When I review a game, I usually just give it a positive or negative with a brief reason as to what I think is good or bad. But this game sparked a passion and interest that I have not felt since around 2017 when I first played the Witcher 3.

This review is divided into Three Categories. Gameplay, Characters & Companions and Acts & Story. With pros and cons.

Gameplay

Pros
Character Customisation is great, It offers a large amount of aesthetic choice but not only that but you get to select your class and race combination if you wanted something to build with.

Graphics and Sound are beautiful, casting abilities feels satisfying and the general aesthetic of the world, art and design is very good

Game is a very story-rich and immersive experience, and the gameplay reflects that with Stats reflecting your outcomes in various out of combat obstacles. A character with higher charisma is going to succeed a lot more in Persuasion and Deception. Whilst a character with higher strength can break out of restraints in crucial moments.

Combat is fantastic in so many ways. Its tactical with various abilities and unique features offered by various races/classes. Combinations that can be done across your team and even abilities that synergize together in unexpected ways. The map design complements the game play PERFECTLY as you have alot of fights with various hazards such as enemies with High ground, enemies in Darkness, cliffs to jump across and breakable terrain to interact with.

Difficulty is in my opinion very well put together in the first two acts of the game. It felt like in some fights I had to really put my brain together and start using a large amount of different consumables to best some enemies.

The map design of the Lower City and Rivington def feels unique and magical, most games have poor crowd engines and seeing the refugees, citizens and flaming fists move around is something you don't see in games

Cons

Crafting is limited to Alchemy and nothing else, it feels like a missed opportunity with the absence of equipment crafting especially since you can find various things like mental ingots, basic rings and basic necklaces/amulets. This was Cut from the game according to Dataminers

Some consumable items in the game that I found were almost useless and would only provide their benefit in one or two fights. An example would be Arrow of Dragon Slaying, considering there are very little Dragon enemies in the game

At a certain point, the game becomes too easy in Act 3. I played the game in Tactician Mode for almost the entirety of the game (from Level 3 to Level 12) and found it rather easy once I hit Level 11, big boss fights would consist of me examining the enemies weaknesses, and burst the scariest looking one down before they get there big threatening attacks off. On the off chance that I were to die before that, I would immediately know how to fight against the targets because I know what to do against their weaknesses and their strengths.

There are bugs that can break dialogue and crack immersion. A example that is a mild spoiler is during the Shar Gauntlet, I could not intereact with Shadowheart because a bug made it that if the player character interact with the bowls, shadowheart would be locked out of interaction until sometime during Act 3, according to others who experienced the bug. , there was also times when I was in the middle of a side mission and a unprompted dialogue celebrating the end of the mission and what happened occurred. One of them was Right before I broke into the Iron Throne prison, I received a Dialogue of Mizora saying "you've come to gloat now that you freed the Grand Duke?" even when I haven't done that yet

Characters and Companions

Pros

Almost all of the Companions are well designed, well written and offer interesting dialogue.

In Act 1 and Act 2, there is frequent shared dialogue between the companions with each other. Adding character dynamics that you wouldn't necessarily discover on your initial play through and making each subsequent future play through interesting

Some of the Companions actively develop and change the way they act throughout the games events. Examples are Lae'Zel and Shadowheart.

Each companion has a personal quest that you can complete, whilst some were quite interesting and had exciting missions attached to them.

Companions are not restricted to the class they come from, they can be changed and adjusted but still keeping their story elements intact without breaking the game.

Ketheric and Orin were very exciting villains on their introductions and personalities

Cons

At one point in the game, a choice makes it so you have access to one companion at the cost of two others permanently, I generally disagree with this design.

The endings of the game sometimes feel like its tailored towards how the characters acted at the beginning of the game, rather than who they developed into.

Some Companions are introduced at a inconvenient and too late of a timing. Minsc is introduced way too late into the story, I got him on the second last quest that I did. No character should be introduced at Act 3. On my very first incomplete play through of this game, I didn't get Jaheira until the end of Act 2, who has massive story implications

Gortash and Cazador are underwhelming villains, bleak bland and act completely differently than how they were described by third parties.

In the finale of the game, The Emperors actions are in direct Contradiction with his goals. It is very blatant, very obvious and on top of that he was a underwhelming boss fight that I one shot.

Karlachs ending feels like it incomplete and according to Dataminers, was cut from the game

Story & Acts

Pros

Worldbuilding is phenomenal in all Acts of the game, I was intrigued in every act of learning the Lore of Faerun and seeing Baldurs Gate come to life in Act 3 after many hours of anticipation was incredible

Plot is rather simple, but the characters bring it to life and the gameplay elements really make it feel exciting and mysterious

Act 1 is filled with interesting side quests, various enemies and different regions. It was easily the best part of the game and almost flawless. 10/10

Act 2 was a very good experience, with the introduction of Ketheric, Jaheira, Isobel and the Nightsong the game became ever more exciting and it felt like the plot was moving forwards rather than us figuring out what was going on like in Act 1

Act 3 has some very exciting moments and conclusions to some characters. I really enjoyed The fight against Raphael, Orin, Ansur and Sarevok. I also quite liked the raid on the Factory trying to save the Gondians there. The finale on a gameplay aspect did have that final boss feel too it and was exciting and I could see all the positive decisions start to come to life in the support of my allies

The Dark Urge which is a custom origin you can pick offers a different experience and in my opinion is enough incentive to immediately replay the game after finishing a previous run.

Cons (running out of text here bare with me)

In Act 2 and Act 3, Evil choices and Evil Playthroughs will directly remove content from the game, there is very little to be gained in new content and paths from doing evil aligned actions

Act 3 is littered with Cut Content, especially the hyped up Upper City which was supposed to resolve Karlachs Storyline

Some missions add player urgency which removes some freedom where the player can choose which mission to do and when.

There is no consequences of using Illithid Powers after constant warning that there is. I played without them for no reason then.

Lackluster Epilogue

When I review a game, I usually just give it a positive or negative with a brief reason as to what I think is good or bad. But this game sparked a passion and interest that I have not felt since around 2017 when I first played the Witcher 3. This review is divided into Three Categories. Gameplay, Characters & Companions and Acts & Story. With pros and cons. Gameplay Pros Character Customisation is great, It offers a large amount of aesthetic choice but not only that but you get to select your class and race combination if you wanted something to build with. Graphics and Sound are beautiful, casting abilities feels satisfying and the general aesthetic of the world, art and design is very good Game is a very story-rich and immersive experience, and the gameplay reflects that with Stats reflecting your outcomes in various out of combat obstacles. A character with higher charisma is going to succeed a lot more in Persuasion and Deception. Whilst a character with higher strength can break out of restraints in crucial moments. Combat is fantastic in so many ways. Its tactical with various abilities and unique features offered by various races/classes. Combinations that can be done across your team and even abilities that synergize together in unexpected ways. The map design complements the game play PERFECTLY as you have alot of fights with various hazards such as enemies with High ground, enemies in Darkness, cliffs to jump across and breakable terrain to interact with. Difficulty is in my opinion very well put together in the first two acts of the game. It felt like in some fights I had to really put my brain together and start using a large amount of different consumables to best some enemies. [spoiler] The map design of the Lower City and Rivington def feels unique and magical, most games have poor crowd engines and seeing the refugees, citizens and flaming fists move around is something you don't see in games [/spoiler] Cons Crafting is limited to Alchemy and nothing else, it feels like a missed opportunity with the absence of equipment crafting especially since you can find various things like mental ingots, basic rings and basic necklaces/amulets. This was Cut from the game according to Dataminers Some consumable items in the game that I found were almost useless and would only provide their benefit in one or two fights. An example would be [spoiler] Arrow of Dragon Slaying, considering there are very little Dragon enemies in the game [/spoiler] At a certain point, the game becomes too easy in Act 3. I played the game in Tactician Mode for almost the entirety of the game (from Level 3 to Level 12) and found it rather easy once I hit Level 11, big boss fights would consist of me examining the enemies weaknesses, and burst the scariest looking one down before they get there big threatening attacks off. On the off chance that I were to die before that, I would immediately know how to fight against the targets because I know what to do against their weaknesses and their strengths. There are bugs that can break dialogue and crack immersion. A example that is a mild spoiler is [spoiler] during the Shar Gauntlet, I could not intereact with Shadowheart because a bug made it that if the player character interact with the bowls, shadowheart would be locked out of interaction until sometime during Act 3, according to others who experienced the bug. [/spoiler], there was also times when I was in the middle of a side mission and a unprompted dialogue celebrating the end of the mission and what happened occurred. One of them was [spoiler] Right before I broke into the Iron Throne prison, I received a Dialogue of Mizora saying "you've come to gloat now that you freed the Grand Duke?" even when I haven't done that yet [/spoiler] Characters and Companions Pros Almost all of the Companions are well designed, well written and offer interesting dialogue. In Act 1 and Act 2, there is frequent shared dialogue between the companions with each other. Adding character dynamics that you wouldn't necessarily discover on your initial play through and making each subsequent future play through interesting Some of the Companions actively develop and change the way they act throughout the games events. Examples are Lae'Zel and Shadowheart. Each companion has a personal quest that you can complete, whilst some were quite interesting and had exciting missions attached to them. Companions are not restricted to the class they come from, they can be changed and adjusted but still keeping their story elements intact without breaking the game. [Spoiler] Ketheric and Orin were very exciting villains on their introductions and personalities [/spoiler] Cons At one point in the game, a choice makes it so you have access to one companion at the cost of two others permanently, I generally disagree with this design. The endings of the game sometimes feel like its tailored towards how the characters acted at the beginning of the game, rather than who they developed into. [spoiler] Some Companions are introduced at a inconvenient and too late of a timing. Minsc is introduced way too late into the story, I got him on the second last quest that I did. No character should be introduced at Act 3. On my very first incomplete play through of this game, I didn't get Jaheira until the end of Act 2, who has massive story implications [/spoiler] [spoiler] Gortash and Cazador are underwhelming villains, bleak bland and act completely differently than how they were described by third parties. [/spoiler] [spoiler] In the finale of the game, The Emperors actions are in direct Contradiction with his goals. It is very blatant, very obvious and on top of that he was a underwhelming boss fight that I one shot. [/spoiler] [spoiler] Karlachs ending feels like it incomplete and according to Dataminers, was cut from the game [/spoiler] Story & Acts Pros Worldbuilding is phenomenal in all Acts of the game, I was intrigued in every act of learning the Lore of Faerun and seeing [spoiler] Baldurs Gate come to life in Act 3 after many hours of anticipation was incredible [/spoiler] Plot is rather simple, but the characters bring it to life and the gameplay elements really make it feel exciting and mysterious Act 1 is filled with interesting side quests, various enemies and different regions. It was easily the best part of the game and almost flawless. 10/10 Act 2 was a very good experience, with the introduction of [spoiler] Ketheric, Jaheira, Isobel and the Nightsong the game became ever more exciting and it felt like the plot was moving forwards rather than us figuring out what was going on like in Act 1 [/spoiler] Act 3 has some very exciting moments and conclusions to some characters. I really enjoyed [spoiler] The fight against Raphael, Orin, Ansur and Sarevok. I also quite liked the raid on the Factory trying to save the Gondians there. The finale on a gameplay aspect did have that final boss feel too it and was exciting and I could see all the positive decisions start to come to life in the support of my allies [/spoiler] The Dark Urge which is a custom origin you can pick offers a different experience and in my opinion is enough incentive to immediately replay the game after finishing a previous run. Cons (running out of text here bare with me) In Act 2 and Act 3, Evil choices and Evil Playthroughs will directly remove content from the game, there is very little to be gained in new content and paths from doing evil aligned actions Act 3 is littered with Cut Content, [spoiler] especially the hyped up Upper City which was supposed to resolve Karlachs Storyline [/spoiler] Some missions add player urgency which removes some freedom where the player can choose which mission to do and when. [spoiler]There is no consequences of using Illithid Powers after constant warning that there is. I played without them for no reason then.[/spoiler] Lackluster Epilogue