Baldur’s Gate 3: Release Date, Trailers & Everything We Know

Ever since its Early Access release in October 2020, fans are still eagerly awaiting news on the Baldur's Gate 3 full release date. From the very start of its development, fans of the franchise were left in the dark when it came to Baldur's Gate 3. Any mention of a release date was left intentionally ambiguous or was constantly pushed further and further back. Eventually, players chose to instead wonder when Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 2 would release instead, as that seemed more likely to come out sooner than the Baldur’s Gate 3 full release date.

Baldur's Gate 3 Release Date

During The Game Awards 2022, Baldur's Gate 3 got a new trailer which announced the release window as August 2023, meaning it will drop sometime in that month. At the PlayStation State of Play in February, the official launch date was announced to be 12 August 2023.

Some classes are still completely missing from Early Access, and it’s more than likely some races won’t be seen until the Baldur’s Gate 3 full release. For example, within the game’s code are tags and hints towards various exotic races (aasimar, dragonborn and genasi). There’s still work to be done, adding all of these new features as well as developing background lore will take time. 

Larian’s previous game, Divinity: Original Sin 2, was in Early Access for exactly a year, having been released on the 15 September 2016 and later released on 14 September 2017. Which initially led people to wonder whether the Baldur’s Gate 3 full release date would be a year apart from its Early Access release, however this was quickly dismissed when October 2021 came and went without any news.

Since then, Larian were quiet on the topic for the larger part of its Early Access development, with news about a Baldur’s Gate 3 release date only surfacing early 2022 after the latest patch: 

"Our internal goal post for release is a quality bar rather than a date. A ton of progress has been made towards that quality bar over the past year in Early Access, but we know many players are waiting for an actual date. That date will come when we’re even closer to meeting our goal, but right now our expectation is that Baldur’s Gate 3 will release out of Early Access in 2023."

Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 2 Details

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Knowing now that the full game won’t release until later in2023, it might be worth wondering if we’ll see any game progress at all? Before Grymforge was added to Baldur’s Gate 3, players assumed that there’d be no new content apart from gameplay or cosmetic changes (classes, spells or items). Classes and spells were added but no one saw new content until the entire Grymforge location was added in Patch 6. A small section of the game which featured its own Boss Battle with the Golem Grym itself as well as the new True Soul Nere who further added to background lore.

The addition of Grymforge led many to believe they might see a potential Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 2 release as the infernal forge is one of the final locations before Act 2 begins. However, Larian Studios have been clear about their development from the very get-go and stated that Act 2 will only be released with the full game. Similarly to how Divinity: Original Sin 2 was released, with Act 1 being the Early Access location of the game.

If this news is disappointing, it’s worth remembering that Early Access games aren’t usually a means to drip-feed players and release more content when it’s ready. Instead, Early Access tends to be treated like a demo or playtesting grounds. Where mechanics and features can be tested whilst they add to the further game being developed behind the scenes. Even then, Act 1 is yet to be finished either, as there are still many parts of Act 1 that are off-limits or haven’t been completed yet (the Gith Creche and Mizora storyline to name two).

Act 2 will be the largest part of the game, taking us to the titular location itself, and will feature the main crusp of the story, as such you might expect an additional 20-30 hours of gameplay in this location alone. Something which only furthers the notion that Act 2 will release alongside the Baldur's Gate 3 full release.

If you’re not keen on yet another playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3, why not try out Tiny Tina's Wonderlands in the meantime, another D&D themed RPG.