Baldur’s Gate 3 might be the third main series game in the iconic Dungeons & Dragons video game franchise, but in many ways, it felt like a fresh start. The game’s massive popularity led many to experience D&D for the first time, redefining what a D&D video game could be. But though it might be the most popular game in recent history, it’s not the first video game to introduce a generation to the fantasy TTRPG. Before Baldur’s Gate 3, another game that shares that classic setting brought us into the world of D&D.
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The first two main series Baldur’s Gate games were incredible, but as PC-only releases with more complex mechanics, they were aimed at a specific audience. Those games couldn’t see console ports until many years later. For that reason, many gamers, myself included, first stepped into the video game world of Baldur’s Gate with the first console spinoff. I’m speaking, of course, about the 2001 release of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. As a PS2, Xbox, and GameCube era game, it graced the shelves of GameStop in a way the prior entries did not. And it was there that me and a generation of future D&D enthusiasts found it.
Dark Alliance Was My Intro to D&D Lore and The Start of a Lifelong Love
I still remember the fateful day I discovered Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. Back then, I found new games by roaming the shelves of the local GameStop and seeing what cover art grabbed me. And as a young gamer girl, anything featuring a female character on the cover naturally caught my eye. And so, I picked up Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, and the rest is history. For me, and many other people around my age, this game marked our introduction to what D&D can be, and it changed everything.
Dark Alliance is a spinoff, developed by Snowblind Studios rather than BioWare, who made the original Baldur’s Gate games. It takes a more straightforward RPG video game approach to the rules of D&D, with real-time combat and a looser class system. But we begin our story in the city of Baldur’s Gate, and many classic D&D monsters feature as the opponents you contend with throughout the game. It was through Dark Alliance that I battled my first Bugbear, my first undead, and even my first Beholder.
One day, I defeated the final boss, making Dark Alliance the first RPG I ever fully finished. And immediately, I wanted more. I wanted to experience the TTRPG that spawned this amazing video game that captured me unlike anything I’d ever played before. It would be many years before I found a group that actually let me into the fold, but I spent those years loving the lore behind the TTRPG, all because I encountered it in Dark Alliance.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance Won’t Teach You To Roll For Initiative, But That’s Not the Point
While you can arguably get a feel for the rules and gameplay flow of D&D from Baldur’s Gate 3, that’s not how Dark Alliance operates. Sure, you encounter NPCs and get a small choice in what you say to them. But it’s not really a “choices matter” situation in the same way, and you won’t be rolling any dice. And with the real-time combat, you’re not getting a sense of initiative, either.
But despite it all, Dark Alliance delivered a truly memorable gaming experience. Along with enjoyable hack-and-slash gameplay, the game is fondly remembered for its couch co-op options. You could party up with a friend (or, in my case, sibling) to experience the story together. I have fond memories of playing the game with my brother, one of the few games we sunk hours into in co-op. And purusing Reddit, I learned I’m far from the only who explored Baldur’s Gate and beyond with a sibling as a core childhood memory.
By delivering a console-specific ARPG, Dark Alliance introduced a new audience to the genre. The pared-back combat may not feel as authentic to the TTRPG, but it made the games more accessible to those first encountering the world of D&D. And adding that couch co-op component? Absolute genius, ensuring that it would be the go-to game for households with multiple siblings who wanted to experience an RPG together. And given that Dungeons & Dragons is, at its heart, a game about playing with friends, this couch co-op feature was an essential part of teaching us how great it can be to battle monsters with your pals.
The story wasn’t necessarily the most inventive, and it could get a little repetitive at times. But it still managed to work in enough lore that, years later, when I first picked up a D&D source book, I realized I already knew so much about the world and its general mechanics. The names of spells, for instance, are authentic, as are several of the monsters and locations you visit. And in that way, playing the game turned me and a generation of console gamers into future D&D enthusiasts.
For a Hack and Slash Approach to D&D Games, Dark Alliance Still Delivers
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance was well received in its time, with impressive sales numbers and even a few awards as one of the best console RPG entries around. It currently boasts an 87 MetaCritic rating, with even recent reviews praising its worldbuilding and RPG mechanics. And as someone who went on a nostalgic tour of the games I loved as a kid back in 2020, I can confirm it really does hold up pretty well.
For a game released 24 years ago, Dark Alliance is still just good fun. It has been re-released on modern consoles, making it relatively easy to access and revisit if you choose. And the combat system, for all its little quirks, is still enjoyable. No, it’s not as deep as BG3. It was never meant to be, with a scaled-back and real-time approach to the general idea of Dungeons & Dragons, rather than its actual mechanics.
Dark Alliance isn’t perfect, and replaying it does reveal the game’s age. The class options are limited, with just 3 preset options to choose from, and it’s lacking that open-world expansiveness of games like Baldur’s Gate 3. But for a linear RPG, it’s still worth playing even all these years later, especially if you come to it with nostalgia like I do. After all, the game caused a whole generation to pick up polyhedral dice for the first time for a reason.
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