A typical playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 will take anywhere from 75 to 100 hours – you know, the length of a proper D&D session.
That comes from developer Larian Studios, who has been talking to IGN about the upcoming game. Larian boss Swen Vincke bases the estimate on someone playing solo and only doing a handful of what’s on offer. You can expect a grander time commitment if you’re more of a completionist.
“Between 75 and 100 hours, that's what we're seeing,” Vincke says. “That's not doing everything, that is just going to be a playthrough. There will be people who will be way over that, the ones who want to do everything. They will probably hit 200 hours, I think. On average we're seeing people who are going through take about 75 to 100 hours.”
If you think the jump to completionist from casual is big, you’ve read nothing yet. Vincke reckons you’ll be playing this one for a year at least if you’re going multiplayer. The reasons for that relate more to the availability of your friends than content, though – just like an actual D&D session.
“There are multiple ways of playing it, right?” Vincke says. “We saw that with [Divinity: Original Sin 2] and it will be no different here. People who are going to be playing in multiplayer, they'll take a year, a year-and-a-half. They will make their regular sessions where they play, like D&D.”
Now, what I’m keener on is what you get up in Baldur’s Gate 3. Speaking to Kotaku, Vincke says it’s possible to be turned into a cheese wheel.
“It’s possible to be turned into a cheese wheel in this game,” Vincke says. “And so you are going to travel as a cheese wheel and it looks like you’re playing Pac-Man. So we’re just gonna go through the game and you will 100 percent accept and you will 100 percent understand why you became a cheese wheel and it will be your agency that causes you to become a cheese wheel, right? But it will still surprise you that that’s what happens.”
One year as a cheese wheel because I decided to play in a group D&D session? Count me in.
