What Even Is Baldur’s Gate?
Developed by BioWare—best known these days for its work on games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age—and first released in 1998, Baldur’s Gate was a roleplaying game for PC that largely revolutionized the state of the CRPG (or Computer RPG) when it launched to critical acclaim. Adapting the ruleset of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ second edition for use in a video game setting, the game followed a player avatar who finds themselves thrust into adventure in D&D’s Forgotten Realms setting, and mysteriously linked to the Lord of Murder Bhaal—the god of murder and violence.
It spawned a sequel two years later in Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and inspired a whole wave of similar fantasy RPGs in the video game space, from similar adaptations such as Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights to more modern takes on the classic form, in games like Pillars of Eternity or games like Larian Studios’ own Divinity: Original Sin series. Now, two decades later and after six years of development, we have the third game in the series, and already one of 2023’s most successful video games.
Oh, you meant the place?
