Create Your Own Party of Characters
Solasta is a single-player experience, but you will be responsible for creating and controlling four different characters. You won't be recruiting additional NPCs to your party as you progress, rather, your created party members will be with you and grow from start to finish. But what you choose is up to you. You can adventure with four halfling Rogues if you like, but you will benefit from a balanced team with not only different combat skills, but different abilities, languages, and more, since each class brings something special to a party.

For example, during my demo one of the characters was an Insight Domain Cleric – a custom subclass Tactical Adventures made for Solasta. – which allowed all Insight checks were automatically passed, making negotiations with NPCs much easier.

For each character’s stats, you can roll for them, use a point-buy system, or even customize them completely to your liking. With that much freedom, adapting your pre-existing pen-and-paper characters to Solasta should be that much easier. Or, you can create a bunch of super-powered heroes, whatever you want.

Because Solasta can only use the base SRD, don't expect the same subclasses and archetypes you’re used to from D&D. Instead, there are custom subclasses like the aforementioned Insight Domain Cleric created specifically for the Solasta setting.

There’s An Emphasis on Lighting
Lighting, and the lack thereof, has a strong effect on gameplay in Solasta. Characters that can't see in the dark will attack with lower accuracy without a light source. Some enemies are hurt and shy away from light, while others will be drawn to it and make it easier for your party to be found by malicious entities.

Torches can be used, and objects in the world can be lit with spells, but you can also use spells to light your own equipment like swords or shields. You'll need to learn the ins and outs of the lighting mechanic to make the most of your abilities in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

And also… Verticality
The entirety of Solasta’s environments are built with Minecraft-like blocks to create intricate layers of verticality, and then covered with beautiful textures and lighting. You can use these layouts to your advantage to avoid enemies, but enemies can easily do the same against you.

This verticality also means spells like Levitate and Fly are especially useful, as the team planned to place things high out of reach, like treasure and secret passages.

Near the end of the build I saw, one final enemy continued to attack from up high on the ledge. The player chose to sling long-range attacks at it, rather than spend the turns climbing up to reach it. These decision-making events seem to be commonplace in Solasta.

Updates and Changes Based on Demo Feedback
Tactical Adventures has been hard at work taking feedback from the demos it has offered in the past. Of course, there have been a lot of bugs to fix, but they have also upgraded a few mechanics that players have complained about, like inventory management and weight capacity management. One of the biggest changes in Early Access compared to the demo is the camera. In Early Access, you can manipulate the camera fairly freely, both up close to your character and quite far away.

Another aspect players were frustrated by was not being able to tell why their attacks missed. Now, before attacking an enemy, if you are attacking at a disadvantage – which reduces your attack accuracy – a menu will tell you exactly why before you make the attack. In one example, a human was attacking with disadvantage because the enemy was in dim light, and humans do not have dark vision – explanations like this are designed to help you learn the system even while playing it.
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We launched Baldur’s Gate 3 exactly 1 week ago, ish. The launch surpassed all our expectations. Our philosophy heading into Early Access was to hit a comfortable amount of players, gather feedback, and incrementally iron out and improve the game towards launch.

Good news! That’s still the plan. But the *bigger than expected launch* broke a few things. In chronological order, it apparently broke Steam, it then broke our launcher sign ups because the servers couldn’t keep up, and then it went on to break our support pipeline with a huge influx of support tickets. We’re not complaining. These are good problems to have.

The day before launch, the weather also broke the Ghent basement. Which was suboptimal because we were shooting a thing for those who get to the end of Act 1 (no spoilers).

Soon after, the power broke in Quebec. This is the 3rd launch in a row where Larian has had a powercut somewhere. One of the good things about upscaling to 5 studios globally, is that now if one gets defeated by water or electricity (please, not both together), we have 4 other studios to deal with the tornado, earthquake, or a Kaiju. At this point launching a game is basically like playing Sim City.

On launch, which we managed to get to in the end, we celebrated very socially, very distanced, and watched you all play the game. Someone at the office (we won’t mention the name of the perpetrator... I mean, we get it) stole Gale from the gateau. We have since recovered Gale.

Since then, we’ve shot out 3 hotfixes that have greatly reduced the number of crashes and stability issues experienced in the first week of launch. The real heroes in this are the community who stuck with us as we were working on those patches and hotfixes. We know that jumping into an unfinished game in Early Access, when your saves will eventually be wiped, is a big ask. We are phenomenally grateful to each and every one of you who’ve jumped in, provided feedback, and sent error reports. These reports are channeled back to our QA leads and producers, and the information you provide helps us to understand why certain things are happening, and thus reproduce and solve them.

Working with feedback
All feedback, positive or negative, is extremely helpful and important to us. We’re really grateful to everyone who organizes their thoughts and talks to us on Steam, or the forums, or the feedback form. For us, that’s a big part of what Early Access is about. Keep the feedback flowing, and we’ll keep shooting out those updates.

Under the hood we’re starting to get our first look at data, and decisions players are making, which teaches us how you’re playing the game. Before you launch a game, you’re making a lot of assumptions about what people will do, and why they’ll do it. When you launch, you can start to see if you were right.

As an example, let’s look at a cut down version of a heatmap (avoiding spoilers)! This is a *map of death* (make a spooky noise when you read that). *MaP of dEaTh*.

As our early access campaign progresses, you’ll see a shift as combat is tuned and content is altered. It might not look like much, but this shows us where to investigate. We can correlate this with direct player feedback, balancing feedback, and even bug reports to find out why people are dying where they’re dying, and also is it normal that people are dying there? It’s just one example of how people are helping simply by playing the game.

A strange point of interest is for instance that there are lots of deaths where you first meet Gale. Maybe people don’t like being ambushed by a spooky wizard jumping out of a rock? Something to investigate.

The amount of death in the camp is also surprising. We won’t spoil as to why that may be, but there are many, many in depth stories online, and on Reddit, about how death befell the campsite. They’re hilarious so please keep sharing them!

We also know how many times characters are dying. Gale died 333757 times. 333758 if you include the cake incident. Gale has a party-member kill-rate 4 times higher than any NPC in the game, so maybe he deserved it?

The Owlbear Cub has killed 5717 of you brave enough to try and tame it. Exactly 4000 people died as a result of interrupting the intimate moments of Ogres and Bug Bears.

And Shadowheart is the only companion that died more than the player character.

We’ll continue to share more data and insights over Early Access, but this is early days. Play however you want, in whatever way you want. There’s no one way to play the game. We’ve created systems that try to react to whoever you are, and whatever you do. The results of this make the game better.
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Black Legend
Fabled Lands
Gamedec
Solasta: Crown of the Magister
Stirring Abyss
The Hand of Merlin
Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos
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The game begins with a short intro cutscene, but there is no character creation sequence as such. Our PC starts out simply standing on a beach. We can name him, distribute several points between five main stats, and invest two points into one of three available perks. The stats are strength, health, agility, perception, and "erudition", which is basically intellect and charisma combined. Throughout the game the PC will gain access to fifteen perks, which are mostly focused on stealth and melee combat. Each perk has three levels of advancement. There are no skills in the game and hence no skill checks. Stat checks in dialogue are very rare. Sometimes high erudition provides you with an additional dialogue choice or allows you to talk someone into helping you without material gratification. But that is all you will get out of making your guy a smooth talker. Upon gaining a new level you get one stat point and one perk point, which you may invest as you see fit.

Unfortunately, the system is very basic and unbalanced. There’s only one way to build your character well. On my first try, I created the character I usually play in Fallout games: an eloquent gunslinger (high perception, agility, erudition). Soon I learned that such a build is simply unfeasible in Krai Mira. Erudition provides too few opportunities to justify the stat investment. And as for perception, while the game offers a wide selection of guns, rifles, crossbows, and flamethrowers that use five different types of ammo, it provides far too few bullets. A gunslinger cannot allow himself the luxury of a weapon of choice. He has to hold on to any ammunition he can find and carry several guns in order not to be caught with an empty barrel. Unfortunately, in order to carry those guns or operate heavier weapons, he needs high strength. And in order to deal with the game’s hordes of melee enemies, he needs high agility to get more action points during his turns, so that he can shoot and then flee to safety. High health, required to wear better armor, becomes an unobtainable luxury as you'd have to spread your precious stat points too thinly. After several hours of this, I abandoned my eloquent gunslinger and restarted. Playing such a character was just too tedious and unfun.

The one and only feasible build is a melee tank, which is also reinforced by the majority of available perks. You put points into strength, health, and agility and keep on doing it until they all reach 13-15 points (which is about when the game will end). This will allow the PC to wear the best armor and carry the best melee and projectile weapons, with tons of health points and a decent damage reduction. Of course, due perception being a dump stat he can only shoot the automatic rifle at point-blank range, but at least he can do it. A point-starved gunslinger would never be able to reach the strength value of 13 needed for such a feat. The melee tank mostly fights on the front lines, which is good since the few party members you meet in the game are extremely stupid and die easily. So you need to position your PC in front of these idiots so that the enemies hit him instead.

That said, the combat actually feels pretty solid. With only one feasible build, it's a simple matter of smacking enemies with the biggest club or blade you can find. Guns sometimes offer several fire modes and bursts can hit multiple foes, but you need to conserve ammo so going in guns blazing is rarely a good tactical choice. In true Fallout tradition you can only control the PC while your party members fight on their own, governed by the AI. When human allies are present on the battlefield you ought to take care to strike the killing blow against your foes, otherwise you won't receive experience points. There is an exception to this rule, though. Enemies killed by your most loyal follower, the dog Rudi, do grant you experience.

The enemy AI is simplistic but aggressive, and may pose a challenge through sheer brutality. Hostile combatants try to swarm you with their usually superior numbers and melee fighters do their best to protect the shooters. They attack with truly suicidal determination and retreat only when left with a couple of health points and no medical supplies. Since there are no grenades, the only effective method of crowd control is through the generous use of traps. But since traps pose a serious threat to your allies as well, it's best to avoid them if you're not fighting on your own.

Apart from that, most tactics revolve around choosing when to inject stimpacks and drugs into your PC's system. And of course, selecting your targets is also important. You should always go for the shooters first, even if it exposes you to numerous melee attacks on the way. Despite the system's simplicity, dispatching enemies with a large hammer, a chainsaw, or a katana is very gratifying (and gory). Even better, all the enemies move at the same time during their turn, so you don't have to wait for long minutes as in Fallout. While there is plenty of combat, it does not waste your time, which is a good thing.

Combat difficulty changes significantly over the course of the campaign. At the beginning, it’s similar to Piranha Bytes' Gothic series. You often have to rely on allies and in their absence may be forced to flee from the battlefield, as any confrontation can prove lethal for an ill-equipped and inexperienced PC. After you’ve gained some levels and acquired better gear, your situation improves drastically and fighting even large groups of foes becomes feasible. However, during the endgame you start encountering squads of heavily armed elite soldiers, and their machine gun bursts can quickly eat through hundreds of health points. At this point in the game you have to pick your battles, mind your positioning, and use every natural barrier to protect yourself from enemy fire. This evolution, combined with an acceptable level of enemy variety, helps keep things fresh.​

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What defines you? Is it who you are, or the journey you’re on? In Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s both. Creating a character in Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the moment the world decides how to treat you, but it’s the very beginning of the shaping of your story. BG3 is a world with great player agency, and the most important character in that world is you. We’ve created not only a character customization system that allows that player agency to shine, but also a world that constantly reacts to how your character develops.

In BG3 you can start your journey by choosing your race, subrace, background and class. In certain cases you also get to choose a subclass, as perhaps a deity. These choices will ripple out across the story, affecting how you roleplay throughout the game.

You’ll assign points to your 6 abilities (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma). Then you’ll decide which of the various skills in the game you're proficient with (eg. Acrobatics, Deception, Stealth). Last but not least, you customise your appearance and how your character presents to the world.

Will you be a beast taming mage-breaking charlatan halfling ranger with a toxic frog as a familiar, or a noble githyanki eldritch knight who let herself be seduced by the Absolute, with the ability to psionically drag her enemies towards her. Or, will you go for a more traditional tiefling warlock who made a pact with the devil? The choices are endless!

RACES
Baldur’s Gate is a vast cultural hub on the Sword Coast, attracting adventurers of extremely varied races and cultures, all of whom are looking to make a name for themselves in the city. In BG3, the NPCs of this world will react to who and what you are - giving you unique opportunities for roleplay based on your selected options in character creation.

For example, prior to the events in BG3, the city of Elturel has just descended into the Nine Hells. So many innocent people, cast without warning into the fire, never to return. The common folk speak of this hideous event with bitterness, with grievance, and with ill-tempered suspicion. So you can imagine that as a Tiefling (a being with an infernal bloodline and fiendish devil-like features) thanks to these world events you may find yourself the subject of mistrust and fear - at least more than the normal amount of suspicion your bloodline instills.

Races more alien to the Sword coast - like the Drow and Githyanki - are so rare to the average NPC that you’ll find their interactions to be unique as well. Of the nearly 600 NPC’s you’ll meet in Act 1 alone, each one draws from their own experiences. Oft defining how they approach a discussion, or situation.

Each of these races represent a staggering amount of narrative and mechanical complexity. In one playthrough as a human, you might be treated with respect and honor. In the next, as a Githyanki, you might have to struggle for those same courtesies with the sharpness of your tongue, or the ferocity of your fists. What race you pick will be foundation for your appearance, but will also give you a bunch of cool racial features including stat increases, skill proficiencies and potential other bonuses.

CLASS
In EA you’ll have 6 Classes to choose from - Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock and Wizard - each with at least two subclasses to choose from. If you’re unfamiliar with D&D, some classes unlock their subclass early at Level 1 - like the Cleric - while others gain their subclass choice by Level 3.

If you choose a class with access to magic, you’ll be able to select from a number of Cantrips - simple arcane skills you can use to dazzle and destroy your opponents again and again - and Spells - more powerful abilities that you’ll have limited uses of between rests.

Just like your background and race, your class will also give you options in the world with roleplay. NPC’s might recognise the skillset you live your life by, and in turn you’ll gain options in dialogue and unique opportunities your other companions will not have.

Classes evolve as you level up and each class presents plenty of opportunities for customisation. Once you hit level 4 for instance, you’ll get to select from a wide range of feats. Feats represent talents or an area of expertise that give characters special capabilities. They embody training, experience, and abilities beyond what your base class provides.
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Stories about good-hearted outcasts that rebel against the corrupt and unjust ways of society are not uncommon in folklore and literature. But this is certainly not the story of Daeran Arendae – a young and spoiled Mendevian noble who lives a life of debauchery, in a constant little war against the knightly, almost exalted, ideals of his homeland.

A decade before the events of the game, young Daeran was the proud scion of a thriving noble clan, one of the oldest in Mendev. His ancestors rose to power long before the Worldwound opened and forever changed the fate of their home country and the whole world. Rich and powerful, the Arendae family was touched by celestial forces, with each generation being blessed with one or two aasimar children, Daeran among them.

But it all came to an end when a powerful lilitu demon decided to invite herself to Daeran's birthday feast. When crusaders opened the gates of the Arendae family estate a few days later, they found nothing but desolation and death. All the guests had been killed by a demonic plague, with the young count, now the last member of the Arendae family, being the only survivor.

An unknown divine intervention saved Daeran's life, granting him the powers of an oracle (you can read more about the Oracle class in one of our previous updates). On Golarion, oracles don't choose their fate – they are chosen by cosmic forces and receive a gift that is also their burden. Daeran's gift was the healing power of the Life mystery, combined with a curse that makes him freeze in situations that require immediate action, but also protects him against sudden attacks by treacherous – or even invisible – foes (the Powerless Prophecy curse). He is a valuable addition to the team, a talented healer who can also use divine power to assist allies or crush foes.

Today, if you hear Daeran's name, it's either followed by curses, news on the count's latest scandalous endeavors, or flattery and praise of dubious sincerity. Joining the crusaders seems to be his latest excess, done either out of boredom or for the sake of scandalizing society. Keeping company with Daeran is an adventure all its own, as his main gift is, perhaps, the ability to bring some rampant festivity even to the harsh reality of the crusade!
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Each of your companions have their own personalities, goals, and motivations. Bound by the shared problem of an Illithid tadpole buried in their head, they will join your party but you’ll all have to put your differences aside if you want to survive. The exact relationship you have with your companions, already marred by differences, will be shaped by who you are, what you do, who you side with, and what you say in conversation with them.

We’ve tried to create reactive systems all throughout the journey of a relationship; from the time of meeting a companion, to the potential romance with them. (Romance is a polite word we’re using for sex. But we’re not quite there yet, more on that in a moment.)

In Baldur’s Gate 3, a 5e D&D game, creating a custom character will immerse you in the story just as much as playing as one of the Origin Characters. For example, playing as a Drow Wizard will give you different dialogue options than playing as a Githyanki Warlock. These differences will also be present in your relationship dialogues. As you play the game, and you begin to make choices in combat, exploration, and conversation, you’ll be presented with situations and scenarios that are unique to your playthrough. Not too long into Early Access, you will be having an adventure so specific to your character, that no other player is going to see the exact same content as you.

Just as in real life, the sum of character is determined by many factors, and continues to be shaped by your actions and reactions to the world, and the party you journey with. Frictions may test the party’s resolve, and romances might test the party dynamic. Not only will characters have opinions about you, but also about each other, and other factions in the game. Will you pursue love with one companion to the detriment of another? Or will you side with a faction a companion detests, putting feelings to the side to achieve your strategic goals? As with life, many decisions will have to be made, not all of them easy, and not every outcome obvious.

Catch Gale at the campfire and you might find a lot of his bravado has been disarmed. Disarmed bravado is an opportunity for Astarion, a vampire. All of this sitting around may be a waste of time for Lae’zel. For you, it’s an opportunity to talk and interact with your party and followers on a more intimate level. But the conversation you have in the camp will also be a reaction to the day’s events, and what you’ve been up to in the world.

Through a mix of systems design, narrative writing, and cinematics, Larian is aiming to create three-dimensional relationships that feel as authentic as possible.

How intimate a character will be with you relies heavily on who they are, and who you become on your adventure. There are factions in the game you may side with, or revolt against. Your party will have opinions about that, and in multiplayer - once Origin Avatars have joined Early Access (not day 1) - the systems will technically allow you to have intimate moments with your friends. Talk about party dynamics!

The point is, no matter which race or gender you are, or which class you are, the levels of intimacy party members share will be defined by extremely in-depth, life-like evaluation of everything you’ve been up to together. We’ve tried to create an authentic, reactive relationship system where characters act and react like people. For better, and for worse.

On a totally unrelated note, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been officially rated M for Mature by ESRB, and that’s probably for the best.
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Welcoming the Talented Teams and Beloved Game Franchises of Bethesda to Xbox

Critically acclaimed creators of The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Quake, Starfield and more join Team Xbox

Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox. We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks.

(...)

Like us, Bethesda are passionate believers in building a diverse array of creative experiences, in exploring new game franchises, and in telling stories in bold ways. All of their great work will of course continue and grow and we look forward to empowering them with the resources and support of Microsoft to scale their creative visions to more players in new ways for you.

All of our work, and the foundation of our relationship with you, starts with a commitment to deliver a breadth of amazing games to discover and play on Xbox. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been excited to share more detail on important elements of a plan we’ve been building towards for years. A plan that is the fulfilment of a promise, to you the Xbox player, to deliver the most performant, immersive and compatible next-generation gaming experiences, and the freedom to play blockbuster games with your friends, anytime, anywhere. Today is a landmark step in our journey together and I’m incredibly energized by what this step means for Xbox.

Please join me in welcoming all of our friends at Bethesda to Team Xbox.​

WHY MICROSOFT IS THE PERFECT FIT
Today we announced we’re joining the Microsoft family...

When you work at a place as long as I’ve worked at Bethesda – just a month short of 21 years – you see some things. Chief amongst them is change. When I started, Bethesda was not much more than a handful of people. The team working on Morrowind fit in a couple of offices, and there were probably six or seven of us spread across everything else.

Bethesda Softworks, our parent company ZeniMax Media, and our many internal studios, now employ thousands of talented people working in publishing offices and development studios around the world. We’ve gone from one internal studio to many; from a focus on single-player fantasy RPGS to developing massive MMOs, first person shooters, and everything in between. The world, our industry, and our company has changed a lot in the 34 years since Bethesda Softworks was first founded. Today, it changed again. And I know that brings up questions.

But the key point is we’re still Bethesda. We’re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we’ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us.

So why the change? Because it allows us to make even better games going forward. Microsoft is an incredible partner and offers access to resources that will make us a better publisher and developer. We believe that means better games for you to play. Simply put - we believe that change is an important part of getting better. We believe in pushing ourselves to be better. To innovate. To grow.​

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With the new Stage of the Alpha version, we are adding more content - including prologue and Act 3. Some of the main additions are:

We have added a tutorial and prologue. For Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous we have a goal to help new players learn the basics of the Pathfinder system and assist in building a well-rounded character - it is especially important against such immune-heavy enemies as demons. Currently, we are working on the context tutorial which will help new and veterans players alike - advising them depending on their skill and level.

While not all systems are implemented in the alpha, part of them will be in the new version.

Act 3 will also be playable in the new Stage. More adventures await in the Worldwound - with a lot of places to explore and quests to finish. Nearly all of the Mythic Paths will get their story expanded into Act 3. Excluding Demon, which will have to wait a bit more - his quests aren’t finished.

And with new chapters come new companions! One of them is Wenduag - a mongrel huntress, a merciless and vicious warrior whose cruelty will intimidate even the demons of the Abyss.

You can now get a valuable asset in the form of Greybor - a cold-blooded assassin, a dwarf who exterminates demons not by duty's call but solely in the name of profit.

With the third companion being Arueshalae. A heretic amongst demons — a succubus who has betrayed the Abyss, seeking to abandon her evil ways and turn to good.

Alpha testers will also be able to learn more about companions with their new quests. Currently, there is a continuation of the stories for every companion (and it will answer the most popular question and guessing game “Where is Woljif?”) and a new one – for Wenduag.

Crusade will also be expanded and get some new features. With the new Stage, generals are arriving – in Act 2 there will be an option to recruit and, later, upgrade one. Another mechanic that will be added to the Crusade is ritual casting.

There also will be quests for Crusader in Act 2 and 3, and in Act 3 players will be presented with construction options and projects.

This will be only the first iteration of them and we want to ask you to provide as much feedback as possible about this part of the gameplay. Crusade is still in works and can be improved based on the thoughts and suggestions you provide.

We are also working on tactical combat right now - one of our current goals is to improve its depth. It will be added to the game in 2 or 3 weeks after the launch of Alpha Stage 2.

[...] Another “glimpse” into the future is parts of the UI in Stage 2. Currently, only inventory and dialogue windows changes are implemented.

And, as some may know, our UI is always related to what happens in the game in some way. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is no exception. But how it is related to the plot you will learn later…

Talking about improvements: we have increased the size of the character model in the inventory. The quality of models was improved - now you will be able to see more details on your character. There are also two new slots for the equipment - goggles and shirt. Otherwise, it will be the same old UI.

Another thing our UI team is currently working on is improving the “Attack” block. It can have some issues on higher levels when using two-handed weapons.

We are really interested in feedback on the UI changes and will keep an eye on it to see your thoughts on it.​