Games & consoles · role-playing game
Baldur's Gate 3
Hacker Approved
Praised as a deep, freely explorable role-playing game with a strong campaign and no DLC; critics note combat frustrations and Linux performance issues.
Summarized from 87 comments.
Praised as a deep, freely explorable role-playing game with a strong campaign and no DLC; critics note combat frustrations and Linux performance issues.
- recommend
- 71
- criticize
- 11
- months recommended
- 11 of 13
Why people love it
Strong story and campaign · 4
the BG3 story was the one that ended up feeling like -- for me -- something that would have been a modpack for Neverwinter Nights.
Oct 2026 · commentGreat single player campaign with mod support. No DLCs or expansion packs, you get it all in the base game, finished, done.
Mar 2026 · commentBaldur’s Gate 3 was an event unlike any BioWare (really any studio) has been able to drum up
Oct 2026 · commentRuns well on Mac, Deck, Linux · 4
looks absolutely fantastic on it due to the HDR rendering and high screen quality on Apple hardware
Nov 2025 · commentthey optimised the heck out of it, finally shipping a native Deck build earlier this year.
Nov 2025 · commentBaldurs Gate 3 runs better on the newer Apple chips than my somewhat aging gaming PC.
Jan 2026 · commentFreedom in how you approach things · 2
Where BG3 shines is the freedom the game gives you to approach things how you like
Dec 2025 · commentchoices tend to align more along character axes than good/evil
Nov 2025 · commentNo DRM and works offline · 2
It doesn't have DRM, doesn't require an online account to play and uses direct connections for multiplayer.
Jun 2026 · commentwhich I can install and play offline to my heart 's content.
Jun 2026 · comment
What people warn about
Combat frustrates some players · 2
Every time it drops me into combat I roll my eyes and often quit.
Dec 2025 · commentEven darlings such as Elden Ring or BG3 failed to grab me.
Jan 2026 · commentLinux needs tweaks or Proton · 2
BG3 also seems to require a custom Proton and tweaked settings for some people
Jan 2026 · commentBaldur's Gate 3 Linux build is a slideshow on Nvidia cards
Jan 2026 · commentBuggy releases needing many patches · 2
that will invariably be the buggier experience so want to avoid it
Jan 2026 · commentterrible delta updates. Baldurs Gate 3 had 8 patches in 3 Years.
Jul 2026 · comment
What hackers pick instead
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Every quote
The 40 most detailed of 87 comments. Each links to the original.
the BG3 story was the one that ended up feeling like -- for me -- something that would have been a modpack for Neverwinter Nights.
Mixed · Oct 2026 · in “EA is shutting down BioWare”
Great single player campaign with mod support. No DLCs or expansion packs, you get it all in the base game, finished, done.
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “What Are Your Guilty Displeasures?”
It doesn't have DRM, doesn't require an online account to play and uses direct connections for multiplayer.
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Stop Killing Games”
looks absolutely fantastic on it due to the HDR rendering and high screen quality on Apple hardware
Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark”
Baldur’s Gate 3 was an event unlike any BioWare (really any studio) has been able to drum up
Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “EA is shutting down BioWare”
they optimised the heck out of it, finally shipping a native Deck build earlier this year.
Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “I don’t need a Steam Machine”
Baldurs Gate 3 runs better on the newer Apple chips than my somewhat aging gaming PC.
Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe”
Where BG3 shines is the freedom the game gives you to approach things how you like
Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Fallout 2's Chris Avellone describes his game design philosophy”
BG3 also seems to require a custom Proton and tweaked settings for some people
Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux”
that will invariably be the buggier experience so want to avoid it
Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it”
Every time it drops me into combat I roll my eyes and often quit.
Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “After 40 years of adventure games, Ron Gilbert pivots to outrunning Death”
Runs Baldurs Gate 3 and my final fantasy ps2 emulator just fine
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Microsoft's "Fix" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating”
choices tend to align more along character axes than good/evil
Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Game design is simple”
which I can install and play offline to my heart 's content.
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “If You Can't Hold It, You Don't Own It”
the depth comes from the character stories and development
Recommends · Oct 2026
terrible delta updates. Baldurs Gate 3 had 8 patches in 3 Years.
Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Resetting Xbox”
Baldur's Gate 3 Linux build is a slideshow on Nvidia cards
Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it”
Even darlings such as Elden Ring or BG3 failed to grab me.
Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “PlayStation 2 Recompilation Project Is Absolutely Incredible”
BG3 has some pretty amusing hidden interactions if you steamroll events you're not supposed to be able to win.
Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “The Joy of Playing Grandia, on Sega Saturn”
Baldurs Gate 3 the video game taught me DnD, videogames where you can go at your own pace are a nice option.
Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Model-Based Testing for Dungeons & Dragons”
I would have done the same in BG3 if I still had the time to replay 50 hour games every few years
Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “EA is shutting down BioWare”
the difficulty settings make sense in how they translate to gameplay, and the default is fun.
Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Making difficulty curves in games”
If you compare most complex modern games they blow out of the water anything from the past.
Recommends · May 2026 · in “The Melancholy of Slaying Monsters”
Theres a LOT of variation and events between leaving camp and returning later that night.
Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Rare concert records going on Internet Archive”
Both clair obscur and Baldur's Gate 3 (goty 2025 & 2023) were in gog since the beginning
Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder: What it means for you”
suddenly the cinematic cutscenes don't feel like a tradeoff for sacrificing choice
Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Game design is simple”
I loved it, but it consumed 50 of the 100 hours I spent on my first playthrough.
Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Outside, Dungeon, Town: Integrating the Three Places in Videogames (2024)”
After that I'll get to Baldur's Gate 3 and probably have the same experience.
Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Videogame stocks slide after Google's Project Genie AI model release”
Recent AAA games that pushed the boundaries are Elden Ring and Baldurs Gate 3
Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “New 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M6”
There are rare exceptions like Baldur's Gate 3 that seem to reach everyone.
Recommends · Mar 2026
Would they be great games even with 15-year old graphical fidelity? Sure.
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building”
BG3 had that magic for most of the first act I think for a lot of people
Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Outside, Dungeon, Town: Integrating the Three Places in Videogames (2024)”
All of them are incredible games spanning a vast series of game style
Recommends · May 2026 · in “Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent”
is not only indeed really good, it's only the tip of the iceberg
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “What Are Your Guilty Displeasures?”
it was nice to play against a substantially more intelligent AI
Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “PlayStation 2 Recompilation Project Is Absolutely Incredible”
Baldurs Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Crimson Desert, No mans sky
Recommends · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”
Not at all my experience which makes me question the rest.
Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it”
some of the highest quality AAA games like Baldur's Gate 3
Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Why Windows 11 still ships with Windows 95's memory manager hidden inside it”
The newer games all work fine (e.g. cyberpunk 2077, BG3).
Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “RemoveWindowsAI”
Love me some Baldur's Gate 3, everything turned up to 11
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Apple discontinues the Mac Pro with no plans for future hardware”
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