The original Baldur’s gate game was released back in 1998 with the sequel Baldur’s Gate II launched in 2000. Nineteen years have passed, and Larian Studios has been entrusted with the licensing for the long-awaited sequel. Larian is best known for developing the first two Divinity: Original Sin Games, which have been called one of the best RPGs ever.
What is Baldur’s Gate III about?
The prequel to Baldur’s Gate III is a tabletop adventure called Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus and the storyline takes place 100 years after the events of Baldur’s Gate II. The trailer below revealed that the main antagonists will be the mind flayers who have rediscovered the secret that allows them to leave the Underdark and travel between realms to invade and restore their empire. The main characters have been infected with tadpoles from the mind slayer which should eventually turn them into one, however, the process is taking longer than expected. The main quest will be to find out more about the tadpoles and try and get them removed despite the strange benefits they give.
Baldur’s Gate III Official cinematic reveal trailer
What is the gameplay like in Baldur’s Gate III?
The extra-long gameplay presentation below is a great example of what the game will be like when it’s finally released. There’s likely to be tweaks and changes along the way particularly as the game will go into early access first, and Larian often takes into account the opinions of the audience. You start the game by choosing from a selection of D&D races and classes, or you can play as a premade origin character. You can play alone and select your other companions or join up with three other gamers in multiplayer. The game is based on the D&D 5e ruleset, with the roll of the dice deciding the outcome of every move. There’s new combat cameras, interesting environmental interactions, and difficult battles that reward strategy and foresight. Turn-based mode allows you to pause at any time and grab a tactical advantage, escape traps, prepare ambushes and take advantage of the new 3D world by sneaking, climbing and jumping. Baldur’s Gate 3 is sure to be full of adventure loot, battles and romance as you journey through the Forgotten Realms and beyond.
Baldur’s Gate III Official gameplay presentation:
When is Baldur’s gate III available on PC?
It was expected the game would be heading for an early access launch in August however Larian Studios recently had to backtrack on the announcement. In a statement, Larian said the game “won’t hit August”, but did announce that early access is “just around the corner”.The new release date was announced during the Panel from Hell Livestream event on the 18th of August and we now know early access will be available on the 30th of September. The game will be coming to both Steam and Google Stadia at the same time with the possibility of Stadia specific features such as crowd interaction for streamers.
There’s currently no news on when the full game will be launched and it is expected to be in early access for quite a while. Larian released a statement on the Steam store page stating “It’s difficult to predict when 1.0 will launch. We anticipate Baldur’s Gate 3 being in Early Access for at least one year but we’ll have to see how it goes. It’ll be ready when it’s ready.” The Early Access version of the game will include Roughly 25 hours of gameplay and you’ll get access to the entire first act. There’s five Origin characters and six classes to choose from and plenty of opportunities to test out different combat mechanics. However, it’s best to wait if you want a polished experience with no bugs as the developers have admitted there’s still plenty of issues and lots of work to be done.
What are the specifications required for Baldur’s Gate on PC?
I had originally made an educated guess on the specification requirements based on the already released Divinity Original Sin 2. The Baldurs Gate 3 Engine will be similar to Divinity Original Sin however about 70–80% is brand-new with the renderer much more realistic to allow for photorealistic textures. The Divinity Original Sin 2 specifications were a good starting point when it came to estimating the requirements but I’m glad to say the official specification has now been announced and you can find it below. David Walgrave was asked about Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to consoles and his response gave us a good clue how demanding the gameplay is going to be. “I don’t think that current-gen consoles would be able to run it. There’s a lot of technical upgrades and updates that we did to our engine, and I don’t know if it would be capable of being able to actually run on those things.” As expected the official requirements for Baldur’s Gate 3 are a little higher than those of Divinity Original sin but aren’t completely unreasonable for a brand new title with beautiful graphics.
| Minimum Requirements | Recommended Requirements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit | |
| Processor (CPU) | Intel i5-4690 / AMD FX 4350 | Intel i7 4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X | |
| Graphics Card (GPU) | Nvidia GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 280X | Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX580 | |
| Hard Drive (Storage Requirements) | 70GB available space | 70GB available space | |
| Memory (RAM) | 8GB RAM | 16GB RAM | |
| DirectX | Version 11. Default API is Vulkan 1.1 | Version 11. Default API is Vulkan 1.1 |
Will my PC run Baldurs Gate 3?
With Baldur’s Gate 3 being released as early access at the end of September players will soon be able to test what hardware truly works best before the release of the full game and story. One thing to consider is Baldur’s Gate 3 will be available on Google Stadia so you won’t necessarily need to invest in a powerful PC to play. However, Google Stadia will require a fast internet connection, compatible device and monthly subscription with all the typical Cloud gaming lag issues to consider. Larian Studios has also stated that the minimum and recommended requirements might decrease over the course of Early Access, as performance improves.
The Minimum specifications reveal Baldur’s Gate 3 can be played on an older gaming PC on lower graphical settings so it’s likely you’ll be able to at least give it a trial run during early access. To take advantage of all the graphical upgrades Larian has been hard at work creating you’ll want to at least aim for the recommended specifications, which can be achieved on a reasonable budget. The CPU specifications show that you will need a quad-core/eight-thread processor with reasonable clock speed of at least 3.5Ghz. As typical with modern games you should pair it with at least 16GB of RAM for the best experience.
Your graphics card will have the largest effect on performance and If you’re going to be building or buying a PC to play Baldur’s gate the graphics card is where you will want to focus most of your budget. The GTX 780 was a high-end card when it was released back in 2013 and its 3GB of VRAM will still be just about enough to handle Baldur’s gate. The same goes for the r9 280x that was released around the same time. The recommended requirements list graphics cards with at least 6GB of Vram and something like a GTX 1660 Super would be a great choice. Of course, if you want to play at higher resolutions or on a high refresh rate monitor you will need a beefier GPU. When it comes to storage 70GB is very modest for a game with so much content and I suspect this will increase as the other 2 acts of the game are completed and added for the final launch. Afterall there are many games that can use over 100GB when pairing realistic graphics with detailed and expansive maps.
What is a good PC to play Baldurs Gate III?
Overclockers UK specialises in pre-built systems created for both gamers and the enthusiast. There’s plenty of systems on offer that will be capable of playing Baldur’s Gate III. I’ve picked out a few of my favourites below, which are above the recommended specifications to ensure you get the best experience possible, but still at a reasonable price for a modern gaming PC.
OCUK Spectra Gaming PC
- Intel Core i5 Six-Core Processor with 4.1Ghz Turbo boost can easily handle the latest games.
- AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Card is an excellent budget pick for 1080p gaming
- Comes with 8GB of fast high quality 3000Mhz memory or can be upgraded to 16GB for only £19.
- There’s plenty of room for games on the 1TB Seagate HDD and you can even add an SSD for faster loading times.
- Choose from a wide selection of attractive cases and upgrade any of the components to make it yours.
- Get the Spectra starting at only £779.99.
OCUK Enigma Essential Gaming PC
Powerful Ryzen 5 3600 6 core 12 thread processor can handle gaming, streaming and content creation.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6GB Graphics Card is great for 1080p and Max graphics in the latest games.
Comes with 8GB of fast high quality 3000Mhz memory or can be upgraded to 16GB for only £19.
The 240GB SSD ensures your OS and favourite programs and games load fast and run smoothly. Plus a 1TB Seagate HDD for more storage.
A great value PC which can be customised with a choice of cases.
Available from £849.95.
OCUK Buzzard Gaming PC
- Uses the latest Intel Core i5 10600K which is perfect for gaming with a clock speed of 4.8Ghz.
- Choose from a selection of Radeon graphics including the RX 5700XT which has 8GB of VRAM and is perfect for 1440p gameplay.
- Comes with 16GB of fast high quality 3200Mhz memory and can be upgraded to RGB memory for only £20.
- The 250GB M.2 NVMe SSD cuts loading times to ensure your PC runs fast and smoothly. Plus a 1TB Seagate HDD for more storage.
- Choose from a wide range of beautiful and high-quality cases.
- Available from £1349.99.
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