Latest news with #BaldursGate3
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Steam's store now lets you search for games by accessibility features like 'narrated game menus' and 'adjustable difficulty', and more than 5,000 games have already added their accessibility details to the database
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Back in April, Valve announced the Steam store would start highlighting accessibility features on games' store pages. And now, it has. Not only can you see them in the sidebar beneath the controller support section for selected games, you can also search the store by individual accessibility features. "This update comes after gathering valuable feedback from developers as well as players with disabilities," Valve says in its blog post announcing the news, "and over 5,000 applications have added details about their accessibility support (with more developers updating their games each day)." On Steam's search page you can select "narrow by accessibility feature" to bring up a bunch of toggles like "playable without timed input" and "color alternatives". If you know anyone who has ever bought a puzzle game and had to refund it because the puzzles demand you can tell colors apart but won't let you tweak what those colors are, you'll know why the latter's important. Some accessibility features, like "save anytime" and "adjustable text size" are good for everyone to know in advance—they're just nice things to have. A variety of games, mostly newer ones, have already added accessibility features to their store page. Baldur's Gate 3, for instance, boasts 10 of them, from "adjustable difficulty" to "playable without timed input". Here's a full list of the options, with explanations of exactly what they mean. Gameplay Adjustable Difficulty: Players can adjust gameplay difficulty. Save Anytime: Players can save gameplay using both automatic and manual saves. Saving can be performed at any point in the game. Visual Adjustable Text Size: Players can adjust text size. (In-game text, menu text, character dialog text, subtitle text) Subtitle Options: Players have options to customize the display of subtitles for all spoken content and essential audio information. Color Alternatives: Gameplay doesn't rely on colors to communicate important information, or players have an option to adjust colors used for distinguishing information. Camera Comfort: Players have an option to adjust or disable uncomfortable camera movement such as screen shaking, camera bob, or motion blur, or the game doesn't feature these effects. Audio Custom Volume Controls: Players can adjust the volume of the audio. Different types of audio can be muted independently from each other. Narrated Game Menus: Players can listen to game menus with narrated audio. Stereo Sound: Players can identify how far to the left or right sounds are coming from. Surround Sound: Players can identify how far in any direction sounds are coming from. Input Keyboard Only Option: Players can play the game with just a keyboard and no other additional input mechanisms such as a mouse or controller. Mouse Only Option: Players can play the game with just a mouse and no other additional input mechanisms such as a keyboard or controller. Touch Only Option: Players can play the game with just touch controls and no other additional input mechanisms such as a mouse, keyboard or controller. Playable without Timed Input: Players have an option to adjust gameplay to not require precisely timed button presses ("quick time events") or gameplay does not require such button presses. Text-to-speech: Text chat can be narrated out loud in real time. Speech-to-text communications: Voice chat can be read as a text transcript in real time. Baldur's Gate 3 romance: Who to pursueBaldur's Gate 3 multiplayer: How co-op worksBaldur's Gate 3 endings: For better or worseBaldur's Gate 3 multiclass builds: Coolest combosBest RPGs: The greatest you can play now
Forbes
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Neverwinter Nights 2 Is The Perfect Game For Baldur's Gate 3 Fans
Neverwinter Nights 2 Aspyr While Baldur's Gate 3 might be the current favorite jewel in the crown of Dungeons & Dragons media, it's far from the first. The franchise which began as a tabletop roleplaying game and has since morphed to include blockbuster movies, game of the year-winning video games, best-selling novels, geek culture-defining podcast series, and so much more, has a storied legacy of dozens of classic PC games. And Neverwinter Nights 2 was always one of the most elusive, until now. Developed by Aspyr, Neverwinter Nights 2 Enhanced Edition releases on July 15 for PC (including Steam Deck verified), Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. Pre-orders are now live! This Enhanced Edition will include all three of the game's original expansions: Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and Mysteries of Westgate. The original Neverwinter Nights CRPG from BioWare shares a lot of DNA with the first two Baldur's Gate games in that it's from the same developer and is similar in overall gameplay style, but came out several years later under a different publisher. The sequel, Neverwinter Nights 2, was actually developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the folks also known for Pillars of Eternity, Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, Grounded, Avowed, The Outer Worlds, and so much more. Plus, Neverwinter Nights 2 takes place in the exact same campaign setting (the Forgotten Realms) as Baldur's Gate 3 so many locations, factions, and overall themes will be familiar. The reason this is the perfect next game for you if you love Baldur's Gate 3 actually goes even deeper than that, though. Besides the DNA and development similarities in genre and franchise, the core gameplay, camera systems, dialogue trees, and overall game feel are also very similar. However, the main difference is that while Baldur's Gate 3 utilizes a fully turn-based combat system, Neverwinter Nights 2 is actually real-time with pause like the first two Baldur's Gate games and the first Neverwinter Nights. What real-time with pause (RTwP) combat entails is similar to Dragon Age: Origins and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. When combat is happening all of your characters are acting in real-time, but you can then pause the game to issue commands about which abilities to use and what to target. This mixes the slow-paced strategy of a turn-based game with the immediate and intense visceral reactions of a real-time combat game. From what we've seen so far, this remaster is going to be wonderful. I've played the Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate 1, Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, and Icewind Dale, so if you've dabbled in any of those as well then you understand what to expect here too. Fortunately, you don't need to have played the previous game to jump right in here. Neverwinter Nights 2 Aspyr The base game hasn't aged very gracefully though and, arguably, it's been the most in need of a remaster of the whole bunch if you ask me. Upgrading performance, improving resolution, and streamlining the janky bits so it runs well on modern machines (including consoles for the first time!) is just what the cleric ordered. Fans of Baldur's Gate 3 should definitely have Neverwinter Nights 2 Enhanced Edition high on their to-be-played list for 2025.
Gizmodo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Wizkids Apologizes After Its Dodgy ‘Baldur's Gate 3' Miniatures Hit With Vicious Mockery
After pictures of in-hand copies of Wizkids' new pre-painted Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures emerged and were promptly ridiculed last week, the toymaker has announced plans to offer complete refunds to players disappointed by the horrifying paint jobs that turned Faerun's finest into eldritch abominations. The controversy around Wizkids' new $50 Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 went viral last week, when players who had pre-ordered the set of seven pre-painted miniatures of the main party from Larian's hit D&D video game found them arriving with almost comically bad paint applications—significantly worse than the production images used to sell the set promoted, which were themselves already significantly worse than the images used for the highly anticipated set's reveal last year. Although no one expected seven mass-market miniatures to hit the quality of, say, a Golden Demon entrant, when Karlach's eyes start slipping halfway down her face, Lae'zel's hair is half Githyanki-skintone colored, and Gale looks more like a Dollar Tree Matt Berry, something has gone clearly wrong. Thankfully, Wizkids agrees. In a statement released to the company's official website today, Wizkids offered an apology for the quality of its Baldur's Gate 3 minis. 'As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play. We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products,' the statement opens. 'Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 Character Boxed Set.' Wizkids will offer complete refunds to anyone who purchased the set directly from the company, but also offered that anyone who purchased the box set through their local game store can return it to point of purchase for a complete refund as well. Should anyone be brave enough to want a replacement instead, they can also fill out an online form to receive a set that Wizkids will 'ensure that it meets the standards expected.' Wizkids has also removed the Icons of the Realm set from its webstore, so anyone looking to try and buy a questionable piece of Baldur's Gate 3 history might find themselves out of luck. 'Please accept our sincerest apologies for the frustration and disappointment these quality issues caused our customers. We, too, feel the same as the final product did not meet our expectations or that of our Wizards of the Coast partner,' the statement concluded. 'Our teams are working to find the best solutions to resolve this for all involved and to work with you, our customers, to fix this.' Hasbro's broader stewardship of Baldur's Gate 3 in the wake of Larian officially moving on from the game after its latest patch has been marked by a series of unfortunate public mishaps as it seeks to capitalize on the immense success of the 2023 smash hit. In a much less funny situation than badly painted miniatures, earlier this year Wizards of the Coast scrapped its much-vaunted virtual tabletop project Sigil, which had extensively leveraged the ability to use characters like Baldur's Gate's Karlach and Astarion in promotional material. Hopefully we get a few more critical hits rather than natural 1s, whatever the company decides to do with BG3 next.
The Verge
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
WizKids' Baldur's Gate 3 mini figures look like they've been through the hells
WizKids did Baldur's Gate 3 dirty with its new D&D Icons of the Realms collection of miniature figures. The anticipated collection based on the beloved RPG (my personal 2023 GOTY) launched in April, and some buyers noticed that the characters look nothing — and I mean nothing — like how they were advertised. These cursed recreations of Shadowheart, Astarion, Karlach, Gale, Wyll, and Lae'zel look like unlicensed knockoffs when they are, in fact, officially licensed by Wizards of the Coast. And, it costs $50 for the set! — Gale-LOD 😏 (@HighLODLar) May 13, 2025 Anyone who has played the game, or at least seen its cover art numerous times, knows what these characters should look like. They don't look like 3D-printed discards predestined for the garbage bin, with little to no effort made to look authentic, unless perhaps you're squinting from 10 feet away. In response to buyers posting pictures of the botched figures on social media and retail sites, and likely from GamesRadar and other sites posting about it last week, WizKids posted an apology to buyers — and to Wizards of the Coast. In it, it details how to get a refund or a replacement to anyone who bought them online or at a local games store. Keep them, replace them, destroy them, pray to them. It's up to you.
