When it comes to a storied and legendary title such as Baldur’s Gate, players are clearly willing to take a bit of a leap of faith with the title and developer of Larian Studios.
We noted last week that there was a bit of an outcry that Larian is offered an Early Access version of the newest foray Baldur’s Gate 3 at the full priceof $60, effectively having players pay for the chance to be quality assurance testers and help guide the title to fruition.
It appears, however, that the vast community simply doesn’t care: Baldur’s Gate is the pinnacle of TTRPG being gamified, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is bringing that in spades with a D&D 5e ruleset, beautiful graphics, and a heft of plot-lines and individuals that bring their own nuance to life with fantastic voice acting and character depth.
SteamSpy reports that Baldur’s Gate 3, within its first week of life, has surpassed one million purchases; a monumental milestone considering that the title is deep in early access with only the first act being completed, and offering roughly 25 hours of gameplay.
Many characters still aren’t voiced, desync issues run rampant that punctuate any form of cooperative play with friends, and you’ll struggle to get through five engagements without something ending up bugged in some way, shape, or form.
In spite of this, what is there is so damn good that it’s difficult to stare directly at the bugs as a reason to dodge it, unless you’re more content to wait for the entire experience to be completed with all of the content to explore the latest chapter of the Forgotten Realms and the Mind Flayer infestation that appears to be plaguing the lands.
In spite of the heft of purchases that many are reporting, the title currently only has 13,421 reviews at the time of publication, with 85% being positive and the rest being either stymied by bugs or frustrated that the title launched at full price without full content.
As a commenter pointed out in our last article discussing the space of Baldur’s Gate 3, however, this is likely being carried well by the sheer strength of the franchise; players understand what they’re getting into, and Baldur’s Gate 3 looks to be bringing everything in spades into the modern generation.
Weapons, loot, and complex battles with strategic elements and abilities that can skew everything at a moments notice.
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Larian Studios both have a long journey ahead of them as they forge forwards through Early Access, but it looks like the journey will be joined by a massive family of friends and fans alike.