Baldur’s Gate 3 players confused by Act 3’s impossible architecture

Theo Burman
A Wild Magic player stands in front of an enormous tentacle in Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 players are trying to figure out just how stable the game’s most famous city is, and the answer is quite confusing.

Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 takes place in the titular city, and your party gets to explore all of the nooks and crannies throughout the settlement, including everything hidden underneath.

It’s an overwhelmingly large city, perhaps too large for some players, and all the buildings, castles and circuses balancing on the top of it can’t be good for the structure. However, the city still seems to be standing.

The thing that has players so confused is that there are a surprisingly large number of secret bases and societies hidden under the city, making most of the ground underneath it hollow. Surely the weight of the city should have made it collapse a long time ago?

Players don’t understand how Baldur’s Gate is still standing

One player compiled a list of some of the secret hollow structures underneath Baldur’s Gate, asking: “How the heck is Baldur’s Gate still standing?

“I mean with the Temple to Bhaal, the sewers, Cazador’s dungeon, and Ansur’s trials, the city should have collapsed ages ago. Seems like all it would take is a ton of rain or an angry wizard or an artificer having a bad day for everything to come crashing down.”

There’s also the prison under Wyrm’s Rock, as well as all the tremors being caused by the Elder Brain. Maybe the city really is doomed after all.

Several players compared Baldur’s Gate to Waterdeep, the city Gale comes from, by suggesting that the latter was actually even more unstable.

One player said: “Waterdeep’s built on top of a giant dungeon that’s not particularly anchored to the current plane of reality. Baldur’s Gate’s sewer system is small potatoes compared to that nonsense.”