Baldur’s Gate 3 Will Finally Achieve Its Full D&D Potential, But There’s A Catch (2024)

With the explosive success of Baldur's Gate 3, Dungeons & Dragons is as popular as ever with a large pool of new players wanting to get into the ever-iconic tabletop game. While BG3 does an excellent job of introducing many concepts and mechanics of D&D in an easy-to-digest format, it can still be jarring for players to go from the AAA gaming experience to the tabletop. The latest trailer for D&D's virtual tabletop aims to bridge the gap between the beloved RPG and traditional gameplay, but it's not as easy as it may seem.

Featuring many of the most iconic and beloved characters from the game, the newest Virtual Tabletop trailer looks exactly like classic D&D gameplay imported straight into the engine and world of Baldur's Gate 3. Being announced at the same time as the release of the long-awaited BG3 overhaul with its latest patch, many players thought it was another exciting content update. While it may seem like a match made in heaven, the initial trailer was met with confusion by many players, wondering how it would be implemented into Baldur's Gate 3, and where it could be downloaded.

Baldur's Gate: 3 Add-Ons For The New D&D Virtual Tabletop

Players Can Experience D&D With Iconic Characters From The Game

The Virtual Tabletop Baldur's Gate 3 Add-On isn't an update to Baldur's Gate itself, but a DLC planned for the upcoming D&D Virtual TableTop. While it's still far off from any full release, Wizards of the Coast has been open with information about , giving players just enough to get excited about it without spoiling all the fun.

This new way to play D&D itself aims to take the high fidelity of modern engines combined with the classic gameplay fans know and love, all while making it accessible for players struggling to get together in person.

Baldurs Gate 3 characters, environments, and other assets will be available in some form once the Virtual Tabletop releases.

What This Could Mean For The Future Of D&D

Some Fans Are Worried About The Direction Of The Franchise

Players have always been looking for ways to improve the Dungeons & Dragons experience, with Virtual Tabletops often being at the top of the list. Even for tangible in-person sessions, virtual tabletops like the ever-popular Roll20 are a great way to keep track of character sheets or search through pages of information with ease.

Not only is the new Virtual Tabletop intuitive to use, but its main competitive draw is having incredible visuals to keep players engaged, allowing even more control for a DM to share their visual ideas while selling an atmosphere.

Wizards of the Coast recently withdrew their decision to make existing 5e character sheets incompatible with D&D Beyond after player backlash, giving hope to fans for more open conversations in the future.

Despite all the exciting prospects of D&D's newest venture with Baldur's Gate 3, some fans have expressed some concerns over how WOTC will handle its future content additions, with worries of a long list of paid DLC to come. While the company behind D&D has gotten much better at listening to fan feedback during controversies, it's still struggling with its public image. While it's still unclear the direction the Virtual Tabletop will take concerning microtransactions, players will likely have to pay at least some fees or a subscription model to gain access to its ever-growing library of assets after it eventually releases.

Baldur's Gate 3

RPG

Franchise: Baldur's Gate
Released: August 3, 2023
Developer(s): Larian Studios
ESRB: M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
How Long To Beat: 100+ Hours
Metascore: 96
Number of Players: 1-4
Cross-Platform Play: Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't support crossplay