Baldur's Gate 3 Surpasses Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom As 2023's Highest-Rated Game "So Far"

People are just there for the bear scenes...if you know what I'm talking about.

From the studio behind Divinity Original Sin II I was expecting a quality game but this looks to surpass expectations… maybe I’ll check it out one day if it’s ever ported to a Nintendo console

Haven't heard of it. Looks boring to me, like Diablo.

And the review rating will fall. This is a "at this moment..." news story that will change later. These first reviews are from Fanboys that are predisposed to liking this game.

Is that a purple Legolas?

Definitely going to give it a gander when it hits PS5 next month.

I bought my first PC to play Baldurs Gate.

@dil_power
I'd be all over this if it came to Switch! It looks right up my alley

People get way too invested in Metacritic averages anyway, what's it really matter provided the game sells. Resident Evil 4 is my favorite game of this year and I have no idea what its Metacritic score is and don't care to find out.

I'll check reviews for sure, is useful for knowing what you're getting into, but whether something is the top ranked or eighth ranked or wins awards or whatever doesn't matter at all.

literally the only thing I've heard about this game is the bear sex thing. I still don't know what it's about or what platform it's on.

I think the more interesting discussion is the ones devs are having around what both games accomplished. I get people might want to take either game down a peg if it's distracting attention from the thing they love, but let's be glad two industry shaking games are out for us to enjoy and for developers to learn from. That's nothing but good, right?

I play the Stadia version a few years back, it was terrible. I'm glad the game is at least not stuck in the cloud anymore for those that are waiting for that one. I didn't play either Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 as I am not a fan of rts games that much, my only start with the series was through its gaiden games, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 & 2 which are action RPGs. I will only play Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 3 if one is made, not the actual Baldur's Gate 3.

Mentioning Metroid Prime Remastered in this article made me realize I still haven't gotten around to beating it 😅

Too busy with TotK and Overwatch. I'll make time for it someday

My eyes really teased me on this…. Before reading the headline my eyes said, “hey Baldurs Gate 3 is coming to Switch!” 😂😂

I look videos of this game and see the action bar littered with two dozen or more icons and just nope out. I’m happy that this sorta game can still be extremely popular these days but I can’t see myself getting invested in it at the moment.

Props to Larian for making what is apparently a really great game. I've heard nothing but praise for both the first two Baldur's Gates and the Divinity Original Sin games which were Larian's last projects. I'm not too interested overly, I've only dipped my toes into D&D stuff within the past few months but I can absolutely see why a bigger D&D fan would adore this. It's definitely not a game for everyone despite the infamy of those cutscenes, but I'm happy for those who are interested in it since it's apparently such a solid game.

looks like baldur's gate will be game of the year..

i remember way back in the 199's when i played the first baldur's gate which was a surprise hit..

With that in mind, it’s BG3 currently with a Metacritic score of 97 with only 18 reviews, while TotK has a Metacritic score of 96 with 145 reviews. That’s quite a large margin and wouldn’t take much for BG3 to drop a couple marks off its MC score.

That said, I love Divinity:OS2 on Switch and BG3 is Steam Deck verified. So fingers crossed for a version for Nintendo’s next-gen console.

Baldur's Gate 3 might not be a game for me, but I can acknowledge its brilliance. Never before did the player have this many options on how to tackle every situation they find themselves in, from combat to dialogue. It's mind boggling what Larian Studios has done here.

It's definitely my GOTY this year. The game is a blast.

@Mauzuri I didn't see any hate

This year really does sound fierce for The Game Awards. I am genuinely afraid of the level of bias there will be at this year's Awards.

I'm 60h into Baldur's Gate 3 and up to pretty deep in act 2 and yes, it is that good.

Should you play it is a separate question entirely, if strategy RPGs aren't your cup of tea (like Divinity Original Sin 2) then maybe don't pick up this game.

You'd also have to be pretty curious about DnD lore to really enjoy the game. But yes, it has a lot of similar strength Tears of the Kingdom had. Very intelligent game where the developers give you a million tools to play with and you feel quite clever when you figure an encounter out, not to mention great replayability and a heap of good content and writing.

Playing it on hard difficulty as well which means I spend an extra amount of time learning the game's systems and strategizing which feels quite rewarding.

Don't think it will beat Zelda at the awards, but I honestly wouldn't be against it as the previous Zelda game already got the spotlight once.

@johnedwin A huge multiplatform game in a modern age without any microtransactions, and is a lot of fun, and has a lot of things to do? It would be deserved.

I honestly think both are great, and they offer a different experience so they can both be the best in their own right.

i think the fact that devs are coming out and saying "pls dont expect us to make an rpg this big" shows how well crafted and content packed the game it. this should not be seen as an attack on totk, but a celebration on how the devs pushed the boundaries on what a game can deliver

i know this game is outside the nintendo bubble, but bg3 honestly did to RPGs what zelda did for open world games. theyre masterclasses of their genre even if their audiences dont completely overlap

A quick reminder that Metacritic numbers don't say anything of merit about any game.
TotK and BG3 are probably my two most anticipated games released this year and I'm glad they're getting hype, but the only meaningful information about them comes from sources that actually took the time to play the games and then took their time to explain what worked and what didn't for them, not from some meaningless number concocted by a website dedicated solely to produce meaningless numbers.

Also, this is year we got two outstanding games that give almost unprecedented degrees of freedom to their players. That is fantastic news for everyone, not a f*****g competition.

@boxyguy I easily see them releasing BG3 on the Next Gen Nintendo handheld.

And seeing this game having cross save, I would absolutely double dip if that happened.

@sanderev the convenience of playing this on my (potential) next gen switch is very tempting yes haha. tho the fact that the xbox version is delayed because the series s is having trouble running bg3, could mean nintendo will still have their own up hill battle bringing it over

@sanderev Divinity Original Sin 2 having cross-save on the Switch is probably one of the greatest port features that I never hear discussed.

Probably the best possible feature to put on that kind of game, especially for a game with such replay value.

@boxyguy From what I've played thus far Baldur's Gate 3 in terms of graphical fidelity isn't that much harder to run than Divinity Original Sin 2 (which is currently on the Switch). I don't see any reason that capable hands wouldn't be able to bring it over even to the current system.

I haven't played DOS 2 in about a year or so, but I can download it just to double-check, from memory it looked approximately the same. Divinity has slightly less detail in the environment and character models, but that's about it.

The issues running the game on the Scarlet might be a lot more in-depth than just "can we run this game at a good framerate", I'm sure it has something to do with the architecture design of the machine itself.

@Deviant-Dork This comment comes off as weirdly insecure over the fact a game that isn't from Nintendo might actually be as good as a Nintendo game.

We'll see if it keeps the top spot once more reviews comes in. But it seems like a truly great game that I hope we'll get on the Switch successor one day.

The studio's previous game, Divinity Original Sin 2, is a masterpiece that is available on Switch. I recommend it to anyone that is into RPG's. It is great!

@Rika_Yoshitake "PC fanboys are hyping this game up like it's welcoming to anyone... newsflash it's not..."

Same could be said about Elden Ring, BotW/TotK etc

@Rika_Yoshitake Eh. Like Street Fighter is to fighting games, Baldur’s Gate 3 is accessible in the sense that anyone can pick up and play, but a lot of newcomers will need to catch up on some basic fundamentals. Compared to other titles in the genre, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a hell of a lot easier to grasp. Numbers are small, and any sort of advanced mechanic can be expanded on the spot with the press of a button. Builds are relatively simple and don’t require a ton of min/maxing. Decision making follows the DND improv rule of “never say no” allowing the player to commit to their decision and let them feel like it was the natural choice without holding their hand through it all.

I won’t lie and say its for everyone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a ton of new players gets into the CRPG genre after this hit.

@FishyS Its just been an outstanding year for gaming. A lot of genres have had some great hits, with some potential titles standing the test of time to become landmarks to look back on.

@boxyguy I think the next gen Switch is going to be comparable (power wise) to the SteamDeck. Which can run the game.

Putting aside how much (or lack of) it matters between a 96 or 97 , Tears had a higher score before more scores brought the average down. 18 scores isn’t very high of a pool.

Also shouldn’t need to be said that user scores are worthless in Metacritic when they are infamous full of inaccurate 0s and 10s because fanboy wants to fanboy their game and sabotage others.

@Serpenterror the good news is that these games are not rts.

Oh noes, this game is higher rated than Tears of the Kingdom. Well guess I'll have to stop playing Tears of the Kingdom then. Gamer logic!!

The fact two games this year are in the high 90's on MC shows how great this year is for gaming. The fact TotK has a contender is pretty damn awesome.

As someone with near zero knowledge on DnD the game is really imposing, right at the start the character customization throws tons and tons of classes to choose from, perks and skills to pick from and whicever deity you like serve from those classes... 's not like a bog standard RPG where you start as a scrub either, right away you're knee deep in it, and have tons of combat options to pick from and the starting area in itself is such a confusing mess that I just couldn't deal with it.

Maybe I'll try it again at some point and pick something simple like a barbarian that just hits things with a big ol' hammer or something.

2023 so far living up to its promise.

This is a good thing for gamers.

Baldurs Gate 3 likely to be out on the next gen Nintendo console.

Imagine being able to play this game handheld!

@mrMike Grisaia: Chronos Rebellion might want to throw down for the title

@SpoonySpoons Oh god, I've played Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 in the past couple of years for the first time and found that I needed to do a sh*tload of research before I actually got to play the game. But then I found the real biggest offender to this: Pathfinder.

I launched Pathfinder after having played the Baldur's Gate enhanced edition duology on PC on Insane difficulty (I always play my games on harder difficulties because I find it's the best way to learn but the Son of Bhaal difficulty is way too ridiculous and unappealing) and just booting up the Pathfinder character creator screen I think has gotten me to contract some sort of disease. I had to sift through the creation screen for hours to discern any sort of stat-appropriate build and even then I created an awful character that couldn't get past one of the first sequences in the games.

If we want to talk about uninviting games let's talk about Pathfinder and other such PC-heavy games, especially strategic simulators, massive world-building simulators, etc.

There are games out there that are completely invisible to the console audiences because these games aren't targeted for console crowds. Baldur's Gate 3 is probably one of the most inviting ones compared to the rest.

@Expa0
I went into it without knowing anything about dnd rules as well (like probably most people if we are honest) and I kinda understand what you mean.

However, I would say none of the things on l screen are hard to understand, it just seems like a lot. Also the beginning part is so easy by design, that you can just use it to experiment a bit, both in and out of combat.
You don't need to understand much to get through that part.

To put it in one sentence: There is a lot to learn, but all of it can be learned pretty quickly.

Well, looks like Zelda has some competition this year! I don't know much about this game but maybe we see it on Switch 2?

I don't see whats the point to release such articles when a game has less than 20 reviews. At this point both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom had a score of 98. The more the reviews the lower the score almost always gets. This said I'm sure BG3 is also one of the best games of the year.

@Deviant-Dork
The game is not even remotely comparable to Diablo.

@Guybrush-Threepwood Both Pushsquare and Nintendolife couldn't wait to say Zelda had been beaten. In fact the tag line over on the sister site, 'Tears of the Fandom' is pretty much console warring. But they both do make themselves look silly from time to time when they go for drama.

@Kirgo it's isometric and on the pc and a videogame. They're literally the exact same game.

@GrailUK I just think this stuff is fun though. I hadn't even thought about any goty talk yet, and it's really cool to see these two huge games getting people excited.

@Varkster
About BG3 looking around the same as Divinity Original Sin 2.
I would strongly disagree.
While BG3 isn't exactly setting new standards in terms of graphics, there is still quite a clear difference in quality between the games to me.

This is also reflected by the system requirements on PC, which are a lot higher for BG3.
That is not to say the game couldn't still be made to run on a Switch, but it would at least be more difficult with more visible differences.

@LikelySatan I do hope it comes to the next Switch. That's win win in my book

@FishyS it's also not coming to XBox allegedly due to Series S "being too weak". Granted, that notion made me look up Series S specs and... if "10 Gb RAM" and "8X Cores @ 3.6 GHz" is weak by now, I don't know what this industry is doing anymore. Come on, surely devs actually need increasingly higher numbers for making NPCs the level of SAO's Yui and not just for making the target machines maintain decent load times/draw distance at 16k120fps?😏

BG 3 is amazing and a worthy GOTY. It sells like hot cakes and will be a classic. It will come to both Series X/S and PS5. The game huge and full of content and fantastic graphics.

@Kirgo I'll have to download Divinity Original Sin 2 to see and tell you for sure, I spoke from memory alone.

I don't think the jump is big at all. Baldur's Gate 3 is certainly prettier, but it's not pretty by any means. I think it looks worse than Witcher 3 (different type of game but still) I don't think it can't be optimized well.

Unfortunately at the moment I'm noticing the weirdest freezes and frame slowdowns in places where they shouldn't be, the game isn't perfectly optimized but I think that's because the team is still quite small, there is a lot to learn.

It's a really ambitious project for one small team and it really shows in performance.

I mean, they’re not exactly comparable games anyway, but I wouldn’t be mad if Totk’s alleged Goty throne gets overtaken. There’s certainly more fresh, ambitious games out there in my experience when you consider the whole package.

Historically I have loved the Diablo franchise, but sounds like Diablo 4 isn’t in the mix? I haven’t had the chance to play it. I’m quite happy if I go through this year only playing Zelda TOTK. Gave me over 100 hours of entertainment.

It's a really good game, but it's never going to win Game Of The Year. Its not just about the reception of a game. The sales and the legacy are just as important.

@nocdaes That's absurd, Both these games will be up for goty from every major organization, along with Starfield.

TotK is probably the most overrated game of the year, for me. Though I did have some fun I was ultimately very disappointed with it. This, on the other hand, looks like DOS2 on steroids. I can't wait to play it.

@Poodlestargenerica I didn't say it wouldn't get a nomination. I said it wouldn't win game of the year. And it won't.

Absolutely deserved. This game is amazing and one of the best games I've played in a long time.

@luke88 TotK was disappointing for me too. It's a spectacular game, but it's far from what I wanted the game to be.

Seems to me that the majority of people praising and raving about TotK are those that haven't put 200 hours into BotW. I could be wrong, but as someone that did put 200 hours into BotW that covers my biggest criticism of TotK being too similar.

@a_brave_new_geek you already can on Steam Deck and ASUS Rog Ally.

TOTK is an amazing game. A game could beat it by being more original. TOTK is a lot of recycled content. Items are the same. Enemies are mostly the same. The map is the same. The economy is the same. Flying dragons are the same. Etc etc. 7 years of modding BOTW.

If this game wasn’t digital only, I would have already preordered it for the PS5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca-e5MrVbVU

Wasn't really on my radar. The wishlist grows with the backlog and I need a cane to support it all.

@nocdaes

I played personally and with the wife around 400- 500 hours of BotW but Tears of the Kingdom is my new favorite game of all time. Played it so far more than 200 hours and it surprisingly improves BotW in almost every way. A true game for the ages.

This game is so damn good 😘

For the people immediately dismissing this game because it's top down, it's not. You can change the camera to be behind your back, and then top down like Fire Emblem when you get into combat. I've tried Larian's previous game Divinity Original Sin 2, and I didn't like it. This game though, the sheer amount of possibilities is just staggering. I'd say, that the top down perspective really doesn't matter. If what you enjoy in games are great, interactive stories, and amazing turn based SRPG combat, then please try this out.

@ModdedInkling To be honest, I think the bias will be towards Zelda and Starfield if anything. Those games are more accepting to the average consumer.

Proud of Larian and can’t wait to play it on my PC once free time and price reach a good level

Unfortunately not on Switch doesn't mean it's better then TOTK. That's all that need be said.

@Wheatly Let's hope we get a third with Starfield.

Its an excellent game. I pumped about 40 hours so far. TOTK maybe 20-30. a well done game for the genre.

@JohnnyMind it plays perfect on steam deck.😀

@Varkster Haven’t had the guts to try the Pathfinder games for this exact reason. I’ll get to them eventually, but I feel like I’ll really need the time and attention span to commit to a more complex ruleset. Nowadays, games like Divinity:OS 2 and Baldurs Gate 2 still give me quite a bit of trouble, so I’m probably just not ready yet.

@Kirgo it's a Diablo clone

Holy clickbait, NL

@Deviant-Dork
Yes, this classic RPG with high dialog focus and turn based combat, based on the Pen and Paper franchise Dungeons and Dragons, is a Diablo clone.

I don't know if you are serious or joking around, I had a good laugh at that anyway, lol.

@PoeTheLizard then you're not understanding what I mean.

Very well deserved, but it won't last — like TotK, it's gonna wind up getting come contrarian takes, too, to lower the metascore.

"Finally has some serious competition... "

Did you not see everyone lose their collective minds over the new Final fantasy?!!!

I swear the loop for these games is so small nowadays!! But what an amazing year for gaming this has been then! 3 games people wil be loving for decades to come, the awards in December are actually going to be a nail biter this year! ❤️

Yea but...it's only a handful of reviews in comparison to totk. Once it comes to Xbox I'll try it out.

I am 20 Hours in and this Game truly is an really outstanding one.
I guess we'll have to wait a long Time, until we see such Quality again.

@Expa0

Just pick one of the origin Characters and learn with them, than you'll not run into a bad skilled Character.
Also play on easy, nothing bad about it, i do it myself.

It is just an classical RPG with Stati that decide how good you are in certain Things and it shows it more than modern Counterparts.

nah tears of the kingdom is better so i dont see baldurs gate 3 coming close to zelda in game awards.

I’m happy for fans for this type of game. It is a very narrow niche though… I could never get into it. I’d argue that TOTK has a broader appeal.

I've been a Zelda fan all my life but Tears of the Kingdom does not deserve GOTY for me. Amazing game, don't get me wrong, but it isn't as exciting as Breath of the Wild was. Baldur's Gate and Starfield are my most anticipated games this year.

@NintendoWife I’d argue that TOTK has a broader appeal.
That's what is missed in all this clickbait by NL. That fits a niche gamer subset and the appeal is anyone can enjoy TOTK and free play all they want.

Zelda TOTK has a way broader and casual appeal, but it wouldn't surprise me if BG3 won the GOTY awards this year. The game, though, not as good as the previous 2, it is definitely the best game for the last 10 years.

Props to the devs of BG3 for making a game that doesn’t have:

Microtransactions, in-game purchases, paywalls, gamepass, and required internet connection

Story and some of the dialog is meh from what I read. But the studio deserves props for making a game that doesn’t treat their players as a ATM.

I don't care much for DnD RPGs and even I am intrigued by Baldur's Gate's reception. This era of gaming is exciting

@mrMike See, and my YouTube is filled with Baldur’s Gate videos. Not saying which one is better, but your YouTube recommended doesn’t mean anuthing

Divinity OS2 was one of the worst rpgs ever and I remember it getting high reviews despite horrible writing, dull story and annoying characters. I haven't played bg3 though. Can anyone confirm whether it has the same flaws as DOS2?

What baffles me is how everyone praises the fact the game has no microtransactions, ingame purchases, paywalls, etc. I mean, the same is true for pretty much every Nintendo game. Why are they not praised for the same reason?

Well, Baldurs Gate 3 now has 96 on Metacritic as expected but I guess they just wanted the clicks