Baldur’s Gate 3 dev reveals there is actually a tutorial in the game

In an interview, Larian Studios’ boss and Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke said the game does have a very long tutorial: Act 1.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a huge game that gives players infinite options for how to take on its challenges. All of this freedom can be quite intimidating for new players, especially those unfamiliar with this kind of RPG.

Making things harder for these players is the fact that Baldur’s Gate doesn’t have a formal tutorial that walks players through all of the options and systems in place.

According to Vincke, Baldur’s Gate 3’s first act is actually designed to be a very long tutorial.

Larian Studios

Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 1 teaches players everything they need to know

In an interview with PC Gamer, Larian Studios CEO and game director Swen Vincke made the argument that there actually is a tutorial in Baldur’s Gate 3, and a very long one at that.

As he said, “Systems are being shown to you. The AI shows you a lot of things and makes you realize [how they work], maybe sometimes subconsciously, but you figure things out. You discover increasingly sophisticated challenges, where you will always find a way, because there’s always multiple solutions, anyway. But you might discover and stumble upon something that’s possible, and from now on, it becomes part of the arsenal that you can use to play the game.”

Larian Studios

Baldur’s Gate 3’s approach puts the power in players’ hands to learn how the game works on their own. Rather than a clearly designated level that explicitly spells out how, for example, spell slots, bonus actions, and armor class work, it wants players to make these discoveries for themselves.

Vincke also explained how leaving these discoveries to the player encourages subsequent playthroughs, saying “people spend 30 hours before they realize they can move an object…then maybe in the second playthrough, they discover that they can stack things to make stairs, and so they can climb on top of things. Now suddenly, the third dimension becomes much more accessible.”

All this may make for a less approachable game, especially for those who aren’t coming to Baldur’s Gate 3 with a wealth of Dungeons & Dragons knowledge. However, it’s definitely more fulfilling and encourages experimentation.