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Baldur's Gate 3: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Common questions
When was Baldur's Gate 3 released for Windows?
Baldur's Gate 3 was released for Windows on the 3rd of August 2023. Subsequent versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S followed later that year.
Who developed Baldur's Gate 3 and when did they get the license?
Larian Studios developed Baldur's Gate 3 after receiving the license from Wizards of the Coast in 2017. The development cycle stretched over six years, during which the studio grew from around 140 employees in 2017 to over 450 in 2023.
How many voice actors performed for Baldur's Gate 3?
The game features 248 voice actors performing motion capture for their characters. Over 1.3 million lines of dialogue were recorded, spanning 140 hours of cutscenes.
What is the maximum player level in Baldur's Gate 3?
The maximum player level in Baldur's Gate 3 is 12, whereas the limit in the tabletop game is level 20. Players can choose to place a level into a different class, known as multiclassing.
Who voices the main villain Absolute in Baldur's Gate 3?
The overarching villain of Baldur's Gate 3 is an illithid elder brain known as the Absolute, voiced by Cissy Jones. Three other antagonists control the elder brain: Ketheric Thorm, Enver Gortash, and Orin the Red.
Did Larian Studios plan to release a sequel to Baldur's Gate 3?
Larian Studios announced in March 2024 that they would not develop a sequel or downloadable content. The studio is instead working on two projects using their own intellectual property for both and targeting a pre-2030 release for the first.
Baldur's Gate 3
The story begins not with a hero's journey, but with a nightmare inside a human skull. A player wakes up on a crashed illithid ship, their mind invaded by a parasitic tadpole that threatens to turn them into a mind flayer. This is the inciting incident of Baldur's Gate 3, a 2023 role-playing video game developed by Larian Studios. The narrative thrust is immediate and visceral: the party must find a way to remove the parasite before it consumes their free will and transforms them into monsters. This premise, drawn from the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons, sets the stage for a story that spans over 100 years of Forgotten Realms lore, yet feels intensely personal and urgent. The game was released for Windows on the 3rd of August 2023, followed by versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S later that year. It is a tale of survival, choice, and the terrifying possibility of losing oneself to an alien force.
From Tabletop to Triple-A
The road to Baldur's Gate 3 was paved with decades of licensing disputes and near-misses. The original Baldur's Gate series began in 1995 when Wizards of the Coast's predecessor, TSR, Inc., asked Interplay Entertainment to produce a video game using the Dungeons and Dragons property. BioWare delivered the first game in 1998, followed by a sequel in 2000, but a third game titled The Black Hound was cancelled in 2003 due to a licensing dispute. For years, the rights to the franchise changed hands, and the dream of a true third installment seemed dead. It was not until 2014 that Larian Studios, led by CEO Swen Vincke, first approached Wizards of the Coast about making a new game. They were initially rejected for their inexperience. However, after the release of Divinity: Original Sin II in 2017, Wizards of the Coast was intrigued by Larian's technical prowess and granted them the license. The development cycle stretched over six years, a period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Larian had to close its Saint Petersburg office, relocating 90% of its staff to other locations. The studio grew from around 140 employees in 2017 to over 450 in 2023, becoming one of the world's largest privately owned video game companies. This growth was necessary to achieve the triple-A production values Vincke envisioned, including cinematic functionality and a massive voice acting cast.
The Voice of the Void
At the heart of Baldur's Gate 3 is a cast of characters so fully realized that they feel like living, breathing people. The game features ten origin characters, each with a pre-set class, race, and backstory, yet all are customizable. Among them is Astarion, a hedonistic vampire spawn voiced by Neil Newbon, whose performance was partly inspired by the harlequin figure of commedia dell'arte. He is the second most selected protagonist, a character who has recently escaped his vampire master, Cazador. Then there is Shadowheart, a cleric of Shar portrayed by Jennifer English, who was originally pitched as a Jason Bourne-style character with no memories of her past. She became the most popular romance option for players. Lae'zel, a fanatical githyanki voiced by Devora Wilde, is the first companion encountered and was the character whose voice Vincke found early in development. The writing team, including Stephen Rooney, John Corcoran, and Kevin VanOrd, worked tirelessly to ensure each character felt distinct. The game also features a narrator, Amelia Tyler, whose deadpan delivery was so impressive that Larian decided to keep her contemptuous tone. The voice acting was extensive, with 248 voice actors performing motion capture for their characters. Over 1.3 million lines of dialogue were recorded, spanning 140 hours of cutscenes. This level of detail was unprecedented in the industry, creating a narrative depth that allowed players to form genuine emotional connections with their companions.
Baldur's Gate 3 is built on the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons, where outcomes are determined by rolling a twenty-sided die, or d20. In combat, the game switches to turn-based mode, where each character has limited resources: actions, bonus actions, and movement. A d4 roll, called an initiative roll, determines the order in which each character acts. When a character attacks, the game rolls a d20, and the result is compared against the target's armor class. If the roll value is lower than the armor class, the attack misses. Players can see the percentage chance that an attack will hit before making it, a value impacted by things like terrain. Some attacks have damage types that can amplify one another or counteract each other. For example, applying grease and fire to a target will make them burn for multiple turns, while shooting a fire arrow at an enemy standing in ice will melt the ice, leaving a water surface. The game also includes support for modding, but using them disables achievements. The maximum player level is 12, whereas in the tabletop game, the limit is level 20. Players can also choose to place a level into a different class, known as multiclassing, diversifying or specializing their character's style of play. This system of dice rolls and strategic choices gives players a sense of agency that is rare in video games, allowing them to solve problems creatively and often unpredictably.
The Three Acts of Survival
The game is divided into three acts, each with a large, explorable location tied to it. The first act has no designated tutorial, but certain resources and encounters are deliberately constructed to guide the player. It is primarily set around a mind flayer ship wreckage, with locations including a druids' grove, a goblin camp, and a monastery set against a mountain pass. Eight of the game's ten companions are introduced in act one, with six recruitable near the start. The Underdark is a large subterranean area accessible through multiple locations, each entrance leading to unique environments. Act one ends when players traverse the mountain pass or Underdark to reach act two's setting. In act two, players traverse the Shadow Cursed lands to reach Moonrise Towers, an oppressive and dark environment. Only one companion is introduced in act two. Locations explored include the Last Light Inn and the Gauntlet of Shar. The third and final act is primarily set in the dense city environment of Baldur's Gate, but with some areas accessible outside the city, like a visiting circus and the shoreline. The city is the location of the tenth and final recruitable companion. The game features 288 quests, with significant creative freedom as to how they are completed. Some are mutually exclusive, and some unfold across multiple arcs. Almost any character can die, including those integral to the narrative, and all speaking characters are fully voiced. Using a spell or potion, players can speak to any encountered animal, and a more limited number of corpses. This structure allows for a rich, immersive experience that rewards exploration and strategic thinking.
The Emperor and the Elder Brain
The overarching villain of Baldur's Gate 3 is an illithid elder brain known as the Absolute, voiced by prolific voice actress Cissy Jones. Three other antagonists control the elder brain: Ketheric Thorm, Enver Gortash, and Orin the Red. Actor J. K. Simmons portrays Ketheric Thorm, a tragic villain planned as recruitable in early development. Jason Isaacs and Maggie Robertson portray Enver Gortash and Orin the Red, respectively. The Emperor is a mind flayer detached from the species' hive mind, a controversial, complex character, and a player romance option, voiced by Scott Joseph. Raphael, a devil, is a supporting villain encountered early who offers the player a deal to remove the parasite in their head. Voice actor Andrew Wincott portrays Raphael as a theatrical villain influenced by Shakespeare's Iago. The plot reveals that the Dream Visitor is, in fact, a visage taken by the Emperor, who resides within the prism and oversees the imprisonment of a powerful githyanki, Orpheus. Orpheus is the source of psionic resistance the party possesses against the Absolute, and the Emperor has been leveraging this in his favor. The protagonist eventually faces off against Gortash and Orin, assembling the Netherstones to subdue the Elder Brain. The Elder Brain, having anticipated the triumvirate and the protagonist's every move, overpowers the party before the Emperor comes to the rescue. Realizing that the Netherstones require an illithid wielder with Orpheus' powers to be effective, the protagonist either frees Orpheus and allows him to transform, which causes the Emperor to resign to his fate and join the Absolute, or has either the Emperor, a transformed Karlach, or the player character consume Orpheus in order to see the mission through. After defeating the Elder Brain, the protagonist can choose to either kill it and every illithid tadpole with it, ending the threat forever, or betray their comrades and rule as the Absolute.
The Record-Breaking Success
After release, Larian Studios provided new content and improvements via patching, with release dates sometimes varying by platform. Released for PC in August 2023, the first patch added over 1,000 bug fixes and balance changes, alongside increased polish for animations. The September 2023 update permitted players to customize their appearance, support for modding, and increased the number of endings for evil playthroughs. A November 2023 patch added customization for player characters and hirelings; increased the frequency of autosaving; and new idle animations. In December 2023, the developer added two difficulty modes and an expanded epilogue featuring over 3,500 new lines of dialogue. An eighth and final patch was released in April 2025. The patch introduced 12 new sub-classes, a photo mode, cross-platform play, and co-operative split-screen for Xbox Series S. The developer was widely criticized for not providing full credits for localization teams involved in the game. Vincke blamed the error on Larian's localization provider, Altagram, and promised a fix. Altagram published an apology. Larian released a physical edition of the game but the disc did not contain the full game, instead providing a downloader for it. The game's full soundtrack was distributed across three discs, and it featured a cloth-printed map, stickers, and a chalk-paper mind flayer poster. Following release, Larian reiterated interest in updating the game via patches but would not commit to downloadable content (DLC). While delivering a March 2024 talk at Game Developers Conference, Vincke announced the studio would not develop a sequel or downloadable content. While Larian started to work on DLC because of fan demand, there was no passion for the
The Final Patch and Future
idea internally. Larian subsequently said it was working on two projects, using their own intellectual property for both and targeting a pre-2030 release for the first. One of these projects was revealed to be Divinity at the 2025 Game Awards.