It’s become quite apparent that casual players instantly connected Larian Studios’ latest game and, previously, BioWare’s beloved IP because of their colorful companions and the players’ relationships with them. That “bear trailer” might be among the biggest marketing wins of the year if we look at the post-launch numbers that Baldur’s Gate 3 keeps hitting even one week after its release and before arriving on PS5 next month. We certainly can’t ignore the already-in-place CRPG community that was dying to play a worthy follow-up to BioWare’s two original games, but I’d say BG3 owes its mainstream success to a very specific fantasy RPG crowd.
This situation also feels like a truly earned “full circle” moment, given BioWare started it all (and later went off to create a Baldur’s Gate successor, of sorts), though its own take on the premise had a combat system was closer to that of Jade Empire and KOTOR. What’s funny about the first Dragon Age is that it was largely marketed as a way edgier take on the fantasy RPG formula, yet people resonated with its goofier side the most, something that slowly influenced the creative direction of the saga. By the time 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition launched, the property’s sharpest edges had been all but polished off.
Mind you, this doesn’t mean Dragon Age lost its hard-hitting world-building or more serious side along the way. I always found those games to be less “aesthetically hostile” as time marched on, and it was easy to see why if you paid attention to the fandom’s own evolution. What started as a “dark and cruel fantasy universe” soon became a clear alternative to Dungeons & Dragon’s Forgotten Realms setting and replicated much of its playful spirit to bring in more adventurers that perhaps had ignored video game RPGs for too long.