Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to Stadia and PC after series’ 18-year hiatus
From the makers of Divinity: Original Sin 2
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Baldur’s Gate 3is officially coming from Larian Studios, creators of Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin 2, as was rumored – and it’s coming toGoogle Stadia.
The game was revealed duringGoogle’s first Stadia Connect presentation announcing details for the streaming game service. Baldur’s Gate 3 will be among the 31 titles initially announced for the platform.
The new game comes 19 years since the last great main installment Baldur’s Gate 2, or 18 if you count its expansion a year later. But fans are as eager as ever for a return: the barest hint of a possible sequelemergedlast week and the internet wentnuts.
Despite the official reveal, we still don’t know much about the game nor its release date. All we have to go by is the teaser Larian showed off during the Stadia presentation – and be warned, because the one linked below is an uncut version (read: more gore/body horror) of the teaser:
https://t.co/favVlUxCcfAn ancient evil has returned to Baldur’s Gate, intent on devouring it from the inside out. The fate of Faerûn lies in your hands. Alone, you may resist. But together, you can overcome. #baldursgate3June 6, 2019
What…was that?
In the teaser, an unnamed warrior stumbles through streets cluttered with bodies. Sickened, he spits up teeth and screams as his body splits and twists into something truly gruesome…and tentacled. By the end, he’s transformed into a signature creature from Dungeons and Dragons: a mind flayer.
These Cthulhuian horrors look like water-logged humanoids with squids for heads, and in role-playing games, they’re often malevolent beings who wield magic for their own nefarious ends. So it seems here, as the trailer ends with the newly-transformed mind flayer staring ahead while dozens of others appear in the clouds behind with every lightning flash.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, the mind flayers once soared through their astral empire in vessels known as nautaloids – an empire that fell long ago, but now the creatures are assailing the land, Larian CEO Swen Vincke toldPCGamerin an extensive interview.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
“Those are big problems,” says Vincke. “They want to restore their empire, so we see the mind flayers invading a city, with a nautaloid, so you can imagine what might happen—but it’s not what you’ll expect!”
Vincke further described Larian’s campaign to convince Wizards of the Coast to let them develop Baldur’s Gate 3, but the rightsholders feared the game studio was too ‘green’ until they’d almost finished Divinity: Original Sin 2. That title was a critical and commercial success that embodied the appeal of the old Baldur’s games – hence why the internet was excited at news Larian might be involved in the official sequel.
Okay, but when?
Unfortunately, Larian didn’t reveal when we’ll get to delve into Baldur’s Gate 3. Nor is it clear whether the game will be available when Google Stadia launches in ‘fall’ (third-quarter) 2019. That would be pretty exciting, but if you aren’t down with the search company’s streaming service, it’s also coming to PC.
David is now a mobile reporter at Cnet. Formerly Mobile Editor, US for TechRadar, he covered phones, tablets, and wearables. He still thinks the iPhone 4 is the best-looking smartphone ever made. He’s most interested in technology, gaming and culture – and where they overlap and change our lives. His current beat explores how our on-the-go existence is affected by new gadgets, carrier coverage expansions, and corporate strategy shifts.
Valve just single-handedly upgraded content creation for PC gamers – Steam’s Game Recording feature is now available to all
The future of PC gaming will be AI-driven - AMD confirms machine learning FSR 4 for 2025, launching in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Quordle today – hints and answers for Saturday, November 9 (game #1020)
