Some games are worth the wait. They have lengthy developments, uncertain sequels, seemingly endless betas, or studios that vanish, making their return appear impossible unless a miracle happens. Sometimes, all these things happen at once. Or at least, it has happened once. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game that shouldn’t exist. It’s a miracle, an exception, and a fantasy. A video game we’ve been waiting for twenty-three years, and its own story is as fascinating as the game itself.
Baldur’s Gate was released in December 1998 for PC, developed by Black Isle Studios. Its aim was to create the most refined version yet of playing a role-playing game based on the second edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The game makes the world feel vast and alive, with our actions having consequences, and no two classes or characters feeling the same beyond the superficial. And they succeeded. Baldur’s Gate is enormous, immersive, and overwhelming to the point of being improbable. An absolutely mammoth game that even today, remains terrifying to many who view it with a mix of reverence and trepidation.
This extended to the even more popular Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, released in September of 2000. An even larger, more complex, and somehow even more fascinating game. Fully 3D, perfectly balancing the importance of combat with the density of its narrative and the vastness of its world, the game was a critical and commercial success, making it one of the great Western role-playing games.
That’s why Baldur’s Gate, in many cases, is synonymous with Dungeons & Dragons. A franchise responsible for introducing many people to role-playing, especially the game from Wizards of the Coast. Hence, it holds significant importance for role-players; it’s not just a video game. Not even just an excellent role-playing video game where exploring all the content takes between 200 and 300 hours. It’s a milestone that left a mark on an entire generation and, to a great extent, acted as a lifeline for Dungeons & Dragons at a time when it was struggling to reach a new audience – a feat it achieved with Baldur’s Gate.
The problem was that due to Interplay’s financial troubles, the parent company of Black Isle Studios, they closed their doors in 2003. While many of its key figures would later form Obsidian Entertainment, the philosophy of the two companies always felt distinctly different. Neverwinter Nights is an excellent game, Pillars of Eternity is an interesting game that looks to the past, and Tyranny has intriguing ideas that aren’t always well-developed, but none of them fulfilled what the fans wanted. None of them were Baldur’s Gate 3.
Wizards of the Coast was not comfortable entrusting the Baldur’s Gate franchise to anyone until around September 2017. That was when Larian released Divinity: Original Sin II, an excellent game heavily inspired by Baldur’s Gate II. In the past, Larian had shown interest in reviving the Baldur’s Gate brand, but Wizards of the Coast deemed them too inexperienced. However, after witnessing what they achieved with Divinity: Original Sin II, a game that mechanically could be considered a spiritual successor to the essence of the legendary Baldur’s Gate franchise, they decided it was time to collaborate.
That has led to the story we all know. Its presentation at E3 2019. Its early access release on September 30, 2020, which had to be delayed until October 20. Its upcoming launch on August 3 on PC and September 6 on PlayStation 5, with a yet-to-be-announced date for Xbox Series X and Series S.
Therefore, even though we had to wait 23 years since we played that legendary Baldur’s Gate 2, the wait is about to come to an end. Baldur’s Gate 3 promises to be an exceptional game, a true masterpiece, and we are now almost within reach of it. Wizards of the Coast took time to decide, Black Isle never managed to make a trilogy, and Larian had to create two huge games to earn the opportunity. But if that’s the price for what sounds like an epic feat from the Forgotten Realms, perhaps it was all worth it after all.
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