Baldur's Gate 3 has won the Best Visual Design award at the Golden Joystick Awards 2023 powered by Intel, claiming its second award of the night.
Having set a new benchmark for the CRPG genre thanks to its full motion-captured performances, all coupled with intricate environments and beautiful combat and spell effects, Baldur's Gate 3 still had to beat an impressive field to claim the win. The full list of Golden Joystick Awards 2023 nominees included:
- Baldur's Gate 3 (winner)
- Starfield
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Viewfinder
- Lies of P
- Street Fighter 6
It was certainly a stacked field, but Baldur's Gate 3 set itself apart by carrying a huge amount of visual detail across a massive, hundreds-of-hours-long campaign. With the motion capture helping to bring its incredible cast to life, it might have set a new gold standard for RPGs, elevating the work that Larian has become known for over its decades of role-playing design expertise to create an experience almost totally unique among CRPGs.
- Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke says indie poker roguelike Balatro was his 2024 GOTY, beating out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Astro Bot, and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
- The Making of Baldur's Gate 3: "We really wanted to make it so that even if you don't know D&D or Baldur's Gate, you would still have exciting choices as a player"
It's another nice win for developer Larian Studios. Baldur's Gate 3 has already claimed one award - Best Storytelling - and it's nominated for a total of seven awards, including nods for Astarion actor Neil Newbon and Larian itself for Studio of the Year. If it carries on the success that it's already seen tonight, Larian could need to make a lot of space on its shelves.
Discover the best games of 2023 at the best prices by checking out the Golden Joystick Awards Steam sale page
