Is Baldur's Gate 3 Worth It? What Players Say in 2026

Is Baldur's Gate 3 worth it? The price and the numbers

The two review figures cover different ground. The 96% counts English-language reviews since 2023. The 94% counts the last 30 days in every language, so it is a fair check on whether the game still lands with new buyers. It does: 3,276 people reviewed it in the past month and almost all of them recommended it. Steam also shows a Metacritic score of 96.

The game is a D&D role-playing game where you build a character or take a premade "Origin" hero, gather a party and make choices that change the story. Steam's own description lists 12 classes, 11 races and a level cap of 12, plus "over 174 hours of cinematics". That is Larian's marketing, so treat the number as a boast about how much was filmed, not as a length.

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Finished means finished: what the last patch left in the box

On April 15, 2025, Larian posted that Patch 8 was "our final major game patch for Baldur's Gate 3". It added that the patch would be "the last game patch to introduce new content" outside of minor bug fixing, and spelled out what that means: no new narrative content and no significant changes to storylines, Origin characters or companions. Patch 8 itself added one new subclass per class, 12 in all, plus cross-play, Photo Mode and Steam Trading Cards. When Larian looked back that December, it called it "the last final, final last patch".

Wikipedia records the same arc: after full release Larian added free new content until the final patch in April 2025, and in March 2024 director Swen Vincke said the studio would not develop a sequel or DLC. That is the part some owners miss. A player with 448.5 hours wrote on November 9 that it is "still one of the single greatest rpgs of all time" and that he wished "we got the dlcs". There are none.

Screenshot: Steam store page (Larian Studios)

"Finished" does not mean frozen for repairs. Hotfix #36 landed on March 26, 2026, and Larian explained that a small update meant to fix corrupted savegames had "seemed to have also introduced some performance issues that triggered crashes". The hotfix fixed a frame-rate drop and eventual crash when loading a savegame, among other crashes. If you are buying now, expect bug fixes at most.

Our read is that this settles the "should I wait for a better edition" question. In many RPGs waiting pays off, as with the free upgrade explained for Witcher 3 Remastered. Here the studio has said the story is told and the content is closed, so we read the price as the only open variable.

GODEEPER: Weighing it against a newer RPG? Blood of Dawnwalker Review: Worth It After Update 1.1? →

Your first evening: a long character creator and a few tutorials

Plan for the opening to be slow. Jaice, a YouTuber who said in a February 27, 2026 video that it was 2026 and he had never touched the game, spent roughly the first 22 minutes of his stream on hair and faces. At that point he looked at the hairstyle list and said "there is so many options. I'll see you guys in 3 hours". He was joking, but the screen time backs him up.

Screenshot: Steam store page (Larian Studios)

You do not have to build someone from scratch. Steam lists 7 Origin heroes, each "with their own unique traits, agenda, and outlook on the world", plus the Dark Urge, a fully customizable Origin hero with its own mechanics and story. MadMorph, in the first part of a playthrough from August 2023, opens by saying you "don't need to have seen or played the previous ones to enjoy this". He picks an Origin character and gives his reason: the temptation is to make your own person, but having played Larian's earlier Divinity: Original Sin 2 he found you "actually kind of miss out by playing your own character", because Origin characters have their own stories and voices. WolfheartFPS, on the other hand, went with a custom character and wrote a backstory for it first.

Our reading of MadMorph's reason: the party members you meet later bring their own stories anyway, so the Origin character, who gets the most authored dialogue, may be a better first guide to what the game can do than a custom hero.

Two small things from the same videos save time. The game explains dice rolls the first time you meet one: Jaice's screen read "Some dialogue options require a skill check. A dice roll that must meet or exceed a target number." And quick-save is on the keyboard. About an hour and 24 minutes in, Jaice asked "How do we quick save?" and found it was F5. Learn that before the first fight, not after.

If you want a game that offers a harder mode later, Larian mentions that it introduced Honour Mode "for those of you looking for a hard time". For how another recent RPG sorts its difficulty options, see our Crimson Desert difficulty settings guide and its beginner tips.

What 150 GB and an SSD mean for your PC

Steam's minimum is Windows 10 64-bit with an Intel i5 4690 or AMD FX 8350, 8 GB of RAM, a GTX 970 or RX 480 (or an Arc A380) with 4 GB or more of video memory, and DirectX 11. The recommended line is an Intel i7 8700K or Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB of RAM and an RTX 2060 Super, RX 5700 XT or Arc A580 with 8 GB or more of video memory. Both list 150 GB of free space and note that an SSD is required.

That storage line is the real cost for many people. In September 2024, with Patch 7, Larian told players the patch was about 11.6 GB to download and that it required 160 GB of free space to install, and suggested uninstalling and re-downloading the game if you ran short. Steam's page now says 150 GB, so keep a margin above that if patches or mods are in your plans.

The Steam page also shows Windows and Mac support and full controller support. On Steam Deck, Larian's Hotfix #34 of September 23, 2025 said the game "now features a native Steam Deck build", and Steam's compatibility report for the game is Deck Verified.

Playing with friends: four players, cross-play and one save-file catch

Steam's description says you can "take the adventure online as a party of up to four", and the store page tags Online Co-op, LAN Co-op, Cross-Platform Multiplayer and Remote Play Together. Cross-play arrived in Patch 8: Larian's post said PC, Mac, Xbox and PlayStation 5 players could now share multiplayer, with full cross-platform progression, through the Larian Network.

Screenshot: Steam store page (Larian Studios)

The setup is a little fiddly, and Larian wrote it up in Community Update #34 on May 20, 2025. Everyone links their platform account to a Larian account at larian.com/account/connected, ticks "Allow Cross-Play" under the Gameplay tab in Options, and adds friends on the Larian Network by username. The catch is for existing campaigns. If you want friends to join a game you already started, Larian says the save needs cross-play enabled, which you do from the Load Game screen with a "Cross-Play" checkbox. A new campaign instead starts from the Cross-Play tab under Multiplayer. Do that once before game night, not while three friends wait.

The player reviews show the co-op appeal. On November 9 a player with 448.5 hours finished a second run "this time with friends". Another, with 20.9 hours, called it a fun turn-based game "to play with other players/friends". Only the first says he played with friends; the second just calls the game fun with them. It is a small sample, so we read it as a hint, not a trend.

If four-player play is your actual goal, our best co-op games roundup covers a wider shelf, Farever's co-op guide covers a newer co-op RPG, and Solasta II's multiplayer update is the nearest D&D-flavored comparison we have written about.

GODEEPER: Looking for the best four-player picks this season? Best Co-op Games to Play Right Now →

Mods: official support, with a console limit

Larian added official mod support with Patch 7 on September 5, 2024, alongside a toolkit on Steam called Baldur's Gate 3 Toolkit Data. Larian's June 2024 community update described its modding pipeline as "a convenient way for players and creators alike to access and manage mods across all platforms". With the Patch 7 release, Larian also warned that, as with any patch, some third-party mods "may still become incompatible after our latest update", and asked players to uninstall mods first if the game misbehaved.

The mod scene is large. A month-long community event, the Modathon, produced over 160 mods from 85 authors, downloaded over 150,000 times, according to Larian's August 2025 update. A reviewer with 98 hours wrote on November 9 that "Mods can be a bit silly, and sometimes don't wanna work, but other than that its good." Mod trouble is not unique to this game; our guides to the best Far Far West mods and the best Dave the Diver mods show how we check a mod before recommending it.

The rules change if you play across platforms. Larian says all players in a cross-play lobby must have the same mod versions, and the Mod Verification window prompts you to install or update anything missing. The limit on consoles is 100 mods, and "third-party mods cannot be used on consoles". PC hosts can filter the mod browser for mods marked as available on console and Mac. If you plan to play with a friend on a PlayStation, choose official-hub mods and keep the list short.

How long it lasts, and what players say this week

Larian gives no playing time, so we use the people playing now. Ten of the most recent English Steam reviews, all from November 9, show 2.8 hours at the low end and 710.9 at the high end, with others at 20.9, 27.2, 38, 98, 112, 152.4, 204.2 and 448.5. One of them, at 152.4 hours, wrote that "it took around 3 starts for me to finally finish Baldur's Gate 3" and said the game "seems to plot out the consequence of every decision of note". That is one reviewer's experience, and "starts" here means restarts before finishing. For a second full run, see the 448.5-hour review above.

The same pattern shows in the awards. Wikipedia says it was the first title to win Game of the Year at all five major video game awards ceremonies, and that Larian's publishing director said in February 2024 the game had over 10 million players. Neither figure tells you whether you will like it, but they explain why the Steam score has not drifted since 2023.

If $59.99 is more than you want to spend on a first try, our early access picks and the best indie co-op games from the summer sale cover cheaper games.

What players say, and what price fits

Players who reviewed it on November 9 describe long, replayable runs: one needed "around 3 starts" before finishing and another played a second run with friends. The score figures are in the table above. The negative side is thin in what we read: the 150 GB SSD requirement on Larian's page, and one long-time player's wish that "we got the dlcs".

On price, Steam asks $59.99 with no discount on November 10. Our reading: because the content is closed, there is no later edition to wait for, so the price is the only variable. We cannot tell you a discount will arrive; the only one we found documented is the 20% Patch 8 sale in April 2025, and we found no later sale record. Our Steam sale calendar lists the dates of the next events, and our Steam Autumn Sale indie picks show what that sale looks like for smaller games.

If you want to compare it with other RPGs we have reviewed, start with Clair Obscur Expedition 33 and Tainted Grail.

On key sites, Eneba's Global Steam key for the game was sold out when we checked on November 10, so we have no price to quote. Eneba's search page lists several listings for the game, and the safest check is to look for one marked Global before you pay.

What we couldn't confirm

We found no official playing time from Larian, so the hours above come from player reviews only. We could not see the contents of the $9.99 Digital Deluxe Edition listed on Steam, so we make no claim about it. Steam's page does not list shared or split-screen play, and Larian's Hotfix #32 notes mention split-screen, so we cannot say whether it is available on PC. The Eneba key was out of stock when we looked, so we have no price. The negative side of the player voice is thin here, since Steam's score leaves few negative reviews to quote, and we did not play the game for this piece. It is built from Steam, Larian's posts, Wikipedia, and the reviews and videos linked above.

References

1. Baldur's Gate 3 on Steam, Larian Studios
2. Patch 8 is live: the final patch, Larian on Steam
3. Community Update #34: Connecting With Cross-Play and Hotfix #32, Larian on Steam
4. Community Update #35: Baldur's Gate 3 Turns Two, Larian on Steam
5. Community Update #36: A Very Moddy Christmas, Larian on Steam
6. Patch 7 now live, Larian on Steam
7. Hotfix #36 now live, Larian on Steam
8. Baldur's Gate 3, Wikipedia
9. What Have I Started?! Baldur's Gate 3 Blind Playthrough #1, Jaice on YouTube
10. A cozy playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3, MadMorph on YouTube