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Larian Studios has talked more about Baldur’s Gate 3 today just ahead of D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage. Game Director Swen Vincke delivered a new look at gameplay while breaking down the results of months of iteration in a community livestream, showing off many of the content improvements and additions the team has made since PAX East 2020, some of which were made based on direct feedback from fans.
Last weekend during the Guerrilla Collective showcase, the team announced that the anticipated August 2020 early access release of Baldur’s Gate 3 is on track, despite setbacks caused by COVID-19. A community update video released last Saturday gives context about the current state of development and paved the way for today’s presentation.
Here’s some of the new changes and content shown in the stream:
- The narrator that will lead players through the game has changed to present tense/second-person narration.
- Changes have been made to the initiative system. Previous gameplay showed the side initiative, which has evolved over the past month. Characters with similar individual initiative can now be grouped together automatically, allowing players to try out combinations and align their attacks in a group initiative system. Other characters and enemies will have individual initiative.
- Vincke showed the inspiration system for the first time. Inspiration points allow the player to reroll one of their dice — a very valuable tool for when the roll of the dice decides life and death. These points are awarded to the player for finding special solutions during their playthrough.
- Reactivity to the player character: Vincke played as a custom character elf, showcasing how the world reacts to who you are and, more importantly, which decisions you have made in the past.
Between the original announcement a year ago and what was shown today prior to D&D Live 2020, Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming into shape, one which will continue to evolve as Larian works directly with the community during its early access campaign. The team is now fully focused on getting ready for the early access release in (maybe!) August 2020. Larian will have more to announce about the date, content and details of early access as August approaches.
Will you be checking this game out when it launches?