I played 100 hours of Baldur's Gate 3 across about three months. Finished one playthrough as a Bard who romanced Karlach (which was wonderful and ended in a way that made me actually sad). Started a second playthrough as a Paladin to try a darker path. Here's the honest review of one of the most-acclaimed games of recent years.
The headline
It deserves the praise. Almost all of it. This is the rare game where the cultural conversation matched the actual experience of playing it. I'd put it in my top five RPGs of all time, and I've played a lot of RPGs.
What follows is the more nuanced version of that headline.
What is genuinely extraordinary
The writing
The dialogue, characterization, and reactivity are at a level I haven't seen in another game. NPCs remember what you did. Quest outcomes ripple across acts. The companions have actual interiority — they react to your choices, fight with each other, develop relationships you didn't script. The romance arcs (yes, there are romances) are written with real care; they're not just check-boxes.
I had moments in Act 3 where my early choices in Act 1 produced consequences I genuinely hadn't anticipated. That's rare in any RPG. In a game this scale, it's extraordinary.
The combat
Turn-based, D&D 5e ruleset, more tactically interesting than any RPG combat I've played. Environmental interaction matters. Verticality matters. Surfaces matter (cast Grease, then ignite it; throw water on enemies, then cast Lightning). Every encounter is a puzzle with multiple solutions.
The early-game combat is the most painful — your party is weak and any miscalculation kills you. Once you have the full party and meaningful spell options around level 4-5, the combat starts producing the moments of brilliance that the game is famous for.
The companions
The companion characters are some of the best in any game I've played. Karlach is a heartbreaking creation. Astarion's arc is one of the most-discussed in modern gaming for good reason. Shadowheart, Wyll, Lae'zel, Gale — each could carry their own game. The fact that all of them coexist, each with full questlines and their own romance arcs, is the kind of ambition that most studios can't execute.
What tested my patience
Act 3's pacing
Act 3 is the largest of the three acts and the most uneven. There's an extraordinary amount of content, but the structure is loose enough that I sometimes lost track of what I was working on. Several quest threads converge in ways that felt rushed. The final hours of the act produce some of the game's best moments and also some of its weakest pacing.
I think the studio knew this — there have been multiple patches addressing Act 3 since launch. It's noticeably better now than at release. Still the rough patch in an otherwise extraordinary experience.
The early game difficulty curve
The game is genuinely punishing in the first 8-10 hours. If you're new to D&D-style combat, the early game can feel unfair. I had two friends bounce off the game in this period and not return. The game would benefit from a slightly gentler onboarding; the systems take time to click and the game doesn't always make that easy.
The bug count at launch
I played a few months after launch, when most of the major bugs had been patched. Friends who played at launch had a rougher experience. If you're considering it now, you're past the worst of this — but it's worth knowing the launch wasn't pristine.
Things that surprised me
How emotional it was
I was not expecting an RPG to make me feel as much as this one did. The Karlach romance hit me hard. Several side quests — without spoilers, the one in Act 2 about a child and her father in particular — left me sitting at my computer for a few minutes after finishing. The game has emotional weight that the genre usually doesn't earn.
How much I wanted to talk about it
This is the rare modern game that produces a real conversation. Friends and I have spent hours comparing playthroughs, discussing companion arcs, debating moral choices. The game generates the kind of shared cultural experience that most modern entertainment doesn't.
How replayable it is
I'm on my second playthrough and the experience is meaningfully different. Different class, different alignment choices, different romance, different quest outcomes. The replay isn't just "do it again with a different paint job" — it's a substantively different game. I'll probably do a third playthrough eventually.
Should you play it?
Yes, if:
- You enjoy story-driven RPGs and can commit to a long game
- You're willing to push through a difficult early-game
- You're open to turn-based combat (the game is not real-time)
- You have at least 80-100 hours to commit (one playthrough at a normal pace)
No, if:
- You're looking for action combat (this is not God of War or Elden Ring)
- You don't enjoy reading dialogue (there's a lot of it)
- You can't commit time to a long game
- You bounced off Divinity: Original Sin 2 (this is by the same studio, same general approach)
The thing that makes it special
Most modern AAA games are products. They're manufactured to be enjoyable enough that you'll buy the next one and the DLC. Baldur's Gate 3 is something different — it's a passion project at a scale that almost shouldn't exist. You can feel the care in every screen. The writing is better than it needs to be. The companions are richer than they need to be. The reactivity is deeper than it needs to be.
The game punches above its commercial obligations in a way that very few modern games do. That's why it's being talked about as a generational game. The praise is warranted.
Final thoughts
I've thought about this game more in the last three months than I've thought about most games I've played in the last ten years. That's the truest measure I can offer. If you have the time and the interest, this is a game worth giving the time to. The 100 hours were among the best I've spent on any game.
I'm looking forward to the next 100.
