Larian Studios has released a free murder mystery prequel before fans get to fully enjoy Baldur's Gate 3 at the end of August. The gruesome plot is set 15 years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3, and it's up to players to figure out who the murderer is or become the next unfortunate soul on the killer's list. However, the game is not as simple as it first appears.The history of Baldur's Gate is full of twists and turns. The first game was developed by BioWare and Black Isle Studios, releasing back in 1998. Its rules were based on a licensed version of Dungeons & Dragons and eventually, it spawned sequels titled Baldur's Gate 2: Shadow of Amn as well as Planescape: Torment. Black Isle Studios was preparing a third game in 2003, but its publisher, Interplay Entertainment, faced serious financial issues around that time, which led to the development studio shutting down and cancelation of the sequel. Interplay lost the license to D&D in 2008 and Atari took over, which spawned two Neverwinter Nights games.Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR, the original publisher of D&D, in 1997. The video game rights returned to them in 2011 after a considerable legal battle with Atari, although Atari retained the rights to still make video games based on the license. Among many contenders, Larian Studios also had its eye on the planned Baldur's Gate 3 sequel and was granted it by WotC after the positive reception of Divinity: Original Sin 2. Now after around 6 years of development, the release is almost here. But in the meantime, Larian is offering a murder mystery for fans to solve, which is set 15 years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3. It's also worth noting that in terms of plot, this sequel has nothing to do with the Baldur's Gate 3 Black Isle was creating.
Anyone can play the game on its dedicated website, but it comes with a twist. The scene of the crime with its unfortunate Baldur's Gate 3 bard class suggests there are two possible destinations where the investigation can continue. The next location will be revealed entirely based on player votes, so the weight of whether the investigation will be a success or the detective is doomed to a horrible end by the hands of the killer will rest on the shoulders of the fans themselves.
There seem to be 30 stages to the investigation based on the markers on the bottom of the map and the voting comes in 24-hour windows for each new move. Currently, there are barely 4 hours left to cast a vote for the next location, so any fan who'd like to get involved in this Baldur's Gate 3 mystery should head to the website.
Baldur's Gate 3 releases August 31 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
