Developer/publisher Larian Studios
Format PC (tested), PS5
Release Out now
Not so much a revelation as it is a long-overdue reunion, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a glittering gala that brings together almost 40 years of RPG innovation. Mingle with the crowd and you’ll find virtually everyone in attendance. The dark choices and lingering consequences of CD Projekt brood in one corner, while the emergent play of Ultima and its Underworld cousins set fire to the tablecloth in another. The dice rolls and branching dialogue of early BioWare chat amiably with the cinematic drama of the studio’s later years. Even Planescape: Torment is here, and it’s every bit as weird and amusing as you’d expect.
Standing proudly on stage, meanwhile, is Master Of Ceremonies Larian Studios, which brought its own flavour of RPG to the party with 2014’s How far its turn-based combat and goofy sense of humour has come in less than a decade, from a youthfully awkward debut, through a borderline masterpiece of a sequel, to this roleplaying extravaganza. That works at
