The best story game on the chart and one of the best value. Buy it, take your time, and talk to everyone twice.
Baldur's Gate 3 is Larian's turn-based role-playing game built on Dungeons & Dragons: a party of adventurers with a parasite in their heads, a road to the city of Baldur's Gate, and a story that bends around nearly every choice you make. It is a single purchase with no shop, its post-launch updates were free and large, and it plays with up to three friends. It is also long, dense and occasionally overwhelming, in the best way.
The four bearings
- N7Newcomer · 20%
Character creation is deep and the opening is gentle, but the rules are Dungeons & Dragons and there are a lot of them. Explorer difficulty makes the first act a stroll.
- E9Every session · 35%
Every fight is a puzzle with the environment as pieces, and every conversation is a fork. Long sessions fly. Inventory management and load times are the tax.
- S9Staying power · 25%
A hundred hours for one run, then another for a different origin, class and set of choices. Free updates added classes, an epilogue and a photo mode; a mod platform keeps it going.
- W10Wallet · 20%
One price, no shop, no pass. The digital deluxe upgrade is soundtrack and cosmetics. Every post-launch patch, including big ones, was free.
Weighted 20 / 35 / 25 / 20 into an Atlas score of 8.8. How the bearings work.
What you are actually doing
You build a character, or pick one of several origin characters with their own stories, and lead a party of four along the road to Baldur's Gate. Combat is turn-based on a grid-free battlefield: you move, act and take one extra quick action, and the environment is a weapon, so pushing an enemy off a ledge is often better than hitting them. Between fights you talk, and the talking is the game. Dice rolls decide persuasion and lies, companions react to what you do, and the story branches so widely that two players can compare notes and find they played different games.
The rules are the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, simplified where it helps. If you have never played the tabletop game, the first act teaches enough; if you have, you will recognise nearly everything.
The first evening, honestly
Character creation alone can take an hour, and that is time well spent. The opening is a short, spectacular tutorial on a crashing ship, and then a beach, a few companions and a gentle first area. The rules arrive gradually. The main friction is scale: the download is enormous, the game likes a fast drive, and the inventory system will make you tidy. Explorer difficulty exists for anyone who wants the story without the tactics.
Why it stays
One run is a hundred hours, and a second is nearly as fresh: a different origin, a different class, an evil path, a romance you missed. Larian's post-launch support was unusually generous: free patches added an epilogue, twelve subclasses, a photo mode and cross-play, and an official mod platform with an in-game manager has extended the game further. Patch 8 in April 2025 was declared the final content patch, with only maintenance fixes since. Co-op with friends turns it into a shared campaign with a very patient dungeon master.
Where it shines, where it drags
- The most reactive story on the chart
- Combat that rewards cleverness over stats
- A single purchase; every major update was free
- Four-player co-op with cross-play
- Enormous download and long load times on slower drives
- A lot of rules for players new to tabletop games
- Inventory management is a chore
- Act Three is heavy on hardware
The toll: what it costs in the UK
Baldur's Gate 3 is a single purchase with no shop. A Digital Deluxe upgrade adds the soundtrack, dice skins and a few items from Larian's earlier games. Everything else, including every post-launch patch, was free, and Larian has said Patch 8 in April 2025 was the last content patch. Prices are the UK stores on 24 September 2026; the game goes on sale regularly.
- Base game (Steam UK)£49.99
- Base game (PlayStation 5 and Xbox)£57.99; PlayStation had it at £40.59 until 7 October 2026
- Digital Deluxe upgrade£8.50 on Steam
- Digital Deluxe Edition (PlayStation 5)£65.99
Randomised items: No. Nothing randomised is sold and there is no in-game currency to buy.
Subscriptions and online play: Solo play needs nothing. Online co-op needs the platform's paid online service on PlayStation and Xbox; on PC it is free.
Prices checked 24 September 2026 on the UK stores named above. See Paying for games in the UK for the rights that apply to each payment route.
Who it suits
Anyone who wants a story that answers back, tabletop players, and groups of friends who would rather share a campaign than a shooter. If you want a big world with real-time combat and less talking, Elden Ring is the other single purchase we would put first.
Where to go next
Start with the Baldur's Gate 3 waypoint for a first evening that goes well. Or compare it directly: Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate 3.