With Baldur’s Gate 3, a new title for PC has been released, which apparently hundreds of thousands have been looking forward to. The servers of Steam and Twitch crashed right at release. What makes it so good?
What kind of game is this?
- You play as a hero from the Sword Coast in Baldur’s Gate 3, a world in Dungeons & Dragons.
- After a parasite infects you, you must get rid of it – or ally with it.
- The tactical RPG focuses on character development, interactions, and combat. Romances are even possible.
The launch of Baldur’s Gate 3 went this well: On August 3, Baldur’s Gate 3 was released on Steam and GOG after being in early access for 3 years. The PS5 version will be released in September.
Right at the release evening, there were problems with the Steam servers, users reported slow downloads. Even Twitch seemed to be unstable at times. The fact that Baldur’s Gate 3 is responsible for this can be strongly inferred from the numbers:
- The game is the top seller worldwide on Steam, even before the long-time popular CS:GO (via Steam).
- Directly on the first evening, 471,897 players peaked and currently 359,456 (via steamcharts). Thus, the game on Steam is bigger than Dota 2, only CS:GO has more players.
- On Twitch, over 480,000 viewers tuned in at release (via sullygnome).
The ratings speak for themselves as well. With over 18,300 recent reviews on Steam, the game stands at 96% and is thus extremely positive. Including early access, it is at 91% and very positive (via Steam, status August 4, 2023).
Here you can see the launch trailer:
Baldur’s Gate 3 offers freedom and plenty of possibilities
Baldur’s Gate 3 is considered an exceptional game that hundreds of developers have worked on for years to perfect. Tactical role-playing games of this kind are usually more popular in a niche community.
The fact that Baldur’s Gate 3 is now so popular is partly due to the fact that a well-known franchise and a well-known studio are behind it: D&D is the largest role-playing game in the world, Larian Studios has already delivered one of the best RPGs on Steam with Divinity: Original Sin 2. Some of the game’s big features include:
- the choice of 7 “Origins”, characters with their own stories and behaviors, who can accompany you on your journeys
- the ability to build a custom character from 12 classes and 11 different races
- creative ways to solve problems – in theory, you could reach the end almost entirely without fights
- over 17,000 different endings
The sheer scope of Baldur’s Gate 3 had already excited fans before release and is now evidently attracting even more players after launch. The early access has been praised: this is how it should be done. Take the time and polish the game so that it ends up perfect.
We at MeinMMO are also convinced that Baldur’s Gate 3 will become one of the best games of the year, perhaps of all time, and will provide us with well over 100 hours of gameplay. Just a small side story led to a rapid, personal story:
