Group Description
Baldur's Gate is a role-playing franchise released under the
Dungeons & Dragons video game license. The games take place in the
Forgotten Realms campaign setting, on the fictional continent Faerûn.
The series started with
Baldur's Gate (1998), eventually evolving into two distinct sub-series. The so-called Bhaalspawn Saga, developed by
BioWare, includes the first game, its sequel
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000), and their expansion packs, most notably
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001), which concludes the overarching story. The games in the Bhaalspawn Saga are party-based RPGs with tactical real-time combat.
The Dark Alliance series initiated with
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (2001), and are action RPGs with "hack-and-slash" tendencies, unrelated to the Bhaalspawn Saga story-wise. Developed by
Snowblind Studios and
Black Isle Studios, this series is often considered a spin-off of the former, due to its console-exclusive releases, reduced RPG elements, and projects of continuing the series in the gameplay vein of the first two games.
The first
Baldur's Gate is commonly regarded as one of the significant contributors to the RPG revival of the late 1990's, the others being
Diablo (1996) and
Fallout (1997). It introduced the
Infinity Engine, which served as a basis for several other isometric role-playing games, and popularized the "real-time-with-pause" combat system, which has been since implemented in many party-based Western RPGs.
Black Isle announced another
Baldur's Gate title in 2001,
Baldur's Gate 3: The Black Hound, but it was canceled in 2003. The game was supposed to implement a gameplay system similar to the one of the Bhaalspawn Saga, while starting an entirely new storyline. According to lead designer
Josh Sawyer, it started development as a completely unrelated game, but Interplay lost the rights to make
Dungeons & Dragons games outside the
Icewind Dale,
Baldur's Gate and
Dark Alliance franchise. In order to continue development, they had to re-brand it as a
Baldur's Gate game.
Awards
- PC Powerplay (Germany)
- Issue 06/2005 - #4 Likeable Secondary Character (for Minsc and Boo)
Related links
Game Title | Year | Platform | Publisher | User Score |
Baldur's Gate III | 2020 | Macintosh, Stadia, Windows | Larian Studios NV | ... |
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition + Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition | 2019 | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Beamdog | ... |
Baldur's Gate: Infinity Collection | 2016 | Linux, Macintosh, Windows | Beamdog | ... |
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition - Siege of Dragonspear | 2016 | Android, iPad, iPhone, Linux, Macintosh, Windows | Beamdog | 1.41 |
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition | 2013 | Android, iPad, iPhone, Linux, Macintosh, Windows | Beamdog | 3.50 |
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition | 2012 | Android, iPad, iPhone, Linux, Macintosh, Windows | Beamdog | 3.43 |
Icewind Dale: Die komplette Serie / Baldur's Gate: Die komplette Serie | 2008 | Windows | Atari Europe S.A.S.U. | ... |
Baldur's Gate: 4 in 1 Boxset | 2006 | Windows | Akella | 4.57 |
Baldur's Gate | 2005 | J2ME | Sorrent Inc. | ... |
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance | 2004 | Game Boy Advance | Destination Software, Inc. | 3.46 |
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II | 2004 | Linux, Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 2, Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series | Interplay Entertainment Corp. | 3.66 |
Baldur's Gate II: The Collection | 2002 | Linux, Macintosh, Windows | Interplay Entertainment Corp. | 4.20 |
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance | 2001 | GameCube, Linux, Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series | Interplay Entertainment Corp. | 3.66 |
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal | 2001 | Macintosh, Windows | Interplay Entertainment Corp. | 4.13 |
Planescape: Torment / Baldur's Gate / Fallout 2 | 2000 | Windows | Virgin Interactive Entertainment (Europe) Ltd. | ... |
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | 2000 | Macintosh, Windows | Interplay Entertainment Corp. | 4.16 |
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Collector's Edition) | 2000 | Windows | Interplay Entertainment Corp. | 4.14 |
Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga | 1999 | Linux, Macintosh, Windows | Interplay Entertainment Corp. | 3.99 |
Baldur's Gate Chapters I & II | 1999 | Windows | Interplay Productions, Inc. | 3.74 |
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast | 1999 | Macintosh, Windows | Graphic Simulations Corporation | 3.99 |
Helden & Schurken für Baldur's Gate | 1999 | Windows | Koch Media GmbH (Germany) | ... |
Baldur's Gate (Gold Edition) | 1998 | Windows | Interplay Productions, Inc. | 4.78 |
Baldur's Gate | 1998 | Macintosh, Windows | Black Isle Studios | 4.08 |
Baldur's Gate (Edition spéciale incluant Fallout) | 1998 | DOS, Windows | Interplay Productions Ltd. | ... |
Selected Covers
Selected Screenshots
Game group created by Anonymous User, additional games added to group by
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