Baldur’s Gate 3’s free upgrade didn't make me buy the RPG, but this sure as hell did

pcgamer.com:

Baldur’s Gate 3(opens in new tab)’s recent official release date blog post and trailer confirmed a number of things that I was eager to hear, including that the long-awaited RPG is finally set to get its full 1.0 release on August 31st this year(opens in new tab).

What was even more exciting, though, was confirmation by Larian Studios that any PC gamers who buy (or who already own) the early access version of the game will, on launch day, get “a free upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition”(opens in new tab).

This is what Deluxe Edition gets you:

That’s a really great boon in my opinion, rewarding loyal players who have helped maintain momentum for the game while still in development (and contributed to it via player feedback), and a great reason to go ahead and pick up Baldur’s Gate 3 in early access right now, with a third of the game already playable.

However, if I’m being honest, the free upgrade was not the reason why I promptly opened my wallet and bagged Baldur’s Gate 3 in early access. My reason came 100 per cent from the Baldur’s Gate 3 release date trailer (if you haven’t watched it yet, you can check it out below).

I opened my wallet because Larian Studios went and dropped the thing that, in my opinion, showed that the studio really gets what’s needed to make a truly great fantasy RPG—a brilliantly realized big bad.

Just a few lines of delivery from actor J.K. Simmons as General Ketheric Thorn and I was rapt, with echoes of the late, great David Warner’s memorable portrayal of Baldur’s Gate 2’s villain, elven wizard Jon Irenicus, echoing in my ears.

“This woman had power, of a sort. She lost her parents to plague, her husband to war, but she persevered. She was well respected, her farm was prosperous and her