Baldur’s Gate 3 has taken over the internet, garnering over half a million players and becoming one of the most critically acclaimed games of the year. The long wait for this epic RPG by Larian Studios has been well worth it.
It’s inevitable that Baldur’s Gate 3 players will want to pounce on other games at some point. We already covered a game that might offer a D&D experience Baldur’s Gate 3 is lacking in, but there are two games that will definitely appeal to fans of Baldur’s Gate 3—games that will especially appeal to RPG players who like a faster pace and more button pressing.
Two Must-Play Games For Baldur’s Gate 3 Fans
For anyone who’s enjoyed Baldur’s Gate 3 or at the very least the setting the game takes place in, it is essential to play both Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2. These classic early 2000’s action role-playing games take many appealing elements from the Dungeons & Dragons formula but place it in a combat system that will please gamers who just want to hit a lot of buttons.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance was originally released in 2001 to critical acclaim. Set in the Forgotten Realms and using the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rules (it was the first video game to apply these rules in a real time format rather than turn-based,) Dark Alliance involves hack-and-slash combat and loads of dungeon crawling in many areas across the Faerûn continent.
Players choose from one of three preset character builds: the dwarven fighter Kromlech, the human archer Vahn and the elven sorceress Adrianna. As you gain experience and level up, you can customize the character’s stats and unlock new abilities to deal with the ever-increasing hordes of monsters.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance has an average campaign length of 12 hours. The story is fairly linear, although there are side quests that are worth completing for additional lore and loot.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is the 2004 sequel, where many of the core gameplay elements remain the same. It’s worth saying that if you don’t like Dark Alliance, then Dark Alliance 2 will not have enough changes to turn you around. If you did enjoy what the first game had to offer, then the sequel offers more of that great experience.
There are now five starting classes: a human barbarian, a drow monk, a moon-elf necromancer, a dwarven rogue and a human cleric. The game is slightly less linear than Dark Alliance, allowing players some choice in the order they approach quests. Additionally, there is now the ability to create custom weapons and armor.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is the same as the original game in that it has an average campaign length of 12 hours.
Both games offer the ability to play the campaign cooperatively with another player, although it’s worth noting that this can only be done locally and there is no online co-op option.
With relatively short run times and a lot of solid D&D action and lore available, both of these games are worth a try! You can find both games available on Steam, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series consoles and the Nintendo Switch.