This wouldn’t be a Dungeons & Dragons event without Larian Studios’ update to Baldur’s Gate 3, with last night’s D&D Direct finally confirming that the game will burst out of the skull in its early access form in 2023.
Larian’s CEO, Swen Vincke, wasn’t wearing armor as usual for the announcement, unless you count his legs sticking out from behind the desk. Get well soon, Sven. Larian designed the release date announcement as a review of Baldur’s Gate 3’s “journey so far” while it’s in Early Access. It’s a little silly, but neatly sums up how the game has grown over the past two years.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was almost lost in the delightful D&D Direct announcements — hey, Spelljammer, Dragonlance, and D&D movies — but Larian has been a pretty cool cucumber during its open early access period, so it’s no surprise.
Larian has always insisted that Baldur’s Gate 3 will launch when they think it’s ready. The game’s seventh patch added barbarians in February, and Jeremy Peele took them for a spin to vent his raw fury. “That savage, I confided hundreds of words to him? In hundreds of hours of gameplay, they may never join your party,” he said. “Larian’s goal is a game that is infinitely malleable, a radiant pool of choices you can’t possibly see at the bottom.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 will launch on Steam and GOG sometime in 12 months of 2023, but not on the Epic Game Store.
Disclosure: Adam Smith, a former member of this site, has been working on Baldur’s Gate 3 for Larian Studios.
