Baldur’s Gate 3tells its epic story in a traditional three-act structure. In Act One, you decide what kind of character you’ll be, are introduced to the world and the characters, and figure out the outline of the tadpole problem. In Act Two, you hit a lot of dead ends finding the cure, face your own dark night of the soul, and realize there are much bigger issues afoot. In Act Three, you finally reach the climax of the story, fight one final showdown, and face your fate.
Within each of these acts, there are massive maps to be explored, populated by a variety of NPCs. Each act is balanced differently, suited to the part of the story it represents, and you’ll find yourself spending quite a bit of time in each of them. So let’s look at which act gives you the most variety in play while also maintaining the best parts of the story. Keeping in mind that every act has its strengths and weaknesses, here’s how they stack up.
As you might expect, this list contains spoilers for every Act in the game.
3Act 3
With the title of the game coming from the location of Act Three, you’ve been teased with this city from the very beginning. Baldur’s Gate is built up through the tales of refugees traveling there and through the rural and desolate landscapes of the previous two acts that make it hard to actually imagine a bustling city on the other side. However, the scope of the city makes it all worth it. Larian Studios has designed a map that feels as grand as the conclusion to your hours-long journey.
A Lot Of Variety In Quests
Because you’ve finally reached civilization, there are atonof NPCs to talk to, all inhabiting different kinds of buildings and engaging in complex political webs. That means there’s a huge variety of types of quests you can complete here, from search quests to thievery and social quests. If you’re playing co-op, you have the ability to completely split off and pursue your own interests.
Here are a few of the quests you’ll have the option to take on:
Depending on your choices in the first and second acts, there will be a number of allies to recruit for the final battle, giving satisfying weight to those previous actions.
Where You Finally Reach The Climax Of The Story
Everything you’ve done up until this point comes to a head in the city. This is where all of your choices pay off— or don’t. It’s satisfying to see the progress you’ve made come together, not only in overcoming more difficult foes but in the cinematic last shots. Endings can be tricky but tend to be the most memorable part of any experience. Luckily for us, Baldur’s Gate sticks the landing and leaves you with a high replay value.
Here are a few of the endings you’ll be facing:
Because Act Three delivers on the promise of the rest of the game, it’s hard not to be drawn in by the magic.
2Act 1
Currently the most polished, Act One introduces you to the story and sets up how the rest of your journey will go. Essentially, it’s a very long tutorial that wants you to get used to the way that making choices, navigating the story, surviving fights, using items, and building your party works. While this means that it hits almost every area of gameplay, it also means it’s held back by virtue of needing to function as a starting point. You’re not going to get the same kind of deeply emotional story moments you get later on because the plot simply hasn’t advanced that far.
Make The Most Choices
There are a slew of choices to be made in Act One that will impact the development of the rest of your game. Here, you find all the standard companions, decide who you’ll be focusing on, decide on your play style, and start deciding which NPCs you’ll be helping make it to Act Three. This is the standard you’ll be basing everything on, so it’s not surprising starting here can feel like having almost complete freedom at your fingertips.
Here are some of the choices you’ll be faced with as you play:
Our best advice? Act One is meant to be enjoyed! Take your time.
Explore Unique Settings
Act One gives you a lot of area to cover, and you’ll find yourself in completely different biomes the more you explore. This act, which has the greatest variety of landscapes, is helped by the addition of the Nautiloid ship prologue and the different paths available to Act Two. With so many places to find and explore, it’s possible to spend up to a hundred hours in Act One before getting anywhere else.
These are some of the places you can explore in Act One:
From beach, to grove, to abandoned towns, to mushroom colonies, to rocky mountain roads, the game is showing off, and we can’t get enough of it.
1Act 2
Act Two of Baldur’s Gate is the most one-note act of all the acts. If you love that note, it’ll probably be your favorite; but if you don’t, prepare yourself for a bit of a slog. You spend the entire act in a dark, haunted wasteland that captures our heroes at their lowest point. It’s a gritty, brutal act with plenty of hopeless victims andmountainsof corpses.
Take On Challenging Fights
Act Two’s greatest strength is the number of unique fights your party will be taking on as you try and level up to beat Ketheric Thorm. Because this is a cursed area, there’s danger at every turn, and there isn’t much quest variety beyond defeating increasingly challenging enemies. Overall, this makes Act Two the one with the least variety in both settings and type of quest, but at least the combat situations are unique from each other.
Here are some of the fights you have to look forward to:
Truly, this section will push you to discover new ways to combine your abilities and have you reconsidering the build you’ve chosen.
The Act With The Most Linear Story Path
Because the ending of Act Two lands everyone in the same place, regardless of how you get there, the story in Act Two is the most rigid. There is definitely an ideal way to complete all the actions. If you end up doing some of them in the wrong order (finding Oliver too early, getting Shadowheart to a point that will permanently alter the map), you will have to backtrack to finish other quest lines.While there are points of no return in all acts,it’s most present here. If you’re playing co-op, it’s best to stick together. There are a number of choices here that will make huge differences in Act Three, of course, but not as many as are available in the other acts.
Here are some of the important plot beats in Act Two:
It’s genuinely difficult to make it through this act saving everyone, and you’re bound to feel guilty about at least one of the hard choices presented.
