I still haven’t finishedBaldur’s Gate 3. It’s really long, and I have the attention span of a small squirrel, so it’s taking me months to get through it. It’s a masterpiece though, and as I arrive at Act 3 I’m still constantly being blown away by nuanced character interactions and situations big and small that can be approached in a multitude of different ways. It is one of the biggest RPGs of all the time, and also one of the densest. So, to hear that over a million people have now seen it through to the end is quite staggering.
1.3 million people, to be precise, have reached credits in Baldur’s Gate 3. It was revealed byLarianwith avariety of infographics earlier this weekthat also talked about romantic partners, class choices, origin characters, and a handful of other silly factoids likely surfacing before theXboxrelease later this month. My mind is still set on it shadow dropping atThe Game Awardslater this week. The infographics can be seen as a playful activity by the community and a celebration of how far Baldur’s Gate 3 has come. What began life as an early access darling operating on the periphery has become the year’s finest blockbuster.
We don’t know the exact number of units sold across each platform, but the number of user reviews on PS5 and PC are a decent indication of how many dedicated players jumped into the fold. 434,317 overwhelmingly positive user reviews are available on Steam at the time of writing, and PS5 boasts similarly high numbers, although it’s harder to be more specific on consoles right now.
Trophy stats are also an interesting means of tracking progress. According toPSNTrophies, 16.85% of players have finished the game, while 29.86% have progressed past Act 2. Fewer have managed to beat Tactician Mode and hardly anyone has managed Honour Mode, but to see almost 30 percent of players get through 30+ hours of content in a game this sprawling is a massive achievement.
People love Baldur’s Gate 3, and a significant percentage of them have enjoyed the experience enough to see it through to the end. Normally, the inverse is true with games this daunting, but Larian has managed to craft a CRPG that breaks through the mechanical complication to put beloved characters right at the centre, which is enough to drag even casual players through its most daunting moments.
In a medium where nearly every major game is vying for our attention with regular updates and unending streams of content, seeing a story-driven RPG which is built to be replayed in increasingly unique ways warms my heart, and gives me a positive outlook on what sort of games will be created in the wake of its success. Completion statistics aside, the remaining stats released by Larian are mainly just a little bit of fun. Over a million of us have become sentient wheels of cheese, which wasn’t a thing I was aware could happen, while 66 percent of players who romanced Halsin decided to let him do the dirty as a giant grizzly bear.
When it comes to the sheer amount of time spent in the game by its millions of players, Baldur’s Gate 3 has accrued a current total of 452,556,984 hours, otherwise known as 51,662 years. I have no doubt this number will have probably doubled by this time next year, and there will be yet another multitude of information for Larian to unleash upon the masses. Despite the fact it came out months ago, Baldur’s Gate 3 commands a presence in the gaming world that nothing has been able to match, with triple-A efforts like Spider-Man 2 and Starfield coming and going while Larian’s masterpiece persisted. That’s no coincidence, and neither is over a million people hitting credits only to do it all over again.
