If you, like me, have never played Baldur’s Gate, Beamdog is removing any excuses come September.
The company has announced new details about Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, a revamped and retooled version of the BioWare classic coming to PC, Mac, iPad and Android-based tablets.
All but the Android version is scheduled for September, with the PC and Mac versions costing $19.99, while the iOS edition is $9.99. On iPad, players will have to use in-app purchases for two new characters--one's included. The PC version arrives on September 18, while the other platforms are a more vague "September."
The new characters include Blackguard half-orc Dorn II-Khan, half-elf mage Neera, and Calishite Monk Rasaad yn Bashir. Every version includes Bashir, the others are an additional purchase on iPad.
Beamdog is also including a brand-new dungeon in the Enhanced Edition, The Black Pits. The Black Pits is Underdark-set environment which the studio is billing as having six hours of additional gameplay across 15 levels of “arena-style combat challenges,” and a “a bizarre cast of characters.”
Some of the new improvements sounds pretty great, too, including “over 400” fixes to the original game code, features taken straight from Baldur’s Gate 2 (class kits, new subraces and classes), and the ability to participate in multiplayer with other users on completely different platforms.
Getting games even just a decade old up-and-running on modern hardware is no small feat, and if a way does exist, you often have the hardcore communities of fans to thank. See: System Shock 2. In this case, Beamdog seems to be going the extra mile to treat Baldur’s Gate right. Good on them.
Also, I’ll no longer have any excuses. Good ones, anyway.
The full list of changes are available on the official website.