Highlights
- Baldur's Gate 3 achieved success due to its accurate translation of Dungeons & Dragons 5e and an engaging story that reacts to player choices. As such, it would be great to have more content added via an expansion.
- Although the director mentioned that there are no current plans for DLC, a potential expansion that raises the level cap could be worth the effort.
- Still, it may be a massive undertaking with the need to account for so many story possibilities, so fans should keep their expectations in check.
Baldur's Gate 3 has seen monumental success for several reasons, including having a wonderful translation of Dungeons & Dragons 5e and a fantastic story that organically reacts to play choices. Even if all the reviews have not come in yet, it is safe to say that Baldur's Gate 3 is one of 2023's best games.
Much of the success could likely be attributed to how Baldur's Gate 3 handled its pre-orders, releasing the game's first act in Early Access and allowing anyone who purchases it to play hours of content before the full launch. Although it had been like this for a few years, anticipation over the game only seemed to grow, and now that the full release is out, fans have wondered about a potential expansion.
Why Baldur's Gate 3 Should Get DLC
Baldur's Gate 3's director Swen Vinke has already commented on potential DLC, stating that Larian Studios is not currently working on any future content for the game but might be open to that in the future. A potential expansion that raises the level cap closer to 20 would be a massive undertaking, so one might not release for a long time given how overpowered late-game D&D abilities can be.
While some fans might be a little disappointed to discover this, it makes sense since Baldur's Gate 3 was a massive undertaking. The game's development cycle took many years to flesh out as many of the systems present as possible, and most relevant player choices can be accounted for. Since it was in Early Access for a long time, many changes were added to account for player feedback. It's a level of detail that is ambitious for most studios, let alone one that had only recently become big.
There still is potential to cap the Baldur's Gate 3 experience off with a massive expansion that balances out some of the most powerful D&D spells, including potentially cutting something like Wish, which does what the name implies. All the main games in the trilogy have been monumental feats for the RPG genre, and the 2nd game had been able to incorporate powerful spells while keeping the experience intact, going all the way up to level 20 for the expansion Throne of Bhaal.
The main issue with creating an expansion for Baldur's Gate 3 might not relate to balancing, but the new story's direction. Assuming it's set after the main story as the expansions for previous games are, there would be a significant number of variables that developers would have to account for, and with how popular Baldur's Gate 3 is, it would be an accomplishment in of itself to have many potential variables have an impact on a theoretical follow-up.
It could take its predecessor's approach and have a canon series of events, but that would take from one of Baldur's Gate 3's main appeals. Another idea could be setting it in an area that hadn't been too impacted by the main story and have the player's motivation stem from how their last adventure ended. Even if it takes a while to release, an expansion that builds upon the game's excellent variation of D&D 5e would be a treat for many fans.
Even if an expansion never does come out, Baldur's Gate 3 is a lengthy and worthwhile experience that deserves the praise it's received from critics and players alike. There are hundreds of hours of content to sort through when accounting for narrative ripples caused by the player, and most of it is worthwhile and meaningful. Whether Larian Studios decides to build upon the foundations set by its latest success or move on to something entirely new, it will have many new fans eagerly anticipation anything that comes next.
Baldur's Gate 3 is out now for PC and will come out September 6 for PS5. A version for Xbox Series X/S is in development.