Now, let's start this review with a disclaimer: despite all the criticms I have of the game, I still 100% recommend playing it, and consider it the game of the decade, if not the best game ever, in spite of the flaws I am going to talk about.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a worthy entrance to the Baldur's Gate franchise: it is more than just a graphical update - it comes with huge quality-of-life improvements, really engaging story and lovely companions. I quite literally fell in love with Shadowheart. The music is awesome, the graphics are awesome, the gameplay is addicting, the story is mostly good, the companions are people you WILL get attached to, etc. It's a great game, possibly the best game ever made, to be honest.

Does that mean that Baldur's Gate 3 is perfect? Of course not. The game has a few glaring flaws, which I am going to list:
#1: Inventory Management: Baldur's Gate 3 kept the same outdated, archaic system that its two predecessors had. Come on, Larian, it's been 24 years since Baldur's Gate 2's release, we've moved past those systems.
#2: Pacing and Act 3: Now, I hope I'm not spoiling much by revealing, that Baldur's Gate 3's story and gameplay are divided into three chapters, or "acts".... and sadly, it's pretty damn obvious that the majority of effort in every department (including sound/music, plot/writing, etc.) went into the first two acts. Act 3 feels rushed. While the first two acts had unique music for every location, Act 3 constantly reuses music from the first two acts. Act 3 is easily the most bugged and glitchy out of the three acts, with the other two being far more polished. The whole pacing goes out of whack, with everything suddenly culminating in Act 3. It just felt sudden and unnatural. Act 3 is to Act 1-2 what Game of Thrones Season 8 was to the rest of the series - a rushed rushed and an somewhat disappointing conclusion to an otherwise amazing series. Now, I still enjoyed playing through it, but honestly... it was a bit of a letdown compared to the previous two arcs.
#3: Forced Wokeness. Now, I once again have to make a disclaimer: it's somewhat subdued, not as egregious as many would make it out to be, with the exception of the highly jarring relationship between Isobel Thorm and Dame Aylin (which can be easily fixed with the mod Ser Aylin), most of the alphabet-people in the game don't go out of their way to advertize their sexuality, and with the aforementioned exception, it's not particularly in-your-face and doesn't take away much from the game. I'm still going to mention it, and state, that Baldur's Gate 3 is beloved not because of, but IN SPITE OF the woke stuff. The forced LGBTQP+whatever representation doesn't add anything to the game.
#4: Small party size limit: This one has always been a pet peeve of mine in the Baldur's Gate series, and CRPGs as a whole. I know that I can replay the game with a different party, I know that party size affects game balance, yada yada yada, but I first and foremost play for the story, and I want to experience everything my companions have to offer. I found myself constantly neglecting and ignoring all companions that weren't Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale, because those three carried me through the entire game - and this resulted in me missing out on hilarious conversations and banter, as well as companion quests as well.
#5: I want more. I know, I know, the game already has a lot of content, a lot of stuff to explore, with many being stuck at Act 1 even after a hundred hours of gameplay.... but I still want more.

With that being said, despite these 5 flaws, it is an amazing game (quite possibly the best game ever made, in spite of these glaring flaws), and I 100% recommend playing it.

Now, let's start this review with a disclaimer: despite all the criticms I have of the game, I still 100% recommend playing it, and consider it the game of the decade, if not the best game ever, in spite of the flaws I am going to talk about. Baldur's Gate 3 is a worthy entrance to the Baldur's Gate franchise: it is more than just a graphical update - it comes with huge quality-of-life improvements, really engaging story and lovely companions. I quite literally fell in love with Shadowheart. The music is awesome, the graphics are awesome, the gameplay is addicting, the story is mostly good, the companions are people you WILL get attached to, etc. It's a great game, possibly the best game ever made, to be honest. Does that mean that Baldur's Gate 3 is perfect? Of course not. The game has a few glaring flaws, which I am going to list: #1: Inventory Management: Baldur's Gate 3 kept the same outdated, archaic system that its two predecessors had. Come on, Larian, it's been 24 years since Baldur's Gate 2's release, we've moved past those systems. #2: Pacing and Act 3: Now, I hope I'm not spoiling much by revealing, that Baldur's Gate 3's story and gameplay are divided into three chapters, or "acts".... and sadly, it's pretty damn obvious that the majority of effort in every department (including sound/music, plot/writing, etc.) went into the first two acts. Act 3 feels rushed. While the first two acts had unique music for every location, Act 3 constantly reuses music from the first two acts. Act 3 is easily the most bugged and glitchy out of the three acts, with the other two being far more polished. The whole pacing goes out of whack, with everything suddenly culminating in Act 3. It just felt sudden and unnatural. Act 3 is to Act 1-2 what Game of Thrones Season 8 was to the rest of the series - a rushed rushed and an somewhat disappointing conclusion to an otherwise amazing series. Now, I still enjoyed playing through it, but honestly... it was a bit of a letdown compared to the previous two arcs. #3: Forced Wokeness. Now, I once again have to make a disclaimer: it's somewhat subdued, not as egregious as many would make it out to be, with the exception of the highly jarring relationship between Isobel Thorm and Dame Aylin (which can be easily fixed with the mod Ser Aylin), most of the alphabet-people in the game don't go out of their way to advertize their sexuality, and with the aforementioned exception, it's not particularly in-your-face and doesn't take away much from the game. I'm still going to mention it, and state, that Baldur's Gate 3 is beloved not because of, but IN SPITE OF the woke stuff. The forced LGBTQP+whatever representation doesn't add anything to the game. #4: Small party size limit: This one has always been a pet peeve of mine in the Baldur's Gate series, and CRPGs as a whole. I know that I can replay the game with a different party, I know that party size affects game balance, yada yada yada, but I first and foremost play for the story, and I want to experience everything my companions have to offer. I found myself constantly neglecting and ignoring all companions that weren't Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale, because those three carried me through the entire game - and this resulted in me missing out on hilarious conversations and banter, as well as companion quests as well. #5: I want more. I know, I know, the game already has a lot of content, a lot of stuff to explore, with many being stuck at Act 1 even after a hundred hours of gameplay.... but I still want more. With that being said, despite these 5 flaws, it is an amazing game (quite possibly the best game ever made, in spite of these glaring flaws), and I 100% recommend playing it.