PS5
Big dungeon master energy
Recently, a dear friend asked me, “So, Jess, how have you been enjoying slutting up and down the Sword Coast?” I couldn’t even tell him he was wrong; not only had I smooched both edgy cleric Shadowheart and my big buff barbarian wife Karlach on the same night, but barely a week later I’d banged the suspiciously pale elf Astarion. My only defence is that I was playing as a bard, and I was left unsupervised.
More than 20 years after the last mainline entry in a series widely regarded as RPG royalty, Larian Studios has picked up the torch first ignited by Bioware, creating a sequel that is rolling for critical success. Based on the fifth-edition ruleset of the hugely popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, there is all the turn-based combat and dice rolling you’d expect, plus more than a few flourishes that are wholly Larian’s own.
Okay, so, perhaps you don’t play D&D as a thinly veiled excuse to flirt with your besties at the table – let’s rewind a bit. You and your ridiculously attractive party members have each been infected with an illithid tadpole, damning you to sprout squidly tentacles and transform into megalomaniacal mind flayers if you don’t find a way to pry that worm from your brain matter. Naturally there’s a wider web of conspiracy tugging your strings and it’s up to you whether you shall be the hungry spider, the powerless fly, or tear the whole web down – taking breaks either way to mack on your ménage. After all, there’s no motivation for seizing the day quite like a worm chewing at your cerebellum.
IN YOUR HANDS
First things first, you’re most likely wondering, ‘My pals on PC have been raving about this one, but how is it on PS5?’ The short answer is: ‘For better and worse, not exactly the same.’
Each of this saga’s three acts features multiple large areas stuffed to the rafters with hand-crafted plot hooks to lose yourself in. Just when you think you’ve seen all there is to see in act one, Larian flips over the board and says, ‘Now, begin again – under ground.’ Exploration is always well rewarded, offering a real sense of discovery even if all you’v
