Larian Studios has announced the new release date for Baldur’s Gate 3’s early access as promised, following a delay earlier this month.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was slated to hit early access this month not that long ago. That is not true anymore, what with the ongoing news that developer Larian Studios needed to defer Baldur’s Gate’s early access launch. Fortunately, players won’t have any longer to pause, in all probability.
Larian said it would reveal a new release date for BG3’s early access on August 18 back when the delay was announced, and today the studio made good on that promise. It announced that it’s set to get the game out on September 30 during a “Panel From Hell” Livestream this morning. There’s still a possibility that the early access launch will be delayed even further at this point. BG3’s early access version will feature custom character creation, as well as five different “Origin” characters with established personalities and story paths whenever it launches.
These characters are Wyll (Human Warlock, Wyll (Human Warlock, Astarion (Elf/Vampire Rogue), and Shadowheart (Half-Elf Cleric). Larian also stated in a news release that additional characters will be announced throughout the early access period. Next month’s launch will be fairly large in scope from the sound of it. BG3’s early access will be roughly three times the size of the early access demo for Larian’s previous game, Divinity: Original Sin 2 as Vincke outlined during the Livestream. Here’s how the two compare:
- Number of spells/actions: 69 in DOS2 EA vs. 146 in BG3 EA
- Number of English dialogue lines: 17,600 in DOS2 EA vs. 45,980 in BG3 EA
- Number of characters: 142 in DOS2 EA vs. 596 in BG3 EA
- Number of combat encounters: 22 in DOS2 EA vs. 80 in BG3 EA
Perhaps the biggest remaining question is when the game might fully release. Similarly, the updated Steam page for BG3 states that it will be “at least one year” before it leaves early access. Baldur’s Gate 3 is currently slated to hit early access on September 30 for PC and Stadia.
