Lovely characters, great story, plenty of customization.

Everything you could want out of a CRPG.

A word of cautious. This is a highly addictive phenomenal game, and I am very sad the franchise has likely ended with WotR. Even if we do see something coming along from other publishers in the next years, it is probably going to turn-based (given all the fuss about BG3). So, this is the last masterpiece of real-time with pause. The learning curve is very steep, and the game is difficult, but once you get the hang of it you won’t think about much else. There is plenty of material around, which is a considerable help. I truly recommend and I hope the next person will have the same kind of enjoyment I had. I also recommend the DLCs and playing it all in one big campaign.

Steam needs a middle thumb option. I can't tell if this is one of the best games I've ever played or one of the worst experiences I've had.

Expect to dedicate at least 100 years for a single campaign playthrough. Read online about tips for dealing with early game's timer, inventory management, and early-game quest order. This becomes less of a concern as you get through the campaign- most of the reviews on here referring to the timer are exaggerating how difficult it is to deal with after the first chapter.

Combat is basically a more contemporary take on Baldur's Gate. There is a turn-based option for folks who don't like RTwP. While based on Baldur's Gate, there is also an entire kingdom management simulator that is key to your success. You can choose to skip this in options but you miss out on a lot of context and gameplay if you do.

The biggest issue is the length. For games of this style I like to take my time, but also don't wish to dedicate more than 40-50 at most to a campaign. The slow world map movement, slow subtitles during cutscenes, and kingdom simulator pad the game with quite a bit in an already long campaign.