Baldur’s Gate 3 Review: Dungeons & Dragons the Way You Play It at the Table

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a turn-based RPG from Belgian studio Larian, built on the Dungeons & Dragons rules and set in the Forgotten Realms. It came out on PC on August 3, 2023, on PS5 in September 2023 and on Xbox Series X|S in December 2023. Since then it has become one of the highest-rated RPGs ever. In this review we tell you how it earned that, where it falls short and whether it’s for you.

What Baldur’s Gate 3 is about

At the start you’re abducted and a mind flayer parasite is planted in your brain, slowly turning you into a monster. The abductors’ ship, a nautiloid, crashes, and you and the other survivors try to get rid of the parasite. It also grants you new powers, though, so it’s up to you whether you resist it or embrace the corruption. The game is split into three acts, and in the third you reach the city of Baldur’s Gate itself. We won’t spoil more of the story.

You build your character from eleven races and twelve classes. Patch 8 in April 2025 added one new subclass to every class, such as Arcane Archer for the Fighter or Bladesinging for the Wizard. You can also play as one of the pre-made Origin characters with their own story, for example Astarion, Shadowheart or Karlach. Which class to pick is covered in our classes and subclasses overview.

Freedom of choice and companions

This is where Baldur’s Gate 3 shines brightest. A locked door can be picked, smashed, bypassed through a window or dealt with by a spell. A conflict can be settled with a sword, persuasion, a lie or by switching sides. The outcome often hinges on a dice roll, just like at the table, and the game treats failure as another path through the story.

You take up to three companions out of ten possible, and you can’t have all of them in one playthrough. Each has their own goals, and if they don’t like your decisions they may simply leave. Eight of them can be romanced. Where to find them is in our companions and romance guide.

Combat and difficulty

Combat is turn-based and sticks to the fifth edition D&D rules. High ground gives you advantage on ranged attacks, you can shove an enemy off a cliff and an ambush gets you the first strike. If you know the tabletop game, you’ll feel at home. If not, you’ll be lost for a while among actions, bonus actions and spell slots.

There are four difficulty modes plus custom settings: Explorer for players who mainly want the story, the default Balanced, the harder Tactician and Honour Mode with a single save, where a total party kill ends the campaign. Patch 5 added Honour and Custom Mode in November 2023. How to survive the hardest one is in our Honour Mode guide.

What critics praise and what bothers players

On Metacritic the PC version holds 96 from 119 reviews, the PS5 version also 96 and the Xbox Series X version 99. PC Gamer gave it 97 and called it an unrivalled RPG that will swallow your life whole. GamesRadar+ gave a perfect score and called the game the most authentic take on D&D in the franchise’s history, while warning that its complexity and size might be daunting for newcomers.

Complaints were mostly about the launch. IGN and GamesRadar+ both reported performance drops in Act 3, and IGN had to lower settings even on an RTX 3080. Larian has since released eight major patches and dozens of hotfixes. Players rate the game even higher than critics: on Steam it has 96.8% positive out of 862,796 reviews, Overwhelmingly Positive.

How long Baldur’s Gate 3 lasts

Larian’s Swen Vincke estimated a typical playthrough at 75 to 100 hours, and if you want to see everything you’ll get close to 200. According to Larian, the median playtime on Steam in July 2025 was just under 63 hours. With different races, classes, Origin characters and choices, the game also has plenty of replay value.

Co-op, mods and the state of the game

You can play the whole campaign online with up to four players, and a friend can even join a game in progress and take over one of the companions. PC and consoles have split-screen for two, and Patch 8 added cross-play between PC, Mac, PS5 and Xbox. A step-by-step setup is in our multiplayer and cross-play guide.

Larian called Patch 8 from April 15, 2025 its final major patch. No new story content is coming and there was no DLC; since then it’s been fixes only, with the latest, Hotfix #36, released in March 2026. Mods keep the game alive: Patch 7 added a built-in Mod Manager, and by the end of 2025 10,000 mods had been uploaded to mod.io. What does and doesn’t work is summed up in our cheats and mods article.

Price and platforms

On Steam the base game costs €59.99 and the Digital Deluxe Edition upgrade €9.75. The game isn’t on Game Pass or in the PS Plus Extra catalog, and it has no microtransactions. The differences between editions are in our editions and price article.

On PC, plan for 150 GB on a mandatory SSD; the minimum is a GTX 970 and 8 GB of RAM. On Steam Deck the game is rated Verified and since September 2025 it has a native version without Proton. It hasn’t come out on Switch 2. Details are in our system requirements article.

Who Baldur’s Gate 3 is for (and who it isn’t)

It’s for you if you want an RPG where your choices really change the story and you enjoy tactical turn-based combat. D&D fans get the most faithful adaptation of the rules in a video game, and a group of friends can comfortably play the whole campaign together.

Skip it if you want fast real-time action or don’t feel like reading. There’s an enormous amount of text and dialogue. Also expect to spend the first few hours learning the rules.

Verdict: Is Baldur’s Gate 3 worth it?

Yes, if you like RPGs and don’t mind turn-based combat. We’re giving it 9/10.

Baldur’s Gate 3 offers freedom of choice no other RPG matches, brilliantly written companions and dozens of hours of content without microtransactions. Players and critics rank it among the best games in the genre, and co-op for up to four makes it a great game for shared evenings too. Points come off for a demanding start for newcomers, the Act 3 technical issues at launch and the fact that no new content is coming after Patch 8.

Playing Baldur’s Gate 3? All our guides are on the Baldur’s Gate 3 hub. Start with the beginner’s guide and check the classes and subclasses overview before you create your character. Looking for co-op partners? Join the GamersTogether Discord.

FAQ

This review is based on player ratings on Steam and critic scores on Metacritic, on reviews from PC Gamer, GamesRadar+ and IGN, and on official information from Larian Studios. Information verified on October 21, 2026. All our guides to the game are on the Baldur’s Gate 3 hub.