Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming RPG where players take control of a custom character, or an origin character created by developer Larian Studios, to progress through an epic journey in a world overrun by Mindflayers. The game has the namesake of Baldur’s Gate attached to it, but it is widely different from Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2. Those two relied on Dungeon and Dragon’s second edition rules. In contrast, the third game will use the fifth edition and has turn-based combat, no alignment choices, and several different gameplay mechanics. With so many unique options and changes, does Baldur’s Gate 3 connect to the first two games in any way?
The main story of Baldur’s Gate 3 will have elements of the other two stories in them, such as notable characters from Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, along with story elements from those two adventures. Larian Studios’ Swen Vincke briefly spoke about this during a Reddit AMA he hosted. The details were brief, but he delved into what players can expect when they play the game.
“We really don’t want to spoil anything but we wouldn’t call it Baldur’s Gate 3 if there wouldn’t be a link,” Vincke said. “Let me just say that we touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in a meaningful way, there are returning characters and what happened in BG 1/2/tob leads to what happens into BG3. You won’t necessarily see that at the start of the adventure but you will understand once you get further into the game.”
We don’t have the full details at this about what story elements we can expect to see in the game, along with old characters making a return. How they could make a return is anyone’s guess, and how they tie into the main story of Baldur’s Gate 3 will be an exciting discovery. You might be able to see some of those details when the game releases for early access, which will happen before its official release. The early access gameplay will not give us the full details of the story, and we won’t be able to see or play as everything, but it will provide you with a good idea of what you can expect from the rest of the game.
Larian wants to remain as quiet as possible about these story details. The connections to Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 are likely extremely important to the overall plot of Baldur’s Gate 3, so it’s likely none of these details are set to surface any time soon. Larian Studios is happy to share gameplay elements, footage, and how a player’s actions affect the entire world around them, and the other party members.
Baldur’s Gate 3 releases some time in late 2020 or early 2021 for the PC and Google Stadia. We can expect the early access to come out before this, likely sometime in the 2020 summer.
