I played on: Mac, Ipad, Steam Deck
I payed: £16.75 on Steam, £9.99 on App Store
Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux, Ios, Android, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Notes: I played the Enhanced Edition which plays almost the same as the original but with modern resolution sizes, and a few quality-of-life improvements.
Mortismal Gaming’s New Player Guide link.
Baldur’s Gate is a legendry game. It would go on to be genre defining during the late 1990s and 2000s. I had never played this classic until 2023 after being introduced to the series via Baldur’s Gate 3. In fact, I wasn’t really into D&D or the Forgotten Realms at all until Baldur’s Gate 3 introduced me to it. Since then, I’ve gone on to become deeply invested in this franchise. I was eager to go back and explore the lore and world building found within this first chapter of the Baldur’s Gate series. While the gameplay and visuals are certainly dated, even within the Enhanced Edition, this is still an absolute classic that is worth experiencing today!
Baldur’s Gate is obviously an old game. In fact, it’s 26 years old as of 2024. Dungeons and Dragons has come a long way since 1998. As I write this the tabletop game uses the 5.5 edition ruleset. This is a slight modification of the 5th edition that Baldur’s Gate 3 uses. Going back to Baldur’s Gate 1 was a shock in terms of the gameplay seeing as it uses the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition ruleset. I’m very unfamiliar with this era of D&D and found myself struggling to get into the game at first. I then relented and went through the in-game tutorial and watched a helpful YouTube video. After this I understood a lot of the things that I was struggling to understand beforehand. My biggest complaint here is with the in-game tutorial. It was helpful to understand the controls but failed to really explain a lot of the mechanics of AD&D 2E such as THAC0. If you’re having this same issue, then I’d say it’s worth watching the video I’ve linked above. BG1 is a fantastic game, and it would be a crying shame to miss out on it due to a poor tutorial.
The gameplay is played from a top-down isometric perspective like the original 2 Fallout games, or Diablo 2. The resolution is a real mixed bag. When you zoom in, close up, to the character models everything looks blurry and pixilated. Then again if you keep the camera pulled back then the art design really carries the game. Beautifully bright, vivid, areas, with plenty of detail, help bring the world to life. Even coming from Baldur’s Gate 3, I found myself impressed with the scale of the world. You can explore from the Cloud Peaks in the south all the way to the city of Baldur’s Gate in the north. That’s an impressive 300ish miles of land to explore. This isn’t all one massive open world, instead it’s several separate zones that you get to via a world map. Don’t think that means that these areas are small though. Some of them are massive. Each major location must first be travelled to via these connecting zones. You access new areas by exiting each of these zones via the respective compass direction. For example, if you want to travel from Candlekeep to the Friendly Arm Inn, then you will first need to cross two other areas, exiting each of them via the east and then northern edges. Although after you’ve made a journey once you can just travel there directly via the world map. It’s a perfect system that keeps the world feeling large, and dangerous, while also not becoming tedious.
Just picture this, to understand how stupid the rest function is when put into context. Serevok, the son of Bhaal, the god of murder, is standing around in the centre of Bhaal’s forgotten temple. Meanwhile I’m grabbing the attention of each of his disciples, luring them away before ambushing them. Then my party sets up camp in the corner of the room and gets in a tidy 8-hour nap. Before waking up and luring another of his henchmen away for a beating. I managed to do this for 2 of his minions, resting for 8 hours between each one, before luring Serevok, himself, to my corner of doom. Baldur’s Gate is trying to replicate a tabletop campaign of D&D. When it works well it’s amazing. But these overly difficult boss fights that push you into abusing the game systems really don’t feel like a tabletop session.
What Baldur’s Gate does better than anything else is its story and world building. The plot is a direct continuation of the Avatar series of novels. You won’t miss anything important if you’ve not read these, but they are referenced during the game. As a fan of these books, I enjoyed the connection. The game begins with you living as a sheltered ward of the wise sage Gorion. You live with your stepfather within the walls of Candlekeep. This hold is the largest library within all Faerûn and resides just south-west of Baldur’s Gate. The opening of the game takes place within these walls. It’s the perfect place to learn how quests and combat work before you leave on a journey with your stepfather. After you and Gorion leave Candlekeep things start to go wrong almost immediately. You're ambushed by a giant hulking man in dark evil looking armour. While you escape, Gorion dies defending your life. His last instruction to you was to seek out his friends waiting for him at the Friendly Arm Inn. From here you’re free to follow his last wish or just explore the world as you see fit.
During your time adventuring around the Sword Coast, you will learn of the iron crisis that is plaguing the lands. It seems that all the iron in the region has been tainted and is falling apart. This has created tensions between the city of Baldur’s Gate and the land of Amn to the South. War is on the horizon and it’s up to you to learn what’s causing the iron crisis, stop it, and find out how it all connects back to you. Who was the strange man in dark armour that murdered your stepfather? Is he connected to the iron crisis? These questions will be answered as you adventure across the lands. It’s a very smart story that feels mature in the best way possible. Someone is manipulating regional politics with the iron crisis in a way that makes sense. It feels like more than a typical fantasy story. This is connected to a massive world that feels believable. As you explore the towns you will be able to see the wealth divide between them. This is most pronounced within the massive city of Baldur’s Gate. Moving from district to district will sometimes show a noticeable change in the quality, cleanliness, and upkeep of the buildings and streets around you. Then you will have stories and quests that have reach outside of the Sword Coast. The companion Neera, for example, is being hunted by the red wizards of Thay. Fans of the ‘Honor Among Thieves’ film will recognise these villains. All these things go together to create a world that feels deep, believable, and historic. Some of the best world building in all of gaming.
Overall Baldur’s Gate is an absolute classic, a dated one, but a classic none-the-less. It’s far from perfect by modern standards but it’s a lot closer than I expected it to be. I’d say it’s well worth jumping into, just for the world and story alone. I loved my time spent with it and I can’t wait to play through the DLC and sequel.