We’re going down, down, down by the river, and back to the city of Baldur’s Gate… albeit on TV, rather than in a game.
Deadline reports that HBO is working with Hasbro to develop a Baldur’s Gate TV series, which will be set immediately after the events of Larian’s third entry in the beloved RPG series. Craig Mazin, who has been the at-times-controversial figure behind HBO’s other big-ticket video game adaptation, The Last of Us, will create, write, executive produce, and showrun the new series.
Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor, and Hasbro Entertainment’s Gabriel Marano will join Mazin as executive producers, while Chris Perkins—the former senior story designer for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast, who jumped ship from the company to join actual-play company and rival TTRPG designer Critical Role last year—will serve as a consultant on the series.
Baldur’s Gate 3 saw an unlikely crew of characters brought together by the threat of the Cult of the Absolute—itself a front for the machinations of the sinister ilithid Mindflayers and a plot to invade the Forgotten Realms—and save the city of Baldur’s Gate from certain doom, generations after the events of the first two games in the trilogy. It was released in 2023 to critical acclaim and mass success, and developer Larian repeatedly confirmed that they would not be responsible for developing a fourth game in the series in the wake of its reception, leaving Hasbro with the reins on this particular vision of Dungeons & Dragons after bidding farewell to the game with an open-ended epilogue that teased the potential for further adventures for the party, six months after the events of the main game.
Since then, Hasbro has struggled to capitalize on the popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3, largely sticking to merchandise (some better than others) and some awkward integrations of key characters from the game into projects like the scrapped Virtual Tabletop system Project Sigil. But a TV show continuation also faces a series of challenges for Hasbro and HBO alike to overcome: the strongly baked-in popularity of the performers who brought Baldur’s Gate 3‘s characters to life with fans, how the show approaches providing a “canonical” conclusion to the player-driven choices of the game, and even the very nature of its central customizable protagonist, Tav.
Where other video game adaptations have decided on trying to hew as closely as possible to the source material, going their own way, or attempting to avoid that issue entirely, a Baldur’s Gate TV show will have a lot of hurdles to contend with to get its audience on board, well before it gathers its party and ventures forth.
EXCLUSIVE: Craig Mazin, co-creator of arguably the most acclaimed TV adaptation of a video game to date, HBO‘s The Last Of Us, will be taking on another hugely popular and acclaimed game title next, Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3, which is set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.
HBO is developing Baldur’s Gate, a drama series based on Hasbro Entertainment’s video game franchise, with Mazin attached to create, write, executive produce and showrun the TV adaptation. Also exec producing are Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor and Hasbro Entertainment’s Gabriel Marano. Chris Perkins, the longtime Head of Story at Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast, which is behind the D&D game franchise, will serve as consultant.
Unlike HBO’s The Last Of Us, which retold the story from the PlayStation games, the Baldur’s Gate TV series will be a continuation to the games, telling a story that takes place immediately after the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, as the characters — old and new — are dealing with the ramifications of the events in the third game.
Like with The Last Of Us, Mazin’s passion for Baldur’s Gate 3 and its characters led to his decision to adapt it as a TV series. He has proudly completed the Swen Vincke-developed game on the challenging honor mode, and he is also a longtime D&D fan, a Dungeon Master who has been playing the game weekly for the past 15 years, including tonight.
“After putting nearly 1000 hours into the incredible world of Baldur’s Gate 3, it is a dream come true to be able to continue the story that Larian and Wizards of The Coast created,” Mazin said. “I am a devoted fan of D&D and the brilliant way that Swen Vincke and his gifted team adapted it. I can’t wait to help bring Baldur’s Gate and all of its incredible characters to life with as much respect and love as we can, and I’m deeply grateful to Gabe Marano and his team at Hasbro for entrusting me with this incredibly important property.”
With no ties to another Baldur’s Gate game in development, Mazin has freedom over the direction of the story, making it more of a traditional show vs. The Last of Us whose plot and lifespan were determined by the existing games. As Deadline has reported, the post-apocalyptic drama is expected to end with its upcoming third season. Baldur’s Gate slated to be Mazin’s followup series for HBO where he also created and executive produced the Emmy-winning Chernobyl.
Baldur’s Gate is designed to be ongoing and continue with different kinds of stories within the sprawling world of the game. The series draws deeply from the source material of Baldur’s Gate 3 — how it begins how the game ends — and not so much from the first two games which are not official source material. Still, there are some commonalities across those games that are connected to Dungeons & Dragons lore, which Mazin plans to draw upon under the agreement with Wizards of the Coast.
The TV series will feature both existing characters from Baldur’s Gate 3 and new ones. It is expected to keep the D&D tradition of taking new characters who are not that powerful and follow their journey through adventures that make them powerful. The new protagonists are bound to run into beloved characters from Baldur’s Gate 3 — some of them heroes, some of them villains, some of them literally devils — who occupy the same world. Now incredibly powerful, they will meddle, helping or hindering the new heroes.
Mazin, who is just now starting his own journey with the material as his deal just closed, plans to reach out to voice cast members of Baldur’s Gate 3 with ideas for them to participate in the TV adaptation, if possible. He and The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann did it on their HBO series with several actors from that game, most notably Merle Dandridge who reprised her role as Marlene. Mazin, who has an overall deal with HBO, is now in final prep on Season 3 of The Last of Us.
“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Craig Mazin on Baldur’s Gate,” Francesca Orsi, EVP, Head of HBO Drama Programming said. “His deep and long-standing passion for the source material paired with his remarkable talent for building immersive worlds filled with rich, compelling characters promises groundbreaking results.”
HBO’s Baldur’s Gate is designed to co-exist alongside The Forgotten Realms live-action Dungeons & Dragons series Hasbro Entertainment has set up at Netflix with Shawn Levy producing. The two share D&D’s The Forgotten Realms campaign setting, which is vast and could accommodate multiple TV series.
“The fans have been eagerly awaiting an adaptation of Baldur’s Gate, and we could not ask for better partners than HBO and the incomparable Craig Mazin to build this world with,” Gabriel Marano, Head of Television, Hasbro Entertainment said.
Hasbro Entertainment also has a Power Rangers live-action series in the works at Disney+ and a couple of other high-profile series in the marketplace.
Part of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, the Baldur’s Gate character-driven role-playing video game series originated in 1998 and became known for its mature setting of crime, political intrigue, and edgy adventure. The most recent game, Baldur’s Gate 3, launched to massive critical and commercial success with over 15 million lifetime players, over 34 industry award wins, and made history as the first game to win all five major Game of The Year awards.
Mazin is repped by CAA; Hasbro Entertainment is repped by WME.
Those who’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3 love the characters, and if there’s one common observation made about them, it’s that Wyll Ravengard feels underdeveloped. Compared to others like Astarion and Karlach, his personal story has come across as lacking after his debut in the Early Access build, and that sentiment further grew when Larian made several post-launch updates to the game’s ending and epilogue, where he seemed to get the short end of the stick.
On Friday, several Larian developers conducted a Reddit AMA, where senior writer Kevin VanOrd acknowledged Wyll having “sparser” content than he’d have preferred, saying he was “split into two stories” between his infernal patron Mizora and the Ravengards. The team wasn’t really feeling his quest and recruiting in the initial Early Access version and opted to start over. Unfortunately, a lot of where Wyll ends up in the final version of Baldur’s Gate 3 came to “less than ideal” circumstances owing to coming late in development.
When Larian restarted him, the personal stories for most of the core cast were “fairly solid,” and much of where he ends up in the final version of Baldur’s Gate 3 came late in development. One example VanOrd cited was a “key situation” at Baldur’s Gate meant to feature Wyll prominently in the Red War College, which then got cut. That eventually led to him being the son of Duke Ravengard, which the writer then developed shortly before getting sick, and then again after the epilogue came out.
As for the Wyrmway, a sub-quest for Wyll gained after saving Ulder Ravengard (or if Wyll breaks his pact with Mizora), VanOrd said the team had resources for a standalone dungeon and opted to tie it to him. The writer said he “couldn’t get more than a dungeon boss” out of the location and that he had to start writing once the encounters were in place.
VanOrd went on to call it a “mistake in hindsight” to divide Wyll’s arc like that, but he’s still immensely proud of what was done with the character—in particular his “sincerity, good nature, and eager heroism.” And he wishes the Blade of the Frontiers could’ve had a more satisfying ending, something the character’s fans have already done on their own time.
Nintendo Switch 2 owners can forget about seeing Baldur’s Gate 3 in the Nintendo Store, at least as of now. In a Reddit AMA, Larian Studio’s CEO, Swen Vicke, said that the team would have loved to bring the title to Switch 2, but “it wasn’t our decision to make.”
As cryptic as that may sound, Vicke’s response hints that either Wizards of the Coast, which owns the Dungeons and Dragons IP that Baldur’s Gate 3 is set in, or Nintendo is behind the lack of a port. When it comes to Wizards of the Coast, rumors have circulated that the game studio and Wizards of the Coast may have a strained relationship. On the other hand, Larian Studios’ technical director, Bert van Semmertier, revealed in a response to another AMA question that the studio just released Divinity: Original Sin 2 on the Switch 2, adding that “we love the platform and we will certainly consider Switch 2 for the next Divinity game.”
There’s still a chance that Wizards of the Coast decides to hire another studio to pursue a port in the future, but there’s been no indication yet. As for why Larian Studios won’t be behind a potential Switch 2 port, the developer said in a statement last year that it would no longer develop any major content updates or expansions for Baldur’s Gate 3, nor work on a sequel.
We’re excited to share that a half-dozen Xbox first-party titles (plus one movie) have been nominated for awards across multiple categories – voting is now open on The Game Awards official site.
You can play many of the nominees announced today with Xbox Game Pass, including top nominee Clair Obscur: Expedition 33,Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, DOOM: The Dark Ages,South of Midnight, and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Tune into The Game Awards on December 11 to see if your favorite games from 2025 take home an award.
The Game Awards has officially revealed the full list of nominees for the year, and we’re thrilled to see such a wide range of unique titles being recognized for their contributions to gaming. Even better, many of these nominees can be played today across Xbox consoles, Xbox on PC, ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, Cloud, and with Xbox Game Pass!
This year our first-party studios received nominations for Avowed, DOOM: The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Ninja Gaiden 4, South of Midnight, and The Outer Worlds 2. Troy Baker’s pitch-perfect performance as Indiana Jones was recognized with a Best Performance nomination, and ‘A Minecraft Movie’, one of the biggest hits at the box office in 2025, was nominated for Best Adaptation.
We’re also equally excited to see that many of our third-party partners have been nominated across a wide range of categories – many of which can be played with Game Pass. Ball x Pit, Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Rematch are all up for awards this year, and playable across devices as Xbox Play Anywhere titles. Additionally, Game Pass subscribers receive incredible benefits for nominees League of Legends, Valorant, and – starting tomorrow – Fortnite.
Congratulations to all this year’s amazing nominees – and don’t forget, these nominations join titles on Xbox nominated across the Golden Joysticks, and even the Grammys!
Remember, you can vote for your favorites right now over at TheGameAwards.com. See below for the full list of nominees that you can play today.
Whelp, it’s official: Baldur’s Gate 3 is the game of the year, and you’ve likely got a super fan in your life who would appreciate some merch tied to the game this holiday season.
Luckily for you, we’ve got a plethora of suggestions that can make for great stocking stuffers and big gifts alike.
Silly & Serious Character Stickers
Price Range: $5.00 — $15.00
Image Credit: GeekALotl and Larian Studios via Etsy
Need to nab a cute little gift as fast as possible? The wide array of Baldur’s Gate 3 character stickers available on Etsy should do the trick nicely.
Ranging from simple portraits of the characters to silly and cute caricatures of everyone from Lae’zel to Scratch, these simple signs of fandom will put a smile on even the grumpiest super-fan’s face. We’re especially big fans of GeekALotl’s Best Bois sticker, which pays homage to the best heckin’ pets of 2023.
Party Member Plushies
Price Range: $9.99 — $27.99
Image Credit: XingyueShop and Larian Studios via Amazon
Simple yet effective, the plushies of the core party members from Baldur’s Gate 3 are a quick and easy way to show your loved ones you care.
Available in both simple designs and in more obscure outfits, these stuffed stocking stuffers will fill that space on someone’s bed or shelf perfectly. Not only that, but they’re readily stocked through Amazon and Cossky, meaning they’re a great option if you’re racing to find a last-minute gift. Hop on these while there’s still time, and you’ll score massive brownie points from your favorite fan of Faerun.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Clothes & Apparel
Price Range: $24.99 — $49.99
Image Credit: IGN and Larian Studios
Is your special someone lacking in clothes that show off their love for a specific party member? Does your friend need a shirt or hoody that lets everyone know they’re an Astarion fan for life?
Look no further than the slew of apparel available for the game, which runs the gamut from official apparel via the IGN store to fan-made designs available through retailers like TeePublic. Whether you need a jacket that shows love to God’s Favorite Princess Shadowheart or a more subtle T emblazoned with the game’s logo, there’s sure to be something that’ll strike your giftee’s fancy.
Shadowheart’s Artifact Replica
Price Range: $61.74 — $88.21
Image Credit: BevarianRoots and Larian Studios via Etsy
The Artifact which protects the party from the influence of the Netherbrain is one of the most notable pieces of iconography from the game, and you can grab an impressive replica of it for a modest price.
Boasting the ability to light up as well as a magnetic top to more discreetly hide the batteries, this hand-made bit of merch created by BevarianRoots on Etsy will show your intended recipient you both care about them and understand at least a little bit of what makes the series great. Plus, as an added bonus, it’ll lend some ambience to any space where it’s displayed, ensuring it’ll remain one of their favorite Knick Knacks for years to come.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Physical Deluxe Edition
Price: $79.99
Image Credit: Larian Studios
Before reading further, it’s worth noting that this gift is explicitly for those who wouldn’t mind receiving the promise of a better gift at a later date. The Deluxe Physical Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 offered via the official Larian Merch Store isn’t set to release until early 2024, and won’t arrive in time for Christmas as a result.
If this isn’t a problem, then there’s little doubt this is the best possible gift for the Baldur’s Gate 3 fan in your life. Not only does it allow them to hold onto a physical copy of the game into the foreseeable future, but it comes with plenty of other goodies ranging from in-game bonuses to posters and a physical soundtrack.
About the author
Keenan McCall
Keenan has been a nerd from an early age, watching anime and playing games for as long as I can remember. Since obtaining a bachelor’s degree in journalism back in 2017, he has written thousands of articles covering gaming, animation, and entertainment topics galore.
Without a doubt, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been the talk of the town at least as far as the video game industry is concerned this year. Developed by Larian Studios, best known for making Divinity: Original Sin, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a DND-style RPG and it’s been lauded by critics across the board for its fantastic story and characterization.
The RPG swept up a whole ton of awards at The Game Awards 2023, and as you might’ve already guessed, it won the award of the night as well, the much coveted Game of the Year award. As usual, the announcement was preceded by a fantastic medley by the TGA orchestra, and the award was presented by actor Timothee Chalamet, who appeared in Dune, and is set to star in the upcoming Willy Wonka movie as well.
Since its release, Baldur’s Gate 3 has received a number of patches and updates to improve the game even further. Patch 5 was its most exciting one yet, introducing the new Honour Mode difficulty, throwing in a shoutout to Bing Bong, and also allowed players to finally obtain Orin’s cool outfit.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on PC and consoles.
About the author
Zhiqing Wan
Zhiqing is the Reviews Editor for Twinfinite, and a History graduate from Singapore. She’s been in the games media industry for nine years, trawling through showfloors, conferences, and spending a ridiculous amount of time making in-depth spreadsheets for min-max-y RPGs. When she’s not singing the praises of Amazon’s Kindle as the greatest technological invention of the past two decades, you can probably find her in a FromSoft rabbit hole.
No matter what social network you’re on, you can’t get far on the internet these past few months without running into some kind of fan fervor over Astarion, the sharp-tongued (and sharp-toothed!) vampire from Baldur’s Gate 3, voiced by Neil Newbon, who deserves a Game Awards win this year.
This article contains spoilers for Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Flirty, witty, and always down to raise a little hell, Astarion’s flirtatious front has turned him into a veritable poster boy of internet thirst—thanks in no small part to a deliciously charismatic voice acting performance from Newbon. But while Astarion’s sex appeal and sense of humor were what initially made him so popular with fans, to write him off as simply a droll pretty boy would be to grossly underestimate both Newbon’s performance and the strength of writer Stephen Rooney’s story.
Though that’s certainly how the character initially presents himself, the game eventually reveals unexpected layers of tragedy and pain, giving way to a beautifully cathartic arc about escaping abuse and overcoming trauma. Certainly, the charisma and gusto with which Newbon imbues Astarion is awards-worthy in its own right, but it’s the moments of of vulnerability, pain, and honesty that are truly what a Performer of the Year win would be recognizing.
When players first meet Astarion Ancunin, he’s literally playing dumb—feigning incompetence and begging for the player’s help in defeating an unseen monster, only to put his knife to our throats at the first chance. Though he may put on the front of an aristocratic dandy, the real Astarion is cunning, shrewd, and (quite literally) cutthroat—the damsel-in-distress fakeout could not be a more perfect introduction that encapsulates Astarion’s strategy for manipulating others and navigating the world.
It takes a few long rests, but it’s quickly revealed in Act One that the reason for (at least some of) Astarion’s initial caginess is that he’s a vampire and is wary of being ousted by the others at camp—hence the act. But between the red eyes, the pale skin, and the visible puncture wounds on his throat, it’s not exactly a difficult reveal to piece together, and his status as a vampire spawn just barely scratches the surface of the character’s trauma.
Astarion isn’t just a vampire spawn—for several hundred years, he’s been the tortured plaything of Cazador, a cruel vampire lord living in Baldur’s Gate 3. In addition to forcing Astarion to eat only rats and regularly having him (and his other vampire “siblings”) tortured, Cazador also forced the spawn to use themselves as literal honeypots, seducing unsuspecting victims and bringing them to Cazador’s door through seduction and manipulation.
It’s a powerful story on its own, but the situation is further complicated for players by the fact that before these revelations, Astarion has been consistently attempting to seduce the player so he can use them as his own personal “blood bag” over the course of their journey. Suddenly, Newbon’s choice to play Astarion as hyper-seductive and ultra-alluring takes on a more tragic angle: It’s not just harmless (slightly excessive) flirtation born of genuine attraction; it’s a defense mechanism Astarion has been forced to use to survive for years.
The heartbreaking reveal isn’t just a powerful character moment and an opportunity for Newbon to flex his dramatic muscles as Astarion recounts his past, but also a way for the game to challenge the player’s preexisting expectations about seductive characters in gaming and unravel the hypersexualized fantasy version of the character that’s (ironically) become so popular online. Should the player choose, you can opt to end your sexual relationship with Astarion once his past is revealed, and offer to move forward simply as friends—Astarion responds with cautious optimism that he’s never had a real friend before.
Though his stinging insults and snarky comebacks make even the most mundane of encounters entertaining, the rawness in Astarion’s voice in moments where he’s forced to shed his carefully-crafted persona and let himself put faith in others is where Newbon shines most. Players witness in real time as he begins to reckon with his trauma and bring his walls down—eventually culminating in Astarion breaking down in screams and sobs after he finally puts an end to Cazador, freeing himself once and for all.
It’s a dizzyingly tall order for any voice actor to be equally as comfortable (and effective) in moments of extreme vulnerability, trauma, and grief as they are delivering cheeky quips and saucy one-liners, but through it all, Newbon is there to wring every last drop of emotion from Rooney’s dialogue. It’s no wonder, then, why have gamers have taken so ardently to the character: Yes, he’s certainly attractive, but it’s his unexpected depth and familiar uncertainty that make him so deeply endearing. Underneath the barbs and veneer is someone utterly broken but learning to heal.
Perhaps more than anything else, though, it’s his genuine love for and understanding of Astarion that makes Newbon’s performance so effective and impactful. As he explained in his Golden Joystick acceptance speech, Newbon relates to the character beyond just bringing him to life as an actor.
“He is a survivor. He has gone through trauma. And I’ve had so many people from the community reach out to me personally to talk about the stories that our characters have also shared, they identify with many stories and characters in the game, and the game’s story itself has really reached them,” Newbon said.
“And people have come up to me and said that they felt inspired to deal with their own trauma. As a survivor myself, I understand when they talk to me about it what they mean.” Through Astarion, Newbon, Rooney, and the rest of the team haven’t just created an iconic video game character: They’ve crafted a poignant, honest, often heartbreaking but ultimately cathartic and hopeful exploration of what it looks like to confront your past head-on and come out stronger for it.
Larian Studios knows just how much their fanbase loves to see stats, and they showed off on Twitter/X for everyone to see. Of those stats were things like completed playthroughs, dinosaurs encountered and how many people have been turned into a wheel of cheese, but Larian also revealed the number of people who’ve tried Honour mode and beaten it.
While Larian’s main tweet didn’t dive into the weekend stats, they followed up in the replies with a breakdown of how the weekend went for those brave adventurers who dove right into Patch 5 and wanted to try the new difficulty out for themselves. As it turns out, it has not gone exceptionally well for Baldur’s Gate 3 players, and that’s exactly as intended.
⚔️ Since our launch in August, over 1.3 million players have completed Baldur’s Gate 3. 🧀 A number almost equaled by those of you transformed into a wheel of cheese. 📈 All this, and more in our latest thread of amazing stats! pic.twitter.com/tN5i4CDXHx
According to the post, around 158,000 parties have embarked to try and beat the game on Honour Mode. Unsurprisingly, there have been over 34,000 player deaths, and only 464 parties completed the campaign as of the time of the post. That comes down to a little less than .3 percent of runs turning out to be successful.
In many cases, if the percentage of players being able to successfully complete your game is that low, it would be cause for concern if you were a game developer. In this case, it’s a point that Larian takes great pride in, because it is still possible to beat if you’re determined enough. Honour mode is meant to be the most difficult way to play the game.
The fact that the number of players who’ve beaten the mode is so low means that Larian has done their job and done it well in making the hardest difficulty. If most players were able to beat the game on Honour mode, then they would have failed in their goal in making it so hard to complete, but clearly that isn’t the case this time around.
Not only is it beautiful, but this stat shows just how respectable it is to come out of a playthough with a Golden D20 in hand. It serves as the reward for completing the game on Honour mode, and so far if not even .3 percent of players have one, it’s a pretty prestigious trophy to hold.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on PC, PS5 and Xbox.
About the author
Nick Rivera
Nick Rivera graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2021 studying Digital Media and started as a Freelance Writer with Twinfinite in early 2023. Nick plays anything from Halo to Stardew Valley to Peggle, but is a sucker for a magnetic story.
Video games make the world a better place. We’ve got honkin’ deals on Xbox Series X, a new genocide-free romance option in Baldur’s Gate 3, and wicked-strong Marvel Snap decks for your perusing pleasure.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Karlach Actor On Playing The Beloved Barbarian
Here are the tips and deals we found most helpful this week.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the Ubisoft stealth adventure series’ 2015 entry featuring dual protagonists that’s set in 19th century London, is currently free on PC until December 6. There’s just one twist: You’ll need to get it from Ubisoft Connect launcher (insert horror emoji). Don’t hate the messenger. Read More
Minthara is one of Baldur’s Gate 3’s most interesting companions, but only a select few people tend to see much of the Drow Paladin in their playthrough because recruiting her typically requires you to help her slaughter Tiefling refugees. Despite this, fans have found creative workarounds to recruit her without having to engage in genocide, but in Baldur’s Gate 3’s fifth patch, Larian has implemented a streamlined way to add her to your team. Read More
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch #5 is bringing more reasons than ever to go back to Larian Studios’ excellent RPG with new modes and, more importantly, a new epilogue that takes place six months after the main game. Read More
Image: Arika / Bandai Namco Online / Digerati / EA / Gameloft / Secret Location / Ratloop Games / Square Enix / Hi-Rez / Good Luck Games LLC / Gun Media / Polyphony Digital / Warlogics / Sharkmob / Yager Development / Kotaku
We’re still making it through 2023 and a surprising number of games have already been killed off, as devs have announced their impending deaths. Normally, we’d reserve this list for the end-of-the-year round-up, but we’re ringing the death knell early because, with 15 games already lined up for public execution, we need to start paying our respects now. So, let’s get right into it. Read More
Gif: Square Enix / Vertigo Games / Warner Bros. / Ubisoft / Cygames / Nintendo
Well folks, the final 31 days of 2023 are upon us. While I expect you’ll likely have picked out your personal game of the year already, there’s still time for some more games to hit physical and virtual shelves, and maybe one of them will be a nice send-off to a wild year of killer games. Read More
It’s no secret that the Xbox Series X hasn’t been selling great, and this holiday season Microsoft’s “next-gen” console is getting some huge discounts. For a brief period today, Amazon was selling the Starfield machine for as little as $350. Read More
Oh, hi again! We’re in the final month of what is arguably one of the most impressive years in gamingin recent memory. So when you find yourself at the end of the week looking to get some gaming in, how can you possibly choose among the embarrassment of riches that’s been released this year alone? Read More
Baldur’s Gate 3already has one special edition, in the form of its Collector’s Edition. We even unboxed it here at Kotaku, and it’s got a lot of cool knickknacks that pay tribute to its tabletop roots. Of course that was expensive, solely for PC and PlayStation 5 players, and didn’t include a physical copy of the game itself. But Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to Xbox next month, so Larian Studios is taking the opportunity to release a new, Deluxe Edition for all three platforms. And given what comes in the box, I think it’s pretty darn affordable.
11 Minutes With Baldur’s Gate 3’s Character Creator
The studio announced the Deluxe Edition, which includes physical game media on PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X/S. Oddly enough, because video game boxes are magic beyond our feeble comprehension, each version contains a different number of discs. Xbox Series X/S includes three, PlayStation 5 has two, and if you have a disc drive on your PC in 2023, that version only has one. Unlike the console versions, the PC edition doesn’t require the disc to play, and comes with a digital key. The DVD is just there to give you a custom installer.
Image: Larian Studios
Beyond the game itself, the Deluxe Edition includes 32 stickers, two patches, a world map, a gorgeous poster of a mind flayer, and a three-disc soundtrack, all in a box made to look like a book. The wild part is all of this comes in a $79.99 package, which is only $10 more than the base game.
So if you want something to display on your shelf and a disc to put in your console, this is a pretty great way to buy one of 2023’s best games. Unfortunately, it won’t arrive until Q1 2024, so if you want some instant gratification you’re maybe better off just buying the game on PlayStation Store or Steam, or waiting until the Xbox version launches in December. Larian has confirmed it will announce the release date of the Xbox Series X/S version at The Game Awards on December 7.
Using a public copy of the Baldur’s Gate 3 script, one Reddit user discovered the worst decisions you could make when interacting with your companions, whose approval impacts the role-playing game’s story options. From the script, u/sudosussudio picked out 11 decisions that will set you back significantly in your friends’ eyes, including one choice that could piss off Tiefling Karlach forever.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Karlach Actor On Playing The Beloved Barbarian
Most of BG3’s mean girl options will drain you of around 20 approval points, which you accrue immediately after deciding on an action. These points determine which characters you can romance or engage with more deeply through sidequests, so a 20-point drop could damage your gameplay in the short-term. But, over time, you could recover from it with a handful of smaller, five-to-10 point decisions. According to sudosussudio’s r/BaldursGate3 post, shaming Astarion for biting a Drow girl’s neck (-15 points), giving Shadowheart up to Drow cleric Viconia (-20 points), and telling Gale he can’t see the book about the almost divinely powerful Crown of Karsus artifact (-20 points) make up some of these less consequential bad choices.
Here are other relatively low-tier, low-approval choices:
Preventing Astarion from turning you into his vampire spawn near the end of his romance quest (-15 points)
Leaving Karlach behind and beating demon politician Gortash, her nemesis (-20 points)
Deciding alongside the Emperor Mind Flayer that Jaheira’s old friend Minsc shouldn’t be protected (-20 points in Jaheira’s approval)
Those looking to romance or engage more deeply with the backstories of any character named above should exercise caution about these choices, but there’s no real reason to run scared if you slip up. However, some possibilities are more impossible to move on from. These include:
Meanly informing Karlach that you’ve “had [your] fun” and want to break up (-30 points)
Denying Gale a magic item twice, then saying “I’m not giving you anything. Not now, not ever” (-30 points)
While playing as Astarion, reiterating to Gale that you aren’t a vampire, although he knows you are (-30 points)
Offering Jaheira or Minsc (or both) to Sarevok as sacrifices (-50 points)
Then, the most terrible thing you can do to a BG3 companion doesn’t involve death, magic, or anything otherworldly. It requires only a layperson’s obnoxiousness: after deciding to have sex with Karlach, immediately tell her it was a mistake (-100 points). You shouldn’t try that with any real life companions, either.
Sorry, it turns out it wasn’t that there was just something irresistible about you. Instead it seems that Baldur’s Gate 3 shipped with a bug that meant all the companions were way hornier than intended.
The Week In Games: What’s Releasing Beyond Baldur’s Gate 3
I thought something felt odd. Having played enough BioWare games over the years to know that all my companions would inevitably find me impossibly alluring at some point, I kind of shrugged when they began throwing themselves at me almost from the off. I figured Baldur’s Gate 3 developers Larian just wanted to get it out of the way, have Gale and Karlach and try to get in my pants sooner rather than later, but it certainly seemed hasty.
It turns out, as discovered by TheGamer, that this wasn’t meant to be the case. A bug slipped through that meant the requirements for companions to be unable to resist your illithid charms were set way too low.
Speaking to the game’s director and Larian boss-guy, Swen Vincke, TheGamer learned that “approval thresholds” were set too low, meaning the buddies you gather into your gang were ready to have special cuddles far sooner than planned. “That’s why they were so horny in the beginning,” explained Vincke.
This has already been fixed for a bunch of the game’s companions, but some still have their libido set to 11, awaiting cold showers in forthcoming patches. Gale was the most affected, as you probably noticed if you played the game, the thirsty wizard ready to make magic happen from the moment he meets you. Vincke told the site that he “wasn’t supposed to be, like, instantly there.”
It’s interesting that Larian has stuck to this being a bug, not a feature, given that being ready to go isn’t exactly abnormal human/tiefling/drow behavior. “It was supposed to simulate how real relationships are,” Vincke told TheGamer, adding that behaving like this would be “problematic” in real life. Well…to some, certainly. But, you know.
It also seems less immediately untoward given Baldur’s Gate 3‘s laudable conversation options to make it clear to your NPC chums that sex isn’t something you’re interested in, even if you do want to roleplay being in love with them.
Even to my old fuddy-duddy British ways, it seems rather quaint, seeing sexual relationships as something only feasible after enough time and approval, as if an instant attraction is so unlikely or impossible. Of course, that’d be kind of weird if it were every companion, as was the case at launch. But this more conservative approach is already going to be in place for many companions for those starting the game today. Sorry, PS5 players.
Though you still can’t play it, Bethesda’s massive spacefarer role-playing game Starfield recently beat out one of 2023’s biggest games, D&D RPG Baldur’s Gate 3,as a Steam top seller, GamesRadar first noticed.
The Week In Games: What’s Releasing Beyond Baldur’s Gate 3
Starfield, out in Early Access on August 31 and globally on September 6, has successfully dragged its 1,000 explorable planets and eager players’ mounting expectations to the number-one spot on the U.S. Top Sellers chart. It’s also the number one seller for a huge number of additional countries, including Australia, Switzerland, Norway, and Germany.
Most other counties, though, are concerned with neither Bethesda’s big space game nor Larian Studios’ big Dungeons & Dragons game. China, Denmark, Spain, Poland, and many others are still downloading free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter Counter Strike: Global Offensive, which was initially released in 2012, more than anything else, making it the current worldwide top seller. CS:GO has been assuming different rankings on the Top Sellers chart for 577 weeks, or the full 11 years of its existence. How is there still anyone left who hasn’t picked it up already?
We’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out if Starfield has that kind of longevity, too. Director Todd Howard certainly hopes so, telling GQ in a recent interview, “[Starfield] takes [Bethesda’s oeuvre] all to a level that we weren’t sure even that we could do. This type of game is still unique. When it clicked, and we could play it, we realized we had missed it. No one still does this.”
“We don’t get many of these in our careers—we don’t get many shots,” he said.
Bugghghb … bububbbbb … blubbb … sorry, I just can’t believe we finally have a release date for this game. Baldur’s Gate 3 released its early access demo right when I had to evacuate my college due to COVID-19, and I’ve played that demo enough that I consider this game my “COVID game.” After so many letdowns in gaming lately, it just feels so good to finally have an end in sight.
If you haven’t heard the news, haven’t heard of the game at all, or you’re like me and just a fan hungry for any info you can get, here’s everything you need to know about Larian’s upcoming RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3.
Trailer and release window
Official release date window: August 2023.
Blublbublublbulblbu … oh, guys, you don’t know how good this feels. That intro music brought me all the way back to those early days when I had no idea what was going to happen to the world and I had to take my comforts wherever I could. I can already tell that this game is going to be an incredibly special thing, the sort of fantasy RPG we’ve been waiting for.
Yes, Elden Ring good, etc. etc., but I’m here to speak for the fans who miss that Dragon Age-type beat; the ones with memorable companions and potential romances who follow you through rich stories that take fascinating twists and turns.
Speaking of which—
Characters and romances
(Larian)
I have never, ever played an RPG with such nasty little assholes as companions, and I love it. Apparently the roster will expand as we go, and there are data-mined spoilers which I won’t disclose, but for now, these are the most important characters we’ve met (and been shown) thus far:
Established companions
Shadowheart: A half-elf cleric of Shar whose unabashed gothness would be funny if she wasn’t also incredibly pretty. Her romance is surprisingly sweet and vulnerable, but you get the sense that she’s holding back because of a darker secret we’ve yet to uncover.
Gale: A human wizard who I want to slap around—in more ways than one. He’s cocky and confident, with a secret that’s devastating both literally and figuratively. But you can’t help but want to root for him with his nerdy charm and thick, stupid hair.
Astarion: A high-elf vampire who’s become the internet’s blorbo. I don’t know how else to describe him. Astarion is a petty bitch who feels vindicated whenever you do bad things to other people because it validates the pain he’s had to endure in his life. And while that’s not really my romantic cup of tea, I still love the guy.
Lae’zel: A Githyanki warrior who has some very choice opinions about who to murder and when. She’s pragmatic and rough, but you can’t help but admire her for how hard she’s fought to get where she is. And also, her romance is spicy!
Wyll: A human warlock who fronts as a noble-born hero of the people, but is hiding a massive amount of baggage in the form of a succubus. He’s the most jovial and well-intentioned member of the group, and his romance is painfully tender, although he absolutely has his own agenda.
If it isn’t already clear: Yes, all pf the above are romance-able. Not all of the “scenes” are completed yet, but the implication is that there’s gonna be quite an eyeful for players upon full release—unless you’re romancing Shadowheart, like me. Goth girls gotta stay together.
Along with these companions, there are two additions the trailer has introduced, and who’ve already been featured in past Baldur’s Gate games:
Jaheira: A half-elf druid who’s endured great strife, yet always managed to persevere thanks to her tough nature.
Minsc & Boo: A human ranger and his space hamster companion. Minsc is the brawn, Boo is the brains.
Whether these two will be romanceable remains to be seen. The last character who will eventually join the player’s party is:
Karlach: A Tiefling barbarian who used the Mind Flayer ship as a ticket out of Avernus. Now, she is hunted—on top of dealing with the tadpole in her head. She’s also hot as hell, so I sincerely hope there is … you know, an option there.
Other notable characters
Halsin: Everyone’s favorite buff elven druid whom the community is really jonesing to romance. It’s certainly possible, since Halsin ends up following your party and camping with you. And look, if Bioware let us romance a turian, then there’s no reason we can’t climb this particular tree.
Owlbear: A baby owlbear you can rescue and, apparently, deploy in combat. We love and appreciate Owlbear.
Scratch: A dog you can rescue after his human tragically dies. A good boy, and someone you can talk to.
Raphael: A Cambion who offers to make you a deal to spare you the greater effort of finding a cure.
Withers: An undead servant of the dead who can resurrect any party member for a fee.
Volo: A jolly bard who will hang around your camp if you save him enough times.
Minthara: A Drow who’s the de facto leader of the goblin camp. If you side with her and wipe out the druids, you can initiate a romance with her—where it goes, no one knows, but it’s definitely the most graphic romance scene in the game thus far.
Auntie Ethel: A sweet old lady? Or a dangerous crone? Hm …
The Dream Lover: A customizable figure who appears in your dreams, meant to compel you toward giving up your free will and succumbing to whatever powers you’ve yet to harness. Players have had a lot of fun creating their own fake partners.
Of course, there’s quite a bit cast of characters, so I couldn’t fit all of them in here. But these ones seem to be the most important thus far, barring the antagonists, who are still vague enigmas at this point.
The same can also be said about races (or species, as of late—it remains to be seen whether or not the game will catch up to the ruleset), which many players are hoping will expand beyond simple humanoids. The trailer featured a brief shot of a half-orc, which has been a popular request, but the most recent addition was gnomes.
Character creation is both in-depth and fairly simple. It’s what I call the “Larian Style”: There are many faces to choose from, but you can’t alter them beyond cosmetics, such as tattoos and makeup. I don’t personally mind this, and I’ve already been quite vocal about my appreciation for the diverse array of faces to choose from. The hair is also incredibly well-done, which is unfortunately rare in RPGs.
Gameplay itself is what you’d expect from a turn-based, top-down RPG, but obviously quite polished for modern standards. It’s a lot of fun! A bit simpler than the company’s predecessor, Divinity Original Sin 2, but still fun and creative in its own ways. Your stats are determined by your predetermined histories, your selected talents, and, of course, your class, which can then be whittled further into a subclass upon leveling.
And depending on how carefully you level, the game can either be a breeze or a nightmare. The story takes you into zones that you’re either ready for or not. Luckily, even in this first act of the game, there’s quite a bit of exploration you can do to max yourself out and be as prepared as you can be. Then again, I bring Astarion everywhere I go, and that guy is a stealth-archery powerhouse, so I don’t have to do too much heavy-lifting.
Should you play Baldur’s Gate 3 while it’s in early access?
(Larian)
That depends entirely on how you play and anticipate games. I’ve had a blast thus far and always find new things to do, but at this point, I’ve been playing early access for nigh on two years—I need a break before I get sick of it. It definitely asks a steep price for an early access game, but Larian is one of the few gaming companies I can actually put a lot of faith in. They’ve proven themselves over and over to be considerate of what fans want and how they can improve their games’ experience, and I can say definitively that they’ve really put in a lot of work to elevate this game beyond what it initially was: A pretty, yet incredibly buggy mess.
So, if you have $60 to spare and are even the least bit curious, I say go for it. It’s a gorgeous game that keeps you coming back for more, and if their last few updates say anything, there’s still quite a bit more to be added before release.
