The first act of Baldur’s Gate 3 has arrived in early access, and developer Larian Studios is already hard at work making improvements to it. Small adjustments are made to Baldur’s Gate 3 just about every week, if not more often, but its core and story remain the same.
Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3 sets up everything that is to come in the grand adventure. But what exactly is already there? What is the first act all about? Let’s take a look at everything that has happened in Baldur’s Gate 3 thus far.
The game begins, of all places, on a nautiloid in the Nine Hells (Avernus, to be exact). The player character has been captured and brought aboard a mind flayer vessel, a tadpole inserted into their eye. Githyanki knights pursued the nautiloid, causing enough damage for the player character to escape their pod, and now the ship is under siege by the denizens of Avernus. Whatever else has happened, it’s clear that the nautiloid must escape the Hells, first and foremost.
So, together with the githyanki warrior Lae’zel (and, potentially, a benign intellect devourer), the Baldur’s Gate 3 player character fights their way to the helm of the ship, allowing it to escape the Hells and return to Faerun – to the wilds downriver from Baldur’s Gate. The heavily damaged nautiloid finally crashes, setting the player character “free,” albeit with one very serious problem that needs solving.
The first act of the game, therefore, is all about searching for a way to remove the mind flayer tadpoles. Normally, when a mind flayer tadpole infests a host body, that person undergoes the process of ceremorphosis over the course of three days, after which they turn into a mind flayer themselves. However, for some reason, the player character – and their companions – do not. Why haven’t they turned? Is there a way to extract the tadpoles? And what was the mind flayer nautiloid doing, especially with githyanki in pursuit? are all questions the Baldur’s Gate 3 player of any class must deal with.
The first couple of days in Act 1 are, for the most part, spent gathering companions: Astarion, the vampire spawn rogue; Gale, the human wizard; Shadowheart, the half-elven rogue; Lae’zel, the githyanki warrior; and Wyll, the human warlock. While doing that, they come across a druid grove filled with tiefling refugees, under siege by goblins. And while some companions argue that there’s no point wasting time in helping the refugees, a compelling reason to do so soon presents itself.
The druid grove is home to a powerful healer and druid, Master Halsin. Unfortunately, he’s been captured by goblins and hasn’t returned to the grove. Thus, the party’s best (and only) option may be helping Halsin, and by extent, helping the grove. Not to mention, the goblins all worship some strange entity called the Absolute, which appears to be a construct of the mind flayers, and those with tadpoles in their eyes are recognized as “True Souls.”
And, as it turns out, there are really only two ways to proceed from here, though other options do present themselves. A healer named Nettie resides in the grove, a cambion named Raphael, and a hag named Auntie Ethel offers to help the characters with their problem; unfortunately, Nettie’s solution is poison, and Auntie Ethel yanks out the player character’s eye before realizing she can’t fix the problem. Raphael, for his part, naturally isn’t to be trusted. Even Volo, the famed bard, offers to help, but really only ends up driving an ice pick into the character’s eye. Thus, the player character must go find Halsin, or turn on the grove and aid the goblins, seeking the aid of their priestess instead and embracing their role as a True Soul.
From there, the player character must either take out all three of the goblin leaders on behalf of the druid grove (which most players have done, according to Larian’s statistics) or purge the grove for the goblins (the lesser-chosen evil option). At the end of that campaign, whichever option is chosen, the player character’s camp hosts a celebration, during which they can potentially get closer to their romantic interest in Baldur’s Gate 3. And the next morning, Halsin (or Priestess Gut, depending) explains that there is no immediate cure for the tadpole; it’s dormant for the moment, protected by powerful magic barriers, and answers must be found elsewhere, at the Moonrise Towers.
Actually, there are a few paths to take to Moonrise Towers, but two of them are incomplete right now. So, the only thing players can do is take the Underdark route to Moonrise Towers. And once the player gets through the web of duergar and myconoids in their way, they sail in a duergar raft towards Moonrise, and perhaps, answers long overdue.
Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3 provides more questions than answers, but that’s only natural, especially for a game as long as Larian promises BG3 to be. The first act is but a fraction of the game, and it creates quite the compelling mystery for players to follow. As to what awaits at Moonrise Towers, players must wait for the next chunk of content to be released – and in the meantime, perhaps, scour act 1 for all of its many hidden gems.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available in early access for PC and Stadia.
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