I’ve seen it compared to old-school RPGs like Planescape: Torment, “play it your way” immersive sims, and of course, its source material, tabletop Dungeons & Dragons.

I started Baldur’s Gate 3 because of all the weird, silly ways I saw people solving problems; my gateway drug was watching somebody stack 45 crates to sneak over a rampart.

Or I could climb into a back room to kill two guards and then just deal with the fact that I’ve accidentally left a witness that turned the whole camp hostile — ending up in a pitched battle that cuts a swath through their entire inner sanctum, with a belated recruitment of my very good platonic friend, the bear.

I’ve spent absurd amounts of effort engineering the fates of my favorite characters; I would sooner die than let Karlach and Astarion go unhugged or allow Barcus Wroot to come to harm.

I’ve dedicated dozens of hours to “winning” Baldur’s Gate 3’s stories: crafting a careful prison break, protecting an inn full of good people, romancing a picky, red-flag-laden vampire elf.

Yet I applaud anyone who can accept every botched roll, unexpected companion disapproval, and accidentally murdered gnome — to get the tale that unfolds organically from their character’s mistakes and disasters, however it ends.

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