Summary

• 2023 saw an impressive lineup of video game releases, with a strong selection of Game of the Year contenders.
• Baldur's Gate 3 stood out as the Screen Rant's Game of the Year, offering a sprawling fantasy narrative set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe.
• The game's depth, unique character interactions, and dynamic combat mechanics make each playthrough feel tailored and memorable.

2023 picked up where 2022 left off when it comes to video game releases. Just like the year prior, there were no shortage of excellent launches; unlike last year, however, 2023 features a slew of Game of the Year contenders. The selection is so strong that taking the five most popular choices for 2023 GotY and stacking it against any 5-year span of actual winners might not look out of place. In a year that began with a bang in Resident Evil 4 Remake and ended with an even bigger one-two punch of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2, one game stood tall: Baldur's Gate 3, Screen Rant's 2023 Game of the Year.

For anyone somehow unfamiliar with Larian Studios' epic RPG, Baldur's Gate 3 is a sprawling fantasy narrative set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Its world is populated by several iconic characters woven into the history of D&D, but the main story is a unique tale of universe-spanning body horror and political scheming. Players can choose to occupy the role of one of several pre-made characters with deep and interesting back stories, or they can create their own character and recruit those characters into their party.

Baldur's Gate 3 Sets A New Bar For RPGs

The best part of Baldur's Gate 3 is that no playthrough feels identical - whether it's because of different player choices or a roll of the dice, things can go awry in a heartbeat. That's both planned and pure chaotic chance in a system of mechanisms that produces wild combat. So many factors go into each experience, whether it's a player's class, alignment, current position on the map, attributes, skills, items, or even minute factors like whether they chatted up an NPC one whole Act ago.

Of course, there's plenty more to Baldur's Gate 3 than just its variety. At its core, BG3 is Larian Studios' best narrative to date, blending the personal concerns and desires of an eccentric party into a quest to stop a world-ending threat. Each character receives the requisite amount of attention to detail to make them feel like equals rather than caricatures of their alignment or class; just because Gale is a wizard, for instance, doesn't mean he exclusively talks about spells and magical mysteries (though, to be fair, he does that a lot).

There also isn't a "bad" character among the bunch. Some party-based RPGs struggle to provide a roster of compelling choices, but each companion in Baldur's Gate 3 offers something unique from both a gameplay perspective and their insights into story beats. Astarion might gleefully encourage murder, but he's also got a soft spot for those stripped of their agency or power; Karlach is a softie despite her appearance, but her strong sense of justice can make her lose her cool. Everyone is shades of grey instead of black and white, and the result is a story that can be revisited repeatedly without feeling stale.

Depth That Doesn't Exist Anywhere Else

Baldur's Gate 3's Amazing Design

In spite of being something of a mess at times - our review highlights this, in fact - Baldur's Gate 3 simply has depth that no other game possesses. While its complex systems of positioning, environmental factors, spell interactions, and more tends to result in some funny or laggy instances of combat, they also create a world that feels like any idea is possible. Much the same way that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is praised for rewarding inventiveness in its players, so too does BG3 encourage the party to get creative about its predicaments. While a silver-tongued rogue might be able to avoid combat altogether, even if they stumble over their words, they can mix specific arrow types and fluids on the floor to create explosive solutions.

At the heart of Baldur's Gate 3 is the belief that the player can create a better story for themselves than any writer ever could. The framework is excellent and the results of choices are compelling, but ultimately it's the moments in between that make each playthrough feel tailored specifically to one person. Millions of people may have romanced Lae'zel, but how many of them accidentally sent her flying off a set of stairs because of an ill-timed explosion? Probably tens of thousands, but that's besides the point. These small memories pile up during Baldur's Gate 3's play time and eventually coalesce into a story only you could have told - albeit with a generous amount of assistance from Larian Studios' incredible game.