Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access: Updated Specs & More!

When is Early Access available?

Baldur’s Gate 3 is finally coming to Steam, Stadia and GOG early access. The game has been hit by several delays and the release date has moved from August to September and Larian Studios has finally settled on October 6th with access opening up in the UK at 6 PM. The delays have allowed the developers to improve stability, reduce major bugs and ensure international languages are up to scratch. Here’s what to expect from Baldur’s Gate 3, the next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, as it hits early access.

Is Baldur’s Gate 3 suitable for new gamers?

The last Baldur’s gate games came out in 2012 and 2013 and were a remake of the first 2 original games that were released in 1999 and 2000. You might be worried that Baldur’s Gate 3 won’t make sense if you’ve not played the earlier games however Larian Studios said this won’t be the case. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a new story with a new adventure and completely new characters. The story is going to be told from a fresh perspective so that new players can have their own adventure in the Forgotten Realms without the need to play the older games. However, there will be parts of the story for more experienced players who have played the previous games to enjoy.

How much content will be available during early access?

Larian Studios has announced that the Early Access version of Baldur’s Gate 3 includes Act 1 of the game. In total there are 3 acts with the other 2 still very much a work in progress. Act 1 is complete and even though it’s early access it should be fun to play with very little unfinished content. It’s expected that players will find bugs and issues even though Larian has worked to remove the most annoying problems and optimise the game. Larian said there will be changes to content and improvements along the way and early access gives players a chance to give feedback and participate in development before the games final release.

There are approximately 25 hours of self-contained content in Act 1 of the game. Most of Baldur’s Gate 3’s advertised features are included and some are still work in progress. While exploring there will be performance captured dialogues and cut-scenes, voice-overs for most dialogues, several translations available and a story that will be fulfilling with great replayability. During early access, there will also be multiplayer, 6 classes, 9 races and 5 origin characters so you can put together and try out many different combinations of companions.

The depth and scale of the game look to be huge and Larian Studios have made comparisons to Divinity: Original sin II which they published in 2014. Baldur’s Gate 3 EA is about 3 times larger than the DOS2 EA because of the huge amount of decision the player can make and the impact this can have on the storyline. It’s definitely worth playing the game several times, whether that’s as an Evil Tiefling or a friendly Dwarf, to see what changes within the playthrough.

What features are available for Multiplayer?

Baldur’s Gate 3 is great when played with friends or on your own. It is party-based and you can have a party of up to four where everyone controls their own character or play with 2 or 3 and AI. In multiplayer, when your avatars and companions are next to each other in the turn order players can simultaneously control characters. This allows you to communicate with your friends and combine spells and abilities to take advantage of playing with actual humans. The stunning cinematics are a huge part of the game and your companions can join you in discussions or interact with the environment with many actions creating a reaction for a seamless and interactive experience. Each of the companions in your group has their own personalities, goals, and motivations and the campfire is a place to talk and interact with your party and followers on a more intimate level. The game will technically allow you to have er… mature romantic moments with your multiplayer friends so choose wisely!

Larian Studios has made Baldur’s gate streamer friendly even in early access and Stadia will have crowd choice for twitch streamers. Twitch integration works by numbering each dialogue option, which corresponds to the viewer choices. This feedback is integrated into the game and both streamer and viewer will see the percentage vote next to each dialogue option. Players will also be able to interact with the Twitch overlay to access the inventory, character sheet, skills, and spells.

What races and classes will be available to play?

The character creation in Baldur’s Gate 3 looks to have plenty of choice, even in early access. Players can start the game by choosing a race, subrace, background and class. This is more than just for aesthetics or lore and it will affect the story throughout the game with NPCs reacting to who and what you are. In Early Access, you can choose from 8 races, each with their own selection of subraces. There will be Human, Githyanki, Elf, Drow, Half-elf, Dwarf, Halfling and Tiefling. What race you pick is the foundation for the vast amount of appearances but will also give you features including stat increases, skill proficiencies and other bonuses. When it comes to character customisation the scanned faces of 40 people were used to create characters that were as realistic as possible. Diverse people of all ages were turned into 150 unique heads with some a starting point for creating new faces so characters look as natural and realistic as possible. You can choose from different voice options, alter facial features, hairstyles, colours, and beards. Hair and Eye colour are fully customisable and there are also tattoo and makeup options.

In early access, there are 6 Classes to choose from which are Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock and Wizard. Each class has at least two subclasses to choose from and with some unlocking at level 3. Each class changes as your character levels up with plenty of opportunities for customisation. Just like your background and race, the class you choose will have an effect on the story and give you options when it comes to roleplay and NPC interactions.

When will Baldur’s gate 3 leave early access?

Larian Studios is yet to make any promises when it comes to the length of Early access for Baldur’s Gate 3 but the EA for DOS2 lasted for just under a year. The only information we have so far is this quote “We anticipate Baldur’s Gate 3 being in Early Access for at least one year but we’ll have to see how it goes. It’ll be ready when it’s ready.” They want the launch of 1.0 to be as strong as possible with many people joining the early access journey. However, Larian does warn that the game won’t be ready yet and anyone wanting a fully polished experience should wait for the full release.

What are the specifications needed to play?

I wrote a blog article earlier this year with the predicted specifications needed for Baldur’s Gate 3 and I’m pleased to announce that we now have the official specification so you can make sure your PC or even your Mac (Yes you can play on Mac OS 10.15.7) is up to scratch. I have updated that article and it has got loads of great information about the gameplay and even the best PC’s you need to play. You can check it out HERE.

System Requirements

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