Dungeons & Dragons: Baldur's Gate 3 Aiming for 2022 Release

Larian Studios hopes to have Baldur's Gate 3 ready for release in 2022. Earlier this month, Larian Studios' founder Swen Vincke spoke to GameSpot about Baldur's Gate 3, the long-awaited next installment of the popular Dungeons & Dragons video game series. Vincke confirmed that the game wouldn't be released in 2021, but that Larian hoped to have it finished and ready for players by the end of next year. "It's not going to release this year for sure," Vincke told GameSpot. "But we're working very hard on getting everything in there. It's a very big game and it deserves to have development time. We would be happy if we can manage to release it next year. We're aiming for it. That's no guarantee, but we're definitely aiming for it."

Baldur's Gate 3 is a new Dungeons & Dragons video game that seeks to recreate the turn-based combat of the roleplaying games. Set in the Forgotten Realms, players will control a group of characters as they fight against mind flayers and deal with the forces of the Nine Hells. Similar to how the first two Baldur's Gate games adapted D&D's Second Edition ruleset, Baldur's Gate 3 will adapt 5th Edition rules, bringing in many of the classes and features from the tabletop game.

Unfortunately, development of Baldur's Gate 3 was setback by the COVID-19 pandemic. Vincke mentioned that the motion capture and voice acting for the game were particularly affected by the pandemic, but they were starting to make progress as some restrictions ease. Additionally, Vincke also noted that they were planning on releasing an update for the Early Access version of the game, which is available now for PC. While the previous update (released in February of this year) added a new class, the next update will focus primarily on responding to feedback from beta players as opposed to adding any new features.

Baldur's Gate 3 is currently available as an Early Access title on Steam. The Early Access version includes the first act of the game's storyline and about 20% of the game's total map. No release date has been announced for the game.