The holiday season is always one of the best times to pick up the latest and greatest games thanks to sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and now — mere days before Christmas itself — I've spotted a deal on one I thought wouldn't get a discount until well into 2024: Baldur's Gate 3. That's right; Larian's GOTY-winning D&D CRPG has officially gone on sale for the first time, and it's currently available for $53.99 at GOG. That's a sweet 10% discount off the game's $59.99 MSRP, and the most affordable it's been since it launched in August.
Something to be aware of, though, is that this deal goes away on January 3, 2024 at 12:59 a.m. ET according to the game's store page. Whether you're planning to gift BG3 to someone else this holiday or you want to pick it up for yourself, make sure you do so before then.
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This game will make anyone's holiday jolly
Baldur's Gate 3 is nothing short of an absolutely stunning triumph, and if you ask me, none of the other games at The Game Awards 2023 even came close to challenging it for Game of the Year. What Larian Studios has crafted here will continue to be enjoyed for years and years to come, and it stands tall as the ultimate adaption of the magic of D&D tabletop roleplaying to the medium of video games.
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Set in the D&D universe's Forgotten Realms, BG3 kicks off with your character — as well as a handful of others — on a massive flying ship helmed by "mind flayer" illithids (tentacled humanoid monsters with psionic abilities, if you didn't know). The vessel comes under attack from exterior forces and is brought down, but not before you and the other people aboard are implanted with tadpoles that will, in time, turn you into a mind flayer. After the ship crash-lands on the continent of Faerûn, you and the other survivors embark on a journey across The Sword Coast to find a way to rid yourselves of these parasites.
And what an incredible journey it is. Baldur's Gate 3 is absolutely brimming with companions and characters to meet, places to go, and things to do, with oodles of hidden secrets and expertly written story quests and dialogue to experience across playthroughs that span upwards of 100 hours on average. Also, no two runs of the game feel the same, as the outcome of quests and encounters can (and will) change drastically depending on which of Baldur's Gate 3's classes you choose, how you decide to level stats and skills, which dialogue options you pick, how your dice rolls go, and more. The amount of different ways you can resolve situations in this game is truly staggering.
Then there's the turn-based combat, which is just as top-notch as everything else. There's an ocean of varied builds you can put together for your character and your party — all of which are totally viable, by the way — and the design of each encounter immensely rewards opportunistic and creative play. Environments are wonderfully vertical and full of objects and terrain that can be both helpful and hazardous, encouraging players to try and use the conditions of the battlefield to their advantage. In one early battle against a boss and his minions, for example, I managed to make the fight significantly easier by using the Strength-focused Paladin and Fighter in my party to shove most of his men into a pit with hungry giant spiders. Dinnertime, my eight-legged friends.
All of this is supported by beautiful art and visuals as well as a marvelous score and wondrous voice acting performances, and ultimately, it's a terrific game that anyone who likes RPGs needs to play. If there was ever a game that deserved to be called a masterpiece, Baldur's Gate 3 is it. Undoubtedly, it's one of the best PC games of all time, and one of the best Xbox games as well now that it's out on Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S consoles (unfortunately, it's not on sale on that platform).
