Baldur's Gate 3's most popular class was originally going to be its default one, but Lae'zel kind of ruined it

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Baldur's Gate 3 has claimed the Game of the Year award in the 2023 Steam Awards, along with the crown for Outstanding Story-Rich Game. It probably would have won even more, but the Steam Awards rules limit games to nominations in a maximum of two categories, presumably to avoid any across-the-board ass-kickings.

Before its release, promised to include 17,000 different endings — but does it really? There's undeniably a ton of player choice and variation in the game. There are even hundreds of contingencies and failsafes in case players try to break . It wouldn't be too much of a stretch at all to say there are thousands of different ways its story can play out, but 17,000 endings is an entirely different kind of claim.

Larian Studios has explained why Baldur’s Gate 3 might never come to Xbox‘s Game Pass subscription service.

When I played Baldur's Gate 3 back in the autumn, I decided to roll with a Dark Urge Paladin, and it was such a fascinating experience that I wrote a whole article about it. But to give you the notes, combining a class that's sworn to abide by justice with a character who just flippin' loves murder creates an incredible internal conflict, leading to a character arc which, for me, felt like the closest you could come to a canonical playthrough of BG3.

The cast of Baldur's Gate 3 has evolved over the game's Early Access period and beyond—Wyll in particular had a whole rewrite between the game's conception and its full release. Whether it's whole storylines shifting or just toning down Gale's accidental thirstiness, finding the core of a character in a story this large is bound to be complicated.

Baldur's Gate 3 developers have decisively shut down speculation surrounding The Emperor.

When developing Baldur’s Gate 3, the studio took inspiration from some games you might not expect.

In my first playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3, not long after making it to the city that makes up the massive RPG's final act, one of the villains kidnapped Lae'zel. And while I didn't put off rescuing her for too long, I also didn't rush it. Don't look at me like that, this was in-character—I was playing Shadowheart.

If you’ve been holding out hope that Baldur’s Gate 3 might find its way onto PC Game Pass in the future, I’ve got some bad news for you: it’s very unlikely to happen.

After a period of some uncertainty, Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on Xbox Series X/S, which begs the question – could the smash hit RPG ever end up on Xbox Game Pass? Baldur’s Gate 3 is exactly the kind of high-engagement title that could potentially drive long-term Game Pass subscriptions, so I’m sure Microsoft would love it, but according to Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke, it’s not happening.

Swen Vincke, the director of Baldur’s Gate 3 and CEO of Larian Studios, has spoken out about the role-playing game’s lack of Xbox Game Pass release, saying that it was a decision made «from the get-go.»

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian decided "from the get-go" that the mammoth RPG wouldn't be coming to Xbox or PC Game Pass, and that isn't going to change.