.
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Baldur's Gate 3
Abducted, infected, lost. You are turning into a monster, but as the corruption inside you grows, so does your power. Forge a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Caught in a conflict between devils, deities, and sinister otherworldly forces, you and your party will determine the fate of the Forgotten Realms.
THE ULTIMATE D&D EXPERIENCE
Choose from a wide selection of D&D races and classes, or play as an origin character with a hand-crafted background. Adventure, loot, battle, and romance as you journey through the Forgotten Realms and beyond. Play alone or as a party of up to four in multiplayer – and select your companions carefully.
A CINEMATIC STORYTELLING EPIC
Forged with the new Divinity 4.0 engine, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a world that reacts to your choices. A grand, cinematic narrative brings you closer to your characters than ever before, as you venture through our biggest world yet. Romance, deceive, aid, obstruct, and grow alongside your friends thanks to Larian's next-generation RPG engine.
RPG
Systems
- Top Critic Rating:96/100 Critics Recommend:98%
- Franchise
- Baldur's Gate
- Platform(s)
- PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X
- Released
- August 3, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Engine
- Divinity 4.0
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- How Long To Beat
- 100+ Hours
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- X|S Enhanced
- yes
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical Only
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
- Cross Save
- yes
- Cross-Platform Play
- Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't support crossplay
