Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus review - "Dante's Inferno by way of Mad Max: Fury Road"

With Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus being pitched as a prequel to a certain, very popular video game, it's understandable that there was a lot of buzz surrounding it. Throw in an elevator pitch that's basically "Mad Max, but demons" and you have one hell of a spicy adventure on your hands.

Sure, it's not always a home-run. And in all honesty, its ties to Baldur's Gate 3 aren't particularly in-your-face. But once it hits its stride, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus sings.

Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus - features

Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus is an adventure book for the current (fifth, if you're keeping score) edition of Dungeons & Dragons, though it'll also be compatible with the 2024 rules revamp codenamed 'One D&D.' It's designed to take players from levels 1-13 and features numerous Baldur's Gate backgrounds in a section dedicated to the city. A 'Dark Secrets' mechanic to tie the party together is also introduced.

Because this book uses the D&D system, you'll need the Monster Manual and Player's Handbook to run it.

Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus - how it works

Descent into Avernus is an adventure module for D&D fifth edition that takes players literally to hell and back; a massive quest for new characters that'll take them all the way to level 13 before the credits roll (metaphorically, at least). Because the book introduces backgrounds tied directly to the crime-riddled metropolis of Baldur's Gate, it's a good excuse to start fresh with an adventurer connected to that area - and the mission ahead.

Starting in Baldur's Gate itself, the heroes are hired to deal with some cultish killings that quickly escalate to a citywide conspiracy, which then escalates again when that ties into the mysterious disappearance of a whole city the week before. After that's out the way, it escalates once more to cosmic warfare in the fiery underworld.

Before they've hit level 5, players will have left Baldur's Gate and journeyed to the Nine Hells, the infernal afterlife beneath reality, and specifically to its first layer: Avernus, a scorched wasteland where devils battle demons (totally different things, honestly) in constant conflict for the right to ruin everything in whatever way they think is best. This all occurs under the watchful eye of Zariel, fallen angel, general of Avernus, and patron saint of being really, really goddamned angry.

Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus - Gameplay

Whereas something like Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden feels like an adventuring career formed of different jobs, and Yawning Portal is effectively "the greatest hits of D&D," Descent into Avernus is an adventure. As in, the whole thing is practically a single quest - a quest with chapters, yes, but a single quest nonetheless. By the end of act one, it's clear that the main goal is recovering the stolen city of Elturel from hell, and everything you do from that point on is in service of that goal. Early sequences take place in Baldur's Gate until you manage to secure travel to Avernus itself, and thus begins a road trip through the fire and flames, securing allegiances, battling fiends, and generally causing havoc in a module that strives to be Dante's Inferno by way of Mad Max: Fury Road.

Speaking of which, the two new big gimmicks are Deals with Devils - a set of rules for making soul-selling contracts with Hell's horned populace - and Infernal Machines, madcap armoured tanks dripping with weaponry and fuelled by burning souls. The former is cool, yet doesn't come up much, but thankfully the latter is a big part of proceedings, and can be a lot of fun…

… which makes it so strange that it doesn't show up until about halfway into the campaign! My big issue with Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus is, ironically, the Baldur's Gate bit. Yes, yes, iconic location from D&D lore and all, but when everybody knows there's wacky races and fighting Satan in the second half, shanking cultists in a bleak sewer really does feel like having to eat your vegetables before anyone will let you have dessert. Nearly a third of the book itself is composed of details for exploring Baldur's Gate, and A), it's not especially interesting, and B), it feels like wasted effort when everybody's itching to go play in the Iron Maiden album cover that was promised to them. It would've been like if Tomb of Annihilation made you do temp work in Newcastle for a few sessions before begrudgingly allowing for all the jungle adventures.

I suppose it eases players in, as context is definitely required and throwing it all out at once could get overwhelming. Descent into Avernus is pretty lore-heavy, and by the midpoint players will need to have a working knowledge of Zariel, the mechanics of the afterlife, the nature of Avernus, the history of the Blood War, the importance of Elturel, the difference between Demons and Devils, and any number of secondary characters and their individual motivations. It's a lot, to say the least.

But it's worth it though. I love Avernus as a setting, which manages to blend the machiavellian skullduggery and the high-octane action fantastically, especially when most of the supporting cast looks like they just came out of the pages of a Spawn comic. The lawful evil Devils are all smarm, charm, and superior arrogance, while the chaotic evil Demons are frothing maniacs (a fun contrast), and even outside those two factions there's no shortage of strange personalities for everyone to play off. The module doesn't even have a fixed ending, because half the joy is building up a ton of allegiances and favours along your journey, filling out your rolodex of the damned, then deciding who you want to align with when you reach the explosive finale. When I ran the module, the final act became a full-on military crusade, with the players having made so many allies along the way that they were able to lead a small army into the Blood War and buy time for a powerful demigod to free the city.

Those are the moments that Avernus does really well: the moments that make players feel like superheroes. Driving motorbikes through firestorms while being chased by corrupted knights, breaking into floating warships, time travelling to historic battles against Demon Lords, finding a heavenly sword and literally transforming into an angel - these aren't just high points, they damn well soar. In fact, they're so good it might be why the module almost seems to stop trying to pace them out after a while and just discards the idea of "downtime" altogether, the players careening from one set piece to another with little chance to slow down. Some may be a little thrown by a module that seems so relentless and full-throttle, others may delight in its constant acceleration. Either way, it makes for interesting whiplash - Baldur's Gate might be a slow start, but by the final chapter we've reached the other end of the scale altogether. 

Should you buy Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus?

I'd say my conclusion is a firm "recommend", though that's not without a couple of qualifiers. As mentioned, Baldur's Gate as presented here is a bit of a snooze, the book giving it far more detail than a setting this generic really calls for, so unless you're willing to imbue a lot more into it, you'll want to handle it briskly and hurry events along as much as possible until you can finally reach what matters: the big showdowns in Avernus itself, because it's there that things become electric.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus

I ran the entirety of this campaign for a group of players (thanks, Longtooth Crew) over the course of two years, as well as making sure to reread the book in anticipation of this review, as well as discussing with fellow DMs to compare experiences.

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