An exciting panel on the much-anticipated Baldur’s Gate 3 game streamed live today. There was new gameplay featured, more details announced, a breakdown of the creative process, and a release date for Early Access was given.
This Dungeons & Dragons video game is from Larian Studios. Its RPG follows behind the older games Baldur’s Gate I and II, although it is not a direct chronological story from the second game. This panel featured the full CGI introduction to the game, following a Mind Flayer ship as it traveled between the planes to escape the Gith coming for one of their own kind taken captive. The Mind Flayer featured in the intro is seen inserting tadpoles into characters’ eyes, which will eventually turn them into more Mind Flayers. The final shot, newly revealed for this panel, shows the ship in Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells, during the Blood War.
It is revealed that a major component early on in the game is finding a way to escape Avernus during this devil-demon clash. A major plot point within the game is, of course, how to get the tadpole out of your brain before you lose yourself entirely. You are able to create your own character and travel with a party of engaging NPC’s and you can also play with another player in a possible split-screen mode. This is very different than the previous Baldur’s Gate games that only had single player.
One new scene featured was a “lobotomy scene” not ideal for the squeamish. Creative Director of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, elaborated that this scene and its options hadn’t even fully existed two weeks prior. But upon their playthroughs, they discovered an interesting opportunity. Players come upon a corpse with an exposed brain that is actually an Intellect Devourer. If handled correctly, players can use this Intellect Devourer to learn new things.
There is a huge amount of content that will come to Early Access, more so than released on Divinity: Original Sin 2. Races and classes for Early Access will be announced closer to time, and more content will slowly be released on Early Access throughout their refinement process.
Baldur’s Gate 3 will arrive on Stadia and for PC on September 30th, 2020.
