Baldur's Gate III [Early Access] (2020) (PC) (Larian Studios)
0Bringing Baldur's Gate back after 20 years raises a lot of questions about how such a project ought to be undertaken. Beyond its flexible game engine and pseudo-realtime combat, it's rather difficult to define what the essence of this iconic RPG actually is. Given that the novelty of those aforementioned features has long since worn off, a couple of well-liked characters and a really dated version of the D&D ruleset is not enough of a foundation for new installments in the series.
So much of the first game's status as a classic in the genre stems from the fact that it was released at a very particular time (1998), when the PC RPG genre was slouching towards irrelevance and in desperate need of a fresh approach from new developers such as Bioware. That said, BG1 didn't represent as radical a break with the past as has sometimes been suggested. For example, its many labyrinth-like dungeons are almost incomprehensible without reference to older design paradigm. These dimensions are harder to fully appreciate in our current RPG ecosystem, which is defined to a considerable extent by Bioware's own later games, such as Dragon Age or Mass Effect.
So what is Baldur's Gate today? Well, judging by the first few hours of the Early Access version of BG3, Larian Studios might not be overly concerned with such philosophical conundrums. I'm sure there will be callbacks to the earlier games (including returning characters), but in terms of the overall structure this is much more similar - though by no means identical - to the developer's previous work on Divinity: Original Sin 1-2. And given just how successful the D:OS games have been, the most direct way in which Larian pays tribute to the Infinity engine classics might simply be to make the best goddamn party-based PC RPG possible in 2020 (or whenever the full game comes out, that is). Or, to put it more brazenly, Larian had to produce the next installment in a Bioware series because, for all intents and purposes, Larian is the new Bioware.
Be that as it may, Baldur's Gate III certainly gives a nice first impression. As far as production values go, this is a step up from D:OS2 in terms of dialogue, character animations and to some extent also the game's environments. I'm not well-versed enough in the intricacies of D&D to say much about the ruleset implementation yet, but the new turn-based combat system seems robust enough and there are plenty of skill checks scattered throughout the gameplay scenarios. It remains to be seen if BG3 is closer in spirit to the low-level adventures of BG1 or to the somber campaign of BG2, but either way this is going to be an interesting journey indeed...