Baldur’s Gate 3 review – awe-inspiring D&D rendition is a towering landmark

PC, Mac, PS5; Larian
Expanding on the basic role playing structure with seemingly limitless reactivity and options, this game is so varied you'd swear it was sentient

A good dungeon master (DM) in any role playing adventure session wastes no time getting to the point of the story. So let's do that. Just like the fantastical city it is named after, Baldur's Gate 3 is a soaring success. It's everything you've ever loved about any roleplaying game, with +1 to all stats.

Like its predecessors, Baldur's Gate 3 takes place in Dungeons and Dragons' Forgotten Realms setting. Unlike those earlier titles - nascent offerings from the Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio, BioWare - this adventure from Belgian studio Larian, uses the fifth edition D&D ruleset. A few homebrew tweaks aside, it's as faithful a rendition as you'll find in the digital space, though no worries if you don't know your Armor Class from your Proficiencies - the game will take care of all that pesky maths for you. It's a solid, varied ruleset that's as satisfying and permissive of creativity as they come, but even a great D&D module is only ever as good as the Dungeon Master in charge. So, what kind of DM is Larian Studios?