Dungeons & Dragons is coming back to video games in a big way, with several projects planned or already in the works — and none of them is bigger than the long-awaited next installment in the classic Baldur’s Gate franchise.
Developer Larian Studios unveiled a mind-flaying new cinematic trailer for Baldur’s Gate 3 at the just-concluded PAX East gaming expo, and it’s safe to say D&D has never come to life quite like this in a video game before. Naturally, it wouldn’t be Dungeons & Dragons without, well, dungeons and dragons, and we literally get both in this hi-def, five-minute dive deep into the Forgotten Realms.
Check it out:
Dungeons & Dragons on YouTube
There’s no firm release date yet for Baldur’s Gate 3, but Larian says the game is expected to appear sometime this year on Steam early access, before a wider release that, at least for the time being, will be limited to Google Stadia and PC.
The clamor for a Wasteland populated by good old-fashioned NPCs has been at the top of fans’ wish lists for future improvements to Fallout 76, and Bethesda took the opportunity at PAX East to show that it’s been listening.
Sharing a half hour’s worth of details from the much-anticipated Wastelanders expansion, Bethesda walked fans through a demo of new gameplay that revealed the return of classic Fallout-style NPC conversations and dialogue choices, as well as the tease of one new character — a ghoul named Mort — who’ll be voiced by Jason Mewes.
Bethesda Softworks on YouTube
Fallout 76: Wastelanders is slated to arrive on April 7 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Finally, Borderlands is getting ready to probe one of the few corners of the universe it hasn’t yet explored: the primordial world of H.P. Lovecraft. Announced with an appropriately spooky, tongue-in-cheek trailer at PAX East, Gearbox Software unveiled its upcoming eldritch expansion for Borderlands 3, titled Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock.
Borderlands on YouTube
Sure, the plot may hang on the marriage of two Borderlands favorites, but of course that’s really just a fun excuse to put players in all kinds of absurd new situations. Let the ghastly gunplay begin March 26, when Guns, Love, and Tentacles arrives for Borderlands 3 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC, and MacOS.