One year later, Baldur’s Gate 3 is still defying all my expectations

We started our Baldur’s Gate 3 adventure one year ago. It’s been 365 days since the launch on August 3 2023. One trip around the sun. In that time, Larian’s magnum opus has cemented itself as not just one of the best RPGs ever made, but the best videogames period. I know people who’ve barely picked up a gamepad or mouse and keyboard fall in love with the characters and world, and I’m sure you do too. BG3 exceeded everyone’s expectations, and 12 months later it’s still going strong on Steam.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has just crested over 100,000 concurrent Steam players. That would be impressive for a year-old MMO, never mind an old-school-style RPG. Even as I write this, around 50,000 people are playing the game. It’s a far cry from the almost 900,000 Steam concurrents at launch, but that doesn’t make these numbers any less impressive. We still love BG3, and it’s easy to see why.

Every hero and villain is multifaceted, the world is dense, and everything is reactive. You can play BG3 from start to finish and barely scratch the surface, so it’s no surprise that thousands of people are still experiencing the game.

Larian’s ongoing support has also helped, of course. The team is finally looking to what’s next, but before then patches big and small have brought us bug fixes, new mechanics, and heavily requested content. Larian has spent the last year treating Baldur’s Gate 3 like a live service game, and it’s paid off. I love what Larian did to Karlach’s ending after we were all left disappointed, and finally being able to change your appearance at camp is a godsend. Larian has been listening to the community throughout Steam Early Access and beyond, and it’s helped BG3 immeasurably.

Then there’s the modding scene, which plays a massive part in keeping Baldur’s Gate 3 alive. I’ve been watching the community over the last year and highlighting some of the coolest projects I can find, and they’re still getting better. You can play BG3 as a 100-hour co-op roguelike or expand the game’s races with plenty of DnD additions, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 7 is yet to add full mod support, but when it arrives Larain’s RPG will have the same longevity as Skyrim, I have no doubt.

Players and critics alike have been heaping praise on Baldur’s Gate 3. The game has a 96% positive rating on Steam from over 550,000 reviews, and it even managed to be the first to win all five major GOTY awards. We at PCGamesN even voted it as our favorite game of last year, beating out Alan Wake 2 and Resident Evil 4.

Our very own Paul Kelly scored the game 9/10 in our Baldur’s Gate 3 review, saying its “world is beautiful, layered, and complex, and challenges you to attack it how you want,” and I couldn’t agree more. Larian designed BG3 with so much choice in mind, but it’s the abundance of quality across all these decisions that makes it an instant classic.

Make sure you check all the best Baldur’s Gate 3 mods to keep Larian’s RPG feeling fresh, and if you think it’s finally time to move on we’ve put together some incredible games like Baldur’s Gate 3.

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