Larian Studios revealed a roughly-one-hour stream of the highly-anticipated Baldur's Gate 3, complete with a stunning opening cinematic, character creation, and plenty of gameplay. The footage is highly-entertaining, seeing Larian CEO Swen Vincke almost consecutively fall victim to the pitfalls of a turn-based tabletop game like D&D turned RPG.
Any fan of D&D will tell you what a chaotic night can manifest with a few friends sat around a table rolling dice and submitting to circumstance. Baldur's Gate 3 looks to capture that essence and imbue it into an RPG that very much seems built into the foundation of Larian's Divinity: Original Sin 2.
First and foremost, Baldur's Gate ditches the real-time-with-pauses combat featured in the first two Baldur's Gate games in favor of Larian's signature turn-based gameplay. While it's an update to the Baldur's Gate series, it's actually a sort-of return-to-form that makes Baldur's Gate 3 play more like an actual game of tabletop D&D, with a focus on positioning and creative strategy.
That turn-based influence permeates through the non-combat sections as well - if you want it to, anyway. In Baldur's Gate 3, you have the option to activate a turn-based sequence before you approach a battle in order to position the different members of your party advantageously.
Of course, prudent strategizing only gets you so far in Baldur's Gate 3; there's still the aforementioned roll-of-the-dice elements - you actually roll a die on-screen to make a skill check - and random traps to worry about. As Vincke demonstrates, there's always a puddle of grease, fireball trap, or unfortunate roll to keep you desperately on your toes.
Baldur's Gate 3 hits Steam Early Access later in 2020, with a full release coming at an unspecified time.
We might be waiting some time for Baldur's Gate 3, so feel free to kill some time with the best RPGs to play in 2020.
