As a thing to fill time and tickle your brain, Baldur’s Gate 3 early access is a meaty thing. Definitely more filling than the Fort Joy area of Original Sin 2’s early access chunk. Technically, I found it stable, with more egregious evidence of its early status limited to wonky animation transitions and words emanating from closed gobs. At one point a man appeared as a bear, but only in cutscenes. Is that a bug or a feature? I’m not hot on my D&D lore. I also triggered a 26-person battle across an entire settlement which caused the AI to go into minor meltdown, taking up to a minute to work out individual NPC moves, resulting in a painful sight of a 10 minute war as 20 tieflings struggled to murder one remaining halfling. But so it goes – and there’s already been an update to fix some issues.
No, my word of warning goes instead to those who simply want to enjoy the story. By dint of being a first act it threatens to be all dilemma and no consequence. There are immediate consequences – big, messy, reach-for-the-quick-load consequences – but know that the meat of your mulling won’t be answered for some time. If it were not for this job, and having the self-control of four year old at a birthday party (or games journalist presented with a plate of miniburgers at a press event), I would would want to see this enticing story play out in full. Don’t feel pressured to gather your party and venture forth, but based on what I’ve seen, I think that party is in for one hell of a ride when they do.