# Baldur's Gate 3

71 Hacker News commenters recommended Baldur's Gate 3 and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Praised as a deep, freely explorable role-playing game with a strong campaign and no DLC; critics note combat frustrations and Linux performance issues.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong story and campaign (4 comments): "the BG3 story was the one that ended up feeling like -- for me -- something that would have been a modpack for Neverwinter Nights." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50185336)) "Great single player campaign with mod support. No DLCs or expansion packs, you get it all in the base game, finished, done." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47229994)) "Baldur’s Gate 3 was an event unlike any BioWare (really any studio) has been able to drum up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50193658))
- Runs well on Mac, Deck, Linux (4 comments): "looks absolutely fantastic on it due to the HDR rendering and high screen quality on Apple hardware" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45794146)) "they optimised the heck out of it, finally shipping a native Deck build earlier this year." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45945083)) "Baldurs Gate 3 runs better on the newer Apple chips than my somewhat aging gaming PC." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46591602))
- Freedom in how you approach things (2 comments): "Where BG3 shines is the freedom the game gives you to approach things how you like" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46124315)) "choices tend to align more along character axes than good/evil" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45850674))
- No DRM and works offline (2 comments): "It doesn't have DRM, doesn't require an online account to play and uses direct connections for multiplayer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48392063)) "which I can install and play offline to my heart 's content." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703555))

## What people warn about

- Combat frustrates some players (2 comments): "Every time it drops me into combat I roll my eyes and often quit." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46194251)) "Even darlings such as Elden Ring or BG3 failed to grab me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46825288))
- Linux needs tweaks or Proton (2 comments): "BG3 also seems to require a custom Proton and tweaked settings for some people" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46802095)) "Baldur's Gate 3 Linux build is a slideshow on Nvidia cards" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46462240))
- Buggy releases needing many patches (2 comments): "that will invariably be the buggier experience so want to avoid it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46463938)) "terrible delta updates. Baldurs Gate 3 had 8 patches in 3 Years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48817872))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Clair Obscur: Expedition 33](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clair-obscur-expedition-33.md): 58 recommend
- [Ultima VII Revisited](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ultima-vii.md): 24 recommend
- [Disco Elysium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/disco-elysium.md): 23 recommend
- [Chrono Trigger](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chrono-trigger.md): 23 recommend
- [Undertale](https://hackerapproved.com/p/undertale.md): 16 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Baldur's Gate 3", https://hackerapproved.com/p/baldur-s-gate-3/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).