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Do you need to play the first two Baldur’s Gate games before playing 3?

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is officially out of early access and first impressions imply that it could be one of the best games of 2023. While there aren’t many scored reviews out (critics only had a few days with the game before launch), several “reviews in progress” have shared some glowing thoughts on the massive computer role-playing game (CRPG). We’ve published our own early thoughts, which align with the critical consensus, noting that it could very well be the best Dungeons & Dragons video game ever.

With so much hype around the release, there’s a question that might spring to mind: Do you have to play Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2 before playing 3? That would involve going back to play two enormous games from over 20 years ago, which seems like an overwhelming task. If that’s stressing you out, don’t worry: There’s great news for newcomers.

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Do you have to play Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 before playing Baldur’s Gate 3?

A female adventurer with scales on her face.
Larian Studios

The short answer here is no, you absolutely don’t need to play the first two Baldur’s Gate games to play 3.

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Despite being the third game in a dense, lore-filled franchise, Baldur’s Gate 3 is kind of a standalone story set in the same world. It’s so far removed from its predecessors that it’s set over 120 years after the events of Baldur’s Gate 2. That’s not to mention that it’s the work of an entirely different studio. The original games were created by Bioware, but the latest installment comes from Divinity developer Larian Studios. As such, it’s an entirely fresh spin on the series.

Think of it this way: It’s like you’re playing a totally new campaign set in an established fantasy world. There are plenty of details and clear references that those who love Baldur’s Gate will catch, but they aren’t necessary to understanding the wider story. The adventure does a great job at explaining any locations, races, or lore bits it introduces. You can go in fresh and enjoy a fantasy story about evil mind flayers and eyeball parasites without much confusion.

The thing you may want to be a little more familiar with is Dungeons & Dragons, or tabletop games at large. Baldur’s Gate 3 is built on the D&D 5th edition rule set, adapting tons of its complexities. You might want a baseline understanding of how things like stat modifiers, critical successes, inspiration points, rests, and spell preparation work, and the game does a fairly good job at explaining those complexities. Combat is pretty easy to get the hang of and skill checks are streamlined in ways that always make it clear how bonuses effect your rolls. As someone who’s played a lot of D&D, I found it much easier to grasp the rules as they appear here.

If you need some help grasping the basics, we’ve got some starter guides up that’ll help you pick a class, perform non-lethal attacks, and more.

Naturally, if you’re the kind of person who loves getting immersed in a fantasy world, you might want to dive into the old games to better understand the world. Consider that more of background reading than a requirement, though. Everything you need to know is in Baldur’s Gate 3 itself.

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Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni Colantonio
Section Editor, Gaming
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
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The Barbarian is likely the easiest class to wrap your head around just based on the name. This class focuses primarily on the Strength stat and is all about melee damage. They are proficient with light and medium armor, shields, simple and martial weapons, plus get the unique Rage class action. When you enter the Rage state, you deal more damage and can survive fatal wounds. Their saving throws are linked to the Strength and Constitution stats.

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CRPGs are notorious for being very lengthy investments, and Baldur's Gate 3 is no exception. Even in its early access days, players were spending hundreds of hours on just the first act of the game, though just doing the main story would be significantly less. Some people may spend hours just in the character creator choosing their race and speccing out their class, while others may dive in and only do the main quests. In a game this large, your playtime will vary quite a bit, but no matter how much, or little, of a completionist you are, we can give you a good idea of just how long Baldur's Gate 3 will take to beat.
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Oh boy, this is going to be a somewhat complicated and intimidating answer. Baldur's Gate 3 is a massive CRPG that is all about giving you a unique and tailored experience. Everything from your race, stats, and skills to choices, dialogue choices, and successful or failed skill checks can alter your playtime in some way. There's also the vast number of optional activities and objectives you can choose to engage with or ignore, as well as your difficulty level, to consider. Prior to launch, Larian Studios developer Swen Vincke said that an average playthrough of the game would take "between 75 to 100 hours, that's what we're seeing. That's not doing everything, that is just going to be a playthrough. There will be people who will be way over that, the ones who want to do everything. They will probably hit 200 hours, I think. On average, we're seeing people who are going through take about 75 to 100 hours."

From our experience, we would say that figure is accurate if you're playing on the normal difficulty and taking time to do some sidequests and diversions to explore and engage in a decent amount of the optional content. Normally, a 25-hour range would be a bit wide as an average, but when you consider how your class comes into play, how much combat you encounter, to what degree you are role-playing, and whether or not you're playing alone or in co-op, it starts to make more sense.

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