Baldur's Gate (series)

***Baldur's Gate*** is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms *Dungeons & Dragons* campaign setting. The game has spawned two series, known as the *Bhaalspawn Saga* and the *Dark Alliance*, both taking place mostly within the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga extends to Amn and Tethyr. The *Dark Alliance* series was released for consoles and was critically and commercially successful. The *Bhaalspawn Saga* was critically acclaimed for using pausable realtime gameplay, which is credited with revitalizing the computer role-playing game (CRPG) genre.

The *Bhaalspawn Saga* was originally developed by BioWare for personal computers. In 2012, Atari revealed that Beamdog and Overhaul Games would remake the games in HD. The *Dark Alliance* series was originally set to be developed by Snowblind Studios, but ports were handled by Black Isle Studios, High Voltage Software, and Magic Pockets, with the second game developed by Black Isle.

Black Isle Studios had planned a third series to be set in the Dalelands and be a PC exclusive hack and slash game with pausable real-time gameplay. The game would not have been connected to the Bhaalspawn Saga series and was cancelled when Interplay forfeited the D&D PC license to Atari.

The series was revived in 2012 with the announcement of *Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition*, an update of the original Baldur's Gate using an enhanced Infinity Engine. The release of the enhanced edition marked the first release in the series in eight years, and was followed by an enhanced edition of the second Baldur's Gate called *Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition*. Beamdog has been granted permission to develop new games with the license, with two games in development, codenames *Adventure Y* and *Adventure Z*. *Adventure Y* has been revealed as *Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition - Siege of Dragonspear*. *Baldur's Gate III* is currently in development at Larian Studios, the creators of the *Divinity* series.

## Games

The *Baldur's Gate* series brought technical advancements over role-playing video games of the past. BioWare's Infinity Engine offers a pre-rendered isometric worldview, with sprite-based characters. *Baldur's Gate* was the third computer game to make use of the Lua scripting language. The engine was used for *Planescape: Torment* and the *Icewind Dale* series.

The games are based on a real-time modification of the second edition *AD&D* (*Advanced Dungeons & Dragons*) ruleset. The player's party can have up to six members, either created by the player according to the *AD&D* rules or non-player characters (NPCs) recruited by the protagonist from the game world. Numerous side quests and plot twists are associated with particular NPCs and can be activated if they are found in the player's party. Through extensive, context-dependent dialogue, many characters inside and outside the player's party are fleshed out and given an added level of complexity.

### Original series

Main articles: Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, and Baldur's Gate III
The first game in the series was *Baldur's Gate* and introduces the player character as a powerless orphan raised in the monastery of Candlekeep, south of Baldur's Gate and north of the kingdom of Amn. The main character searches for the killer of their foster father Gorion, and becomes involved with the region's iron crisis which causes metal to crumble, while battling to stay alive. An expansion pack for Baldur's Gate called *Tales of the Sword Coast* did not add to the primary storyline, but presented the protagonist with more areas to explore along the Sword Coast, more powerful enemies, more spells, and better equipment. It also allows the player character to reach higher levels of experience, made some general changes to gameplay, and altered the original game's final battle.

The sequel to *Baldur's Gate* was *Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn*. The main character is captured by Jon Irenicus and must escape into the city of Athkatla, the capital of Amn. Here the protagonist faces several different ways to figure out the reason behind the capture, as they journey through the region of Amn and the Underdark. The game presents a number of innovations over the first *Baldur's Gate* game, including further specialization of character classes, better graphics, and higher power levels. It also allowed more interaction with the game's joinable NPCs, including friendships, romances, and your own party members' interactions with one another. *Throne of Bhaal* is an expansion pack for *Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn*, and includes both an expansion of the original game, such as new areas to explore, and a conclusion to the Bhaalspawn story arc started in the first Baldur's Gate game.

The third main title, *Baldur's Gate III*, will be developed by Larian Studios in partnership with Wizards of the Coast, which holds the license for the *Dungeons & Dragons* IP. It is expected to be released at a yet undisclosed date for Windows systems and as a title for the Stadia service.

### *Dark Alliance*

Main articles: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, and Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance
The action role-playing game *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance* was developed by Snowblind Studios and others, and released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2 console, and later Xbox and GameCube video game consoles. The game takes place in the city of *Baldur's Gate* and surrounding area and is set in the *Forgotten Realms* setting, with a ruleset derived from the 3rd edition of Dungeon & Dragons; the plot is unrelated to previous PC games. The console version used an overhead third person view, and hack-and-slash dungeon crawl style gameplay. A Game Boy Advance version was released in 2004, with reduced graphics quality using an 2.5D isometric type perspective. While all ports were very well received, the original for the PlayStation 2 was the only one that gained universal acclaim.

A sequel, *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II* was developed by Black Isle Studios and released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox; the game used the same gameplay style as the original, and was also positively reviewed. The gameplay style was expanded to make the game more like a role-playing game, the ability to craft weapons, armor and amulets was added, *Baldur's Gate* became a hub city with the addition of a world map and being able to travel back to areas, making the game open world and many more side-quests were added as well as the ability to level up one's class.

In March 2019, Tuque Games announced that it was developing a *Dungeons & Dragons* game in partnership with Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast then acquired Tuque Games in October 2019. The game *Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance* was officially announced with a teaser trailer shown during The Game Awards 2019 on December 12, 2019. Tuque Games studio head Jeff Hattem described the game as a "spiritual successor" to the previous *Dark Alliance* games, rather than a direct sequel. Hattem and lead game designer Kevin Neibert have also clarified that *Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance* will use a more "intimate" third-person perspectives rather than the traditional 2.5D isometric perspective of the previous *Dark Alliance* games.

### Cancelled games

Development on *Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound* was cancelled in 2003 and the third game in the *Dark Alliance* series was also cancelled in 2004 when Black Isle Studios was closed in 2004 by parent company Interplay Entertainment Corp. On December 2, 2008, Atari stated in a press conference that the *Baldur's Gate* series (among others) would be revisited after 2009. Hiring Obsidian Entertainment to try to make *Baldur's Gate 3*, the game would once again be cancelled upon the sale of Atari Europe.

### Enhanced editions

Main articles: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition, and Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
The original game was remade in 2012 by Overhaul Games, later becoming Beamdog, 14 years after the release of the original game. It was re-released on multiple platforms as *Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition*, a collection of the original game and its expansion *Tales of the Sword Coast*. A brand new expansion named *Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear* was released on March 31, 2016.

On March 15, 2012, *Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition* was announced. It was developed by Overhaul Games for PC, Mac, and iPad. It features "a re-forged version of the Infinity Engine with a variety of modern improvements." *Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition* was announced as a Beamdog exclusive that would feature some new content and widescreen compatibility, and would continue to utilize 2nd Edition D&D rules. Beamdog since also made enhanced versions of other Infinity Engine games, including *Icewind Dale*, *Planescape: Torment* and *Neverwinter Nights*.

The enhanced versions were released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in October 2019.

### Future

Overhaul Games announced that, after finishing the Enhanced Editions of *Baldur's Gate* and *Baldur's Gate II*, they would be developing *Baldur's Gate 3* with funding from Kickstarter, as *Wasteland 2* had gotten. Overhaul Games later clarified their *Baldur's Gate* game to be a separate game from *The Black Hound*. Game developer Trent Oster suggested Thay and Waterdeep as possible settings for the game. Beamdog began calling the game *Baldur's Gate Next* as a way to differentiate it from the Bhaalspawn Saga.

In September 2016, Interplay Entertainment placed its entire catalogue of video game intellectual properties (IP) and assets up for sale, including that of *Dark Alliance*. Overhaul Games later confirmed that their chances were slim of acquiring the *Dark Alliance* IP and assets.

*Baldur's Gate III* was announced on June 6, 2019 to be released for Google's Stadia and PC. It is being developed at Larian Studios, the Belgian developer behind the *Divinity: Original Sin* series. *Baldur’s Gate III* will be “based off current D&D mechanics and spells and is the official new chapter in the legendary series,” according to a press release.

*Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance* was announced on December 12, 2019 to be released for PC and consoles, being billed as a spiritual successor to the *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance* games featuring a storyline based on characters from R. A. Salvatore's novel series *The Legend of Drizzt*.

## Development

### Unfinished games

Main article: Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound
*Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound* (code named *Jefferson* and *FR6*) was mentioned in early 2001 as a new game in the Baldur's Gate series to be made by Black Isle Studios using a new 3D engine. *The Black Hound* was originally going to be a departure from the high-powered epic of the Bhaalspawn saga to a low-key, role-playing plot. With protagonists progressing to around level four at the end of Black Isle Studios' typically large campaign and a hard cap at level eight, gameplay was refocussed to adventure, with emphasizing quests over combat. The game was only titled *Baldur's Gate* due to Interplay having lost the general *D&D* license to Atari, but still retaining the right to make *Baldur's Gate* and *Icewind Dale* branded *D&D* games (the same reason as for *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance*'s title).
The game was not going to be connected to the previous *Baldur's Gate* series in any way and would start a new series, the *Black Hound* series. It was to be a sequel in terms of gameplay and not story, although it would continue some aspects of the *Icewind Dale II* story.

The game was announced in 2002 and was said to have used the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, the gameplay of the previous *Baldur's Gate* games would have been updated to fit the ruleset. Many new gameplay features were also going to be added to fit the 3rd Edition Ruleset better, elements from the *Dark Alliance* series would have also been borrowed. The game used the Jefferson Engine which featured 3D effects such as casting dynamic shadows. The game was 75% finished before it was canceled. Its cancellation happened due to Interplay losing the right to publish *Baldur's Gate* games on the PC yet retaining the *Baldur's Gate* name for consoles, the result of this was *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II*.

The game appeared to be canceled in 2003, just before its engine was re-purposed for Black Isle's ill-fated *Van Buren* project, the working title for the eventual *Fallout 3*. Subsequently, Josh Sawyer, one of the designers of the canceled game, resumed development of *The Black Hound* as a module for *Neverwinter Nights 2*. As of 2009, this remains a side project for Sawyer, who works at Obsidian Entertainment.

In an interview with Winterwind Productions, *Black Hound* developer Damien Foletto revealed the story and setting of the game, which would have been in the Dalelands. The player character would have been resting at their campsite when a woman chasing a Black Hound crashes in; she kills the hound, which dies on the player character 's lap. Accusing the player character of being in league with the dog, she is about to kill the player character as well, but the Riders of Archendale arrive and scare her off before questioning the player character. After a brief inquisition, the local magistrates tell the player character not to wander far because they may have more questions. The player's quest would involve finding out who the mad cleric was, what this has to do with them, why a black spirit hound follows them around, and why people can not leave the player character alone and do things for themselves instead.

## Reception and legacy

Aggregate review scores
*As of May 14, 2018.*
(Xbox) 83%
(GC) 78%
(GBA) 71%
(Xbox) 83%
(GC) 79%
 *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II* | (PS2) 81%
(Xbox) 79%
 *Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition* | (PC) 78%
(iOS) 72%
 *Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition* | (PC) 77%
(iOS) 71%

In 1999, *Baldur's Gate* won the Origins Award for *Best Role Playing Game Computer Game of 1998*,

and in 2000, *Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast* won *Best Role Game Playing Game Computer Game of 1999*.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences would award *Baldur's Gate* the AIAS award for PC Role Playing Game of the Year. *Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal* and *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance* too would later win AIAS awards for Role Playing Game of the Year, taking the award for both its PC and Console categories in the year 2001. *Dark Alliance II* would later be awarded the 2004 RPG of the Year Award by the surviving GameFan website, later being inducted into the GameFan Hall of Fame. By June 2001, the series sold more than 3.5 million units worldwide.

## Printed media

Philip Athans, editor of the *Forgotten Realms* novel line, wrote the first two novels in the *Baldur's Gate* trilogy of novels: *Baldur's Gate* and *Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn*, both based on the storylines of the video game series. The novels follow the bare basics of the original stories, but eschew several of the games' numerous subplots and include only a few of the NPCs. The Bhaalspawn main character is named Abdel Adrian in the novels. The third novel - *Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal* - was authored by Drew Karpyshyn.

* Philip Athans (June 1999). *Baldur's Gate: A Novelization*. Wizards of the Coast.
* Philip Athans (September 2000). *Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn*. Wizards of the Coast.
* Drew Karpyshyn (September 2001). *Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal*. Wizards of the Coast.

In July 2014 a comic *Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate* was announced for October 2014 release. It is set generations after *Throne of Bhaal* and features Minsc as the main character. It is written by Jim Zub and pencilled by Max Dunbar. It is part of the *Dungeons & Dragons* 40th anniversary celebrations.

## See also

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* List of *Dungeons & Dragons* video games

## References

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1. ↑ Carmichael, Stephanie. Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition confirmed for PC. GameZone. Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
2. ↑ Foletto explains the Black Hound. Retrieved on June 23, 2011.
3. ↑ Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition Pricing, Release Date Announced - IGN. Ca.ign.com. Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 Enhanced Edition team making new in-between game.
5. ↑ Grant, Christopher (June 6, 2019). Baldur’s Gate 3 announced for Stadia launch, watch the trailer here. Polygon. Retrieved on June 6, 2019.
6. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (29 October 2019). Wizards of the Coast acquires Tuque Games.
7. ↑ Dark Alliance Official Announcement Trailer | Dungeons & Dragons (in en). (December 12, 2019).
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Purchese, Robert (December 13, 2019). D&D hack-and-slash series Dark Alliance is making a comeback (in en).
9. ↑ Whitten, Sarah (December 12, 2019). New 'Dungeons and Dragons' based on R.A. Salvatore characters is coming in 2020. Retrieved on December 12, 2019.
10. ↑ Wilson, Jason (December 12, 2019). "Dark Alliance is a new D&D action-RPG starring Drizzt Do'Urden and the Companions of the Hall". *VentureBeat*.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
11. ↑ Thorsen, Tor (2003-12-12). Interplay shuts down Black Isle Studios.
12. ↑ Tom Bramwell (December 2, 2008). Atari to revisit Baldur's, Test Drive. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved on January 5, 2009.
13. ↑ They Hope Baldur's Gate Will Revive The Classic RPG. Kotaku.com. Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
14. ↑ Announcing Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition. Atari/Overhaul Games. (March 15, 2012). Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved on March 15, 2012.
15. ↑ Stephen Burke (March 15, 2012). New Baldur's Gate Title Announced, Servers Go Down Instantly. Gamers Nexus. Retrieved on March 15, 2012.
16. ↑ Former BioWare Developer Making "Baldur's Gate 3" A Long-Term Goal. Crunchyroll. (March 20, 2012). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
17. ↑ Twitter / TrentOster: @kunikos @jesawyer I think. Twitter.com. Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
18. ↑ Trent Oster [@TrentOster] (15 June 2012). Hmm, Thay. I like Thay. Might have to do something there sometime in the future..
19. ↑ Trent Oster [@TrentOster] (15 June 2012). I think Waterdeep could be a fun setting. The Forgotten Realms has a ton of interesting locales all waiting for game-making.
20. ↑ Baldur's Gate 3 Could Happen, Just Not Like You Expected. NowGamer. (December 17, 2012). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
21. ↑ Interplay to sell entire videogame library and assets.
22. ↑ Trent Oster [@TrentOster] (9 September 2016). @psrandh I don't think we have a very good chance..
23. ↑ Baldur’s Gate 3 announced for Stadia launch, watch the trailer here. (June 6, 2019). Retrieved on June 8, 2019.
24. ↑ New 'Dungeons and Dragons' based on R.A. Salvatore characters is coming in 2020. (December 12, 2019). Retrieved on December 12, 2019.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Jon "Buck" Birnbaum (February 13, 2007). The Black Hound Interview. Gamebanshee.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2010. Retrieved on September 15, 2009.
26. ↑ Josh Sawyer (January 25, 2009). regular work interferes. The Herald of Archenbridge: The Black Hound Blog. Retrieved on September 15, 2009.
27. ↑ Damien Foletto on Baldur's Gate 3, The Black Hound, Fallout 3, Van Buren, Black Isle Studios. Winterwind-productions.com. Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
28. ↑ Baldur's Gate for PC. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
29. ↑ Baldur's Gate for PC Reviews. Metacritic. (November 30, 1998). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
30. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast for PC. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
31. ↑ Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn for PC. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
32. ↑ Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn for PC Reviews. Metacritic. (September 24, 2000). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
33. ↑ Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal for PC. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
34. ↑ Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal for PC Reviews. Metacritic. (June 21, 2001). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
35. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for PlayStation 2. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
36. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for Xbox. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
37. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for GameCube. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
38. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for Game Boy Advance. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
39. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for PlayStation 2 Reviews. Metacritic. (December 2, 2001). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
40. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for Xbox Reviews. Metacritic. (October 22, 2002). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
41. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for GameCube Reviews. Metacritic. (November 18, 2002). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
42. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for Game Boy Advance Reviews. Metacritic. (February 10, 2004). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
43. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II for PlayStation 2. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
44. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II for Xbox. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
45. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II for PlayStation 2 Reviews. Metacritic. (January 20, 2004). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
46. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II for Xbox Reviews. Metacritic. (January 20, 2004). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
47. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for PC. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
48. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for iOS (iPhone/iPad). GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
49. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for PC Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
50. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for iPhone/iPad Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
51. ↑ Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition for PC. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
52. ↑ Baldur's Gate II:EE for iOS (iPhone/iPad). GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
53. ↑ Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition for PC Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
54. ↑ Baldur's Gate II:EE for iPhone/iPad Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
55. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear for PC. GameRankings. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
56. ↑ Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear for PC Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on May 14, 2018.
57. ↑ Baldur's Gate Nabs AIAS Awards. Rpgamer.com. Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
58. ↑ Hall of Fame Nominee: Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2. Diehard GameFAN. (October 13, 2011). Retrieved on October 15, 2013.
59. ↑ Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal Ships to Retail; Vast New Expansion Product Completes the Epic Saga of Baldur's Gate. Cision. (June 20, 2001). Archived from the original on June 26, 2001. Retrieved on July 2, 2019.
60. ↑ Meer, Alec (July 18, 2014). Official Baldur’s Gate Comic Goes For Your Eyes. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved on July 18, 2014.

## External links

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* *Baldur's Gate* website

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