It's real. One of the best RPGs ever is getting a sequel made by creators of our number one pick in our top 100 games list and one of the best RPGS of all time.

Baldur's Gate 3 will be the successor to the old Infinity Engine games that we remember so fondly. You'll gather your party before venturing forth, complete with modern touches like fully voice-acted characters.

Larian Studios is adapting Dungeons & Dragons tabletop rules for the next RPG and it sounds like they've taken a few creative liberties to translate the D&D experience to PC much like they did with Divinity: Original Sin 2.

Larian have been showing off more and more gameplay as we get closer to early access launch. Here's everything we know based on what they've shared so far:

Baldur's Gate 3 will launch in early access on October 6th, for real this time. Larian was originally planning for September 30th but hit some last minute delays.

Baldur's Gate 3 is coming to early access first, so we don't yet know what Larian is planning for a full release. When announcing the early access date, Larian's Swen Vincke said "we intend to stay there for awhile," while its Steam store lists an estimate of at least one year, meaning a possible 2021 launch date. We do know that Baldur's Gate 3 will release on GOG and Steam, along with Stadia.

What trailers and gameplay for Baldur's Gate 3 are out there?

You can check out the original cinematic cinematic announcement trailer for Baldur's Gate 3 with all its body horror glory.

For lots more, you can also watch over an hour of gameplay , streamed during PAX East 2020. Vincke shows off a detailed look at combat, both when it goes right and when it goes wrong in proper Larian fashion. Some changes have been made to combat since this video, which we'll get into more below.

Here's even more Baldur's Gate 3 gameplay streamed live and played once again by Larian CEO Swen Vincke during summer 2020. During this stream, Vincke lets the Twitch chat choose several interactions for him as they explore. Combat has seen some changes since February as has the narration.

What's the setting for Baldur's Gate 3?

The city of Baldur's Gate will feature of course, but the whole city won't be available to the player, only relevant sections. According to Swen Vincke, the player will start outside of the city of Baldur's Gate but will head into the city walls as seen in the game's premier trailer.

In the demo, the party doesn't reach Baldur's Gate, and apparently everything we've seen so far takes place in the first 10-20 hours; so expect to go on quite a trek before arriving in the titular city.

The game follows a new story set in the current era of the Forgotten Realms. The mind flayers have found a way to make ships that allow them to travel between worlds, and now they are invading. Larian has hinted that the story may visit other planes or even the Underdark.

The player character and main companions are all infected with a parasitic tadpole that should turn them into mind flayers, but for some reason the process isn't working like it normally does. One of the key quests, then, is to find out more information about the tadpoles and get them removed.

Though the party doesn't appear to be transforming into mind flayers, the tadpole still has an effect. You can link minds with other people with tadpoles and get some other benefits, but the more you use your power, the easier you'll be to control when you happen across another mind flayer.

Which Dungeons & Dragons edition will Baldur's Gate 3 be based on? Baldur's Gate 3 is based on Larian's interpretation of the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. CEO Swen Vincke explained that some rules and systems don't translate well directly from tabletop to digital game, so Larian has worked to create an interpretation of 5th Edition rules that works well as a digital game but still feels true to D&D.

Who are the bad guys?

The mind flayers are an ancient and terrifying force in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. They live in the Underdark and have powerful psionic abilities. They are able to mind control other sentient beings and like to feed on their brains for sustenance. They frequently keep slaves to do their bidding and serve as a convenient snack.

"The mind flayers have rediscovered the secret of nautiloids," Larian founder Swen Vincke tells PC Gamer. "Those are big problems! If you know D&D lore, especially Volo's Guide, you'll know they used to rule the Astral Plane, but they lost it all and had to flee to the Underdark or they'd be exterminated by another alien race, the githyanki. 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!"

Speaking of the githyanki, they feature prominently. In the opening cutscene, they attempt to stop the mind flayer invasion, appearing on top of red dragons to blow the nautaloids out of the sky. One of your first potential companions is a githyanki, and you can make a githyanki character.

How will custom characters work in Baldur's Gate 3?

(Image credit: Larian)

Similarly to Divinity: Original Sin 2, Baldur's Gate 3 will let you choose to make an entirely custom character or one of its preset cast. It's a good option to have, but Divinity OS2's main characters were pretty widely considered the better option as they had more personalized dialogue and a connection to the story.

Larian said in an AMA on Reddit that in BG3, "custom characters have a much stronger connection to the world and the main arc of the story. … We’re confident that you won’t feel short-changed in terms of narrative breadth and depth if you choose to play as a custom character."

"When we say there are serious consequences to your choices, we really mean it. As you move through your adventure, you’ll discover quest-lines and stories that relate directly to the character you’re roleplaying, and the things that you’ve done"

What classes and races will be available?

(Image credit: Larian Studio)

When it comes to races, the boring humans, halflings, elves and the like are represented, of course, but you'll also be able to make tieflings, drow, githyanki and even a vampire spawn. Along with having an impact on dialogue, these choices will also give you access to special abilities and story beats, like the vampire spawn drinking their companions' blood. Here's all the details about Baldur's Gate 3 races that you'll want to know when you make your choice.

Classes are obviously important too. "The stories are very much tied to class at times," says senior writer Adam Smith. "Class is such a part of identity in D&D, in a way that it wasn't in DOS2." Larian say that in the full release of BG3 we'll be able to play as any class from the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition ruleset. During early access we'll be able to play as a Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock or Wizard.

When picking a class, you'll also be able to pick a specialized archetype. Check out he full list below:

Fighter - Battle Master, Eldritch Knight

Wizard - Evocation, Abjuration

Rogue - Arcane Trickster, Thief

Ranger - Hunter, Beast Master

Cleric - Life, Light, Trickery

Warlock - Fiend, Great One

How will it play?

(Image credit: Larian)

True to the series, it's an RPG in which you control a party of heroes with their own backgrounds and motivations. Like Original Sin 2, you'll be able to pick an origin character, which have unique backgrounds and special hooks, as well as making one from scratch. This time origin characters are also tied to a class.

Vincke says the game will be heavily systems-driven and Larian will be creating its own D&D-inspired ruleset. "We'll stay true to our roots, so we'll give players lots of systems and lots of agency to use these systems and try to accomplish what you need to on your personal adventure and your party's adventure. That's not going to change; that's the core of what we're doing. But then there will be an interpretation of D&D, because if you port the core rules—we tried it!—to a videogame, it doesn't work."

Fights seem a lot more interactive than in Divinity: Original Sin 2. You can take off your boot and throw it at an enemy, knock down braziers, destroy the ground so you can get underneath enemies, climb up and then break ladders so you can't be followed—there was a lot going on in the demo. Expect fights to generally be more vertical. You could send your ranger up to the rafters to get the drop on a boss while your rogue sneaks through some crypts.

Since we know that Baldur's Gate 3 is starting out in early access, it isn't so surprising that the combat is still being revised. Our first look at combat in February 2020 showed a team initiative system where the player's party would all act simultaneously and then the enemies would all attack simultaneously and back and forth. Based on playtesting and feedback, Larian have already changed that up.

As of gameplay shown in the summer of 2020, each party member now has their own initiative and place in the order of turns. Party members with adjacent turns will still be able to queue up actions simultaneously to set up neat interactions though. Larian hope that this will allow players to take advantage of combos with party members while not making combat feel so unbalanced.

Outside of combat, you can force turn-based mode on, which should come in handy when you're sneaking around and need to keep an eye on the movement of guards. You can also have somethings happening in real-time while other stuff is happening turn-by-turn. In multiplayer, your mate could be shopping while you're fighting.

Let's talk romance

Larian dished some details on Baldur's Gate 3 character relationships recently and let's just say the game is definitely rated "M" by the ESRB for a reason. Your party members will have opinions about all sort of decisions that you make as the player character including which factions you choose to support and who you choose to kill. You can debrief about everything back at the party camp, which is also where you can engage in more intimate activities. If you've managed to find your way into a romantic relationship with one of your party members, you'll definitely be able to act on the physical side of it. Yup, you can have sex in Baldur's Gate 3.

"We are trying to make these relationships feel real and feel like the relationships you have in the real world," lead writer Sarah Baylus explained. "You will meet some people who you have nothing in common with, some will be useful to work together, but that is going to be the extent of it. But there could be situations where you get on really well, you share similar goals and you love travelling together."

How much of Baldur's Gate 3 can you play in early access?

Larian says that the early access version of the game will contain about 20 hours of gameplay.

In early access you'll be able to choose between six classes: Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock, and Wizard. There will be nine races. You'll need to make a custom character during early access, but you can recruit five of the game's characters to your party:

Astarion - Elf/Vampire Rogue

- Elf/Vampire Rogue Gale - Human Wizard

- Human Wizard Lae’zel - Githyanki Warrior

- Githyanki Warrior Shadowheart - Half-Elf Cleric

- Half-Elf Cleric Wyll - Human Warlock

If you want some impressive numbers, Larian shared how Baldur's Gate 3's early access version compares to Divinity: Original Sin 2's:

Number of combat encounters : 22 in DOS2 EA vs. 80 in BG3 EA

: 22 in DOS2 EA vs. 80 in BG3 EA Number of English dialogue lines : 17,600 in DOS2 EA vs. 45,980 in BG3 EA

: 17,600 in DOS2 EA vs. 45,980 in BG3 EA Number of characters : 142 in DOS2 EA vs. 596 in BG3 EA

: 142 in DOS2 EA vs. 596 in BG3 EA Number of spells/actions: 69 in DOS2 EA vs. 146 in BG3 EA

Larian CEO Swen Vinke points out that despite the numbers, you may not actually play the early access version of BG3 for longer than D:OS2's but you'll have a lot more diverging choices during that time.

Where are Minsc and Boo?

They might just show up in Baldur's Gate 3! Larian CEO Swen Vincke told VG247 that it's a real possibility, saying: "If you look at what the Fifth Edition has done, characters like Boo and Minsc are still alive," Vincke said. "Bhaal and maybe a couple of other guys are still around. What’s gonna happen with that? You’re gonna discover when you play BG3."

Vincke wouldn't drop that kind of hint without following through, right? Surely there will be some "Butt-kicking! For goodness!"

Other D&D celebs may show up, too. We've already seen famed scholar and exaggerator Volo, who crops up more than once during the demo.

Look at this baby owlbear

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

During the early access announcement date stream, Larian showed off a super short snippet in which the player encounters a frightfully large and angry owlbear. Turns out it's protecting this adorable owlbear cub. Larian CEO Swen Vincke says that this is one of a few possible encounters with the cub and "if you really, really play your cards well and your dice roll well you can actually recruit the owlbear cub into your camp." He does warn that it might not play nicely with other animal friends though so be wary.

How is Wizards of the Coast involved?

As custodians of Dungeons and Dragons Wizards of the Coast are involved in clearing storylines and keeping the D&D lore consistent. The quality of Divinity: Original Sin 2 convinced Wizards of the Coast to greenlight Baldur's Gate 3.

"I went to them [Wizards of the Coast] after Divinity: Original Sin and I tried to convince them back then," says Vincke. "But they said we were a bit too green. They got back in touch during Divinity: Original Sin 2—they saw what we were doing and asked if we were still interested. That got the ball rolling. During DOS2 we had to submit the design for it, but it was annoying because we were about to release DOS2. So we sat in a hotel for a weekend the month before release, me and a couple of writers and designers, and we made the initial design document. It wasn't very good, but it had the core ideas and they did like it, so they asked us to make another version, and we did that and they loved it."

Will Baldur's Gate 3 have cross saves between other platforms?

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Larian hasn't mentioned cross-saves for Baldur's Gate 3 yet. But after the studio's recent heist allegedly stealing (probably lots of meetings, in reality) their save files from Valve to facilitate Divinity: Original Sin 2 cross-saves between Steam and the Nintendo Switch, we imagine all that effort would be wasted if Larian didn't continue offering cross-saves for its future games. Larian has opened a portal of possibilities that we hope won't close any time soon.