We recently completed Act II of Baldur’s Gate 3, the immersive game based around Dungeons & Dragons. Following up on our thoughts for Act I, here is a spoiler-free overview of Act II.
The Story
The second act of Baldur’s Gate 3 is heavily story-based. From early on you begin to pick up on lore about the largest enemy (or ally, depending on if you are playing a good or evil game), Ketheric Thorm. Through exploring, talking to NPC’s, talking to your own party, and reading documents around the map, you begin to piece together the story of what took place in this shadow-ravaged area.
The storyline is compelling, with complicated characters and fully realized histories. Each step you take leads you to another, and everything logically falls into place. The only thing that stood apart was what felt like a sidequest in the Gauntlet of Shar, but actually was part of the main questline.
The stories you discover here can be depressing. This act is centered on death and destruction on a large scale, with innocent lives caught in the middle. But if you choose a heroic game, it does feel nice to restore goodness to the area once again.
The Gameplay
The fights are a lot of fun, and there are truly some spectacular dungeons. Grymforge was one of our favorites to go through. Aside from one small puzzle in the Gauntlet of Shar, every challenge felt logical, every puzzle made sense, and you were never left wondering what you to do next.
There is a good balance here between peaceful interactions and violence. That is to say, there are areas where you can explore and socialize without fear, and other areas where dangers and horrors are aplenty. The Last Light Inn was a standout location, offering more and more areas of intrigue the further we delved.
The Locations
Beautifully realized locations are across the map with this act in Baldur’s Gate 3. From the soaring peaks of the monastery, to the dark and dangerous shadow lands, the environments invited more and more exploration.
That being said, there were a few areas we chose not to fully explore because they were too disturbing and too gory. Balthazar’s experiments and Reithwin were our top two that we sped through, only hitting the highlights, because of the body horror and grotesque elements. So fair content warning for those curious about the second act.
Overview
All in all, the second act of Baldur’s Gate 3 is deep, story-driven, and offers some truly spectacular locations and dungeons to explore. It’s good fun all around.
Pros: Well-written, fun dungeons, detailed locations, good characters
Cons: Depressing, too gory