Many gaming awards are given out yearly, but The Game Awards are considered the most prestigious.

The Game Awards combine fan votes (10%) with the thoughts of a panel of established critics and industry experts (90%), meaning whichever game is crowned The Game Awards Game of the Year is usually a video game masterpiece.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the 2023 winner of the coveted Game of the Year category, a deserved winner among some incredible nominations.

The wizards at Larian Studios found their epic RPG title up against some stern opposition in the Game of the Year category.

Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment), The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games), Resident Evil 4 (Capcom), and Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo) are all incredible games, but there was only ever going to be one winner.

Plenty of hype surrounded the long-awaited sequel to Baldur’s Gate 2, and that hype was justified. Within days of the game’s release on Windows on August 3, 2023, the best betting sites in Florida and those further afield had priced Baldur’s Gate 3 as the overwhelming favorite to claim the Game of the Year title.

Those early predictions ran true, with Baldur’s Gate 3 receiving nine nominations at the 2023 The Game Awards and walking away with six.

What is Baldur’s Gate 3?

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a role-playing game (RPG) featuring single-player and multi-player elements. It is the third installment of the Baldur’s Gate series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing system of Dungeons & Dragons; the game’s turn-based combat system is based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules.

Although the game is the third edition of the series, it is open and accessible to those who have never enjoyed one of the earlier games. Whether you are a seasoned RPG enthusiast or a fresh-faced adventurer, Baldur’s Gate 3 welcomes all into its mesmerizing world of mystery and magic. 

The beauty of Baldur’s Gate 3 lies in its seamless blend of choice and consequence, with every decision you make, regardless of how trivial it seems at the time, carrying real weight.

The Forgotten Realms universe, where Baldur’s Gate 3 takes place, is colossal and fully interactive. Players who primarily focus on the main objectives will spend approximately 60 hours before the end credits roll, with completionists needing to dedicate over 150 hours to obtain 100% completion.

The sheer amount of flexibility and character customization is staggering. There are 12 character classes, further divided into 46 subclasses, each with positive and negative traits. It is possible to create the perfect character for your unique playing style, regardless of how you wish to approach Baldur’s Gate 3.

Then, there is the astounding dialogue of the game. All major and minor characters are fully voice-acted, amounting to approximately 1.5 million words of performance capture.

You never hear the same voice twice, even if you manage to speak to every single character you meet, which adds to the immersion. The voice acting is on such a high level that Neil Newbon received the Best Performance award for his voicing of Astarion.

What is the Baldur’s Gate 3 Plot and Gameplay?

After an epic opening sequence that has you on the edge of your seat, Baldur’s Gate 3 wastes little time in throwing you into the action. You wake up inside a giant dimension-crossing flying ship, roped into a battle against a mind-flayer parasite threatening to turn you into a puppet on a string.

This is your cue to embark on a quest to save yourself and find a cure for the mysterious “tadpoles” that can control the world’s inhabitants.

Throughout your journey through the world of magic and mayhem, you and your companions traverse the world of Faerun, the primary setting of the Dungeons & Dragons world of Forgotten Realms.

You become involved in the fate of Emerald Grove and travel through the mountains of the Underdark to reach Moonrise Towers before reaching the titular Baldur’s Gate.

You will meet dozens upon dozens of characters along the way, some delightful, others downright devious. You will also meet a motley crew of companions, each with their quirks, agendas, and tales to tell. They are more than simple NPCs; they are your partners-in-crime, true allies, and maybe even friends, depending on your choices.

The turn-based combat works seamlessly and gets your heart rate soaring. Every battle is unique and offers many ways to approach it, even allowing the use of the environment to your advantage.

For example, you can have a character attack some urns of oil before using one of the mind-blowing fire spells to ignite the spilled oil, which results in potentially fight-winning damage for your ablaze foes. You are entirely in control of your destiny, where a seemingly innocuous comment to someone you meet has consequences down the line.

Conclusion

Role-playing game lovers are spoiled for choice in the modern video game world. The Dragon Age series or Elder Scrolls offer epic adventures, but they cannot hold a candle to Baldur’s Gate 3. Baldur’s Gate 3 is not your run-of-the-mill RPG.

It is an immersive, spellbinding journey through a world where your decisions matter, your alliances shape destinies, and adventure awaits at every turn. The game has raised the bar for what is possible in RPG and what gamers will now expect from this genre’s titles.

One only needs to look at online video game review sites to see how well-received Baldur’s Gate 3 is. It has a 96/100 score on Metacritic, 99% on OpenCritic, 10/10 from GameSpot, and 10/10 from IGN.

Now Baldur’s Gate 3 rightly has a Game of the Year award under its belt. So download it, grab your gear, ready your spells, and get set for an epic quest where the only limitations are your imagination.