After 6 years in development, Baldur’s Gate 3 launched last year to overwhelming critical acclaim. The D&D tabletop game swept RPG fans clean off their feet, with an expansive experience you could easily sink hundreds of hours into.
The astounding array of choice that BG3 offers (a crucial ingredient for RPGs) is unparalleled, and will no doubt have raised eyebrows from established RPG experts such as Bethesda, with one former developer admitting how Larian’s GOTY winner beats out The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Wins Thanks To Its Emphasis On Choice
In an interview with MinnMax, former Bethesda designer Bruce Nesmith praised Baldur’s Gate 3 for evoking the feeling of playing a tabletop RPG in an expertly produced AAA title:
I think [Baldur’s Gate 3] is a triumph of trying to make the tabletop experience actually happen right there in the computer. My hat’s off to Larian and the groups there.
The compliments are well-warranted, as BG3 puts choice front and center for the player. Based on your decisions, companions can exit your party, entire storylines can simply never happen, and you could even blitz through the campaign in mere minutes.
It’s a game that rewards trying new things and weird ideas, sometimes throwing unique lines or story beats your way that most players would never see. This focus on making your choices matter and the game feel unpredictable is where BG3 shines the brightest, and where Skyrim just can’t hold a candle.
Bethesda RPGs Aim To Please Everyone, BG3 Doesn’t
Bethesda games are all about exploration, allowing you to wander across giant, amazing worlds with the freedom to do whatever you want. This ethos has stayed consistent from Skyrim to their latest game, Starfield, albeit to mixed reception.
The idea is to let players roam around however they like and experience a ton of side quests that don’t really affect the main story, standing in stark contrast to BG3, where some story paths can be entirely blocked off according to your choices.
Nesmith understands the difference in these approaches, saying:
The thing that at Bethesda we could never get ourselves to do, is that they [Larian] poked into all the darkest corners. They’ve come out and said, quite bluntly, ‘we don’t care if only 1% of the players will ever see this. Those 1% that do are gonna be happy, and they will tell the other 99%, who will then be happy that the option existed.’
Bethesda games are built to be huge experiences where players can do (almost) everything. You can lead every faction, be best friends (or enemies) with every character, and explore every single corner of the game’s world. It’s a strategy that aims to please everyone, even if it means they might only get a few choices that truly matter throughout their entire adventure.
Comparing Baldur’s Gate 3 with games like Skyrim and Starfield may not be entirely fair, as they’re two different sides of the RPG coin, but that doesn’t stop gamers from comparing them anyway. It’ll be interesting to see if BG3‘s success could have an influence on how future Bethesda games are designed, like the upcoming Elder Scrolls 6.
For players who crave a true tabletop RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the clear choice by miles. While Skyrim offers a vast and beautiful world to explore, it can’t compete with the sheer depth and replayability that BG3 brings to the table, faithfully capturing the magic of those shared D&D sessions around a table littered with dice and character sheets.
