SweetieGames

As I mentioned in an earlier article, I’m fully back to my Baldur’s Gate 3 fixation. I look forward to playing it in the evenings, especially as it gets dark outside super early and enjoying it while I sip a cup of tea or a hot chocolate. However, this game is super long and I’ve already completed two playthroughs, one normal and one Dark Urge. So what is it about this game that keeps me coming back again and again, despite the runtime being hundreds of hours?

I previously wrote an article about my love for character customisation, which I think plays a big part in my enjoyment of this game. A lot of games that I really love allow me to create a character and backstory of my own; it’s my favourite aspect of playing actual DnD! After adding mods, there’s a plethora of character options for you to choose from in BG3, whether that be facial features, tattoos, outfits or even character classes.

There’s much more to this than just making my own character and backstory though; I feel like Baldur’s Gate 3 has so many hidden interactions and quests that I’m discovering something new with every playthrough. I couldn’t even imagine the amount of things I missed in my first blind playthrough of the game; I was letting companions go, turning a blind eye to quest clues and getting confused as to why some fights were so tough (because I was under-levelled!) This wasn’t exclusive to me though; once I ended up seeing TikToks from other gamers talking about their first BG3 run, I realised there were plenty more mistakes I could have made. Having fragile quests that can be completely blocked to the player by one wrong move can be frustrating, but it does also add replay value.

As someone who plays DnD but is relatively new to the game, I’ve found BG3 has been great for teaching me how moves work and when to use them. Sure, some of them don’t work in the exact same way in BG3, but it helps me get the gist and has also helped me improve my battle strategy for when I play DnD with my friends. As a cleric, Sanctuary is now my favourite spell. Thanks for teaching me how it works, Baldur’s Gate!

The fights that I was having trouble with are getting easier with each playthrough as I improve my strategy each time, and I love creating a character who has different relationships with the companion characters. Despite the overarching plot being the same premise, I feel like the outcomes are different every time. I still haven’t done a fully evil Dark Urge run yet, mainly because I can’t bring myself to kill my favourite companion character but I am intrigued to see how the game goes if I were to take that route, or just be an ass to the people I come across. It may not have 17,000 endings like people somehow still believe, but it definitely has enough to give it tonnes of replay value, 2 years after its release.