^{Image: Larian Studios}

The game reportedly has “174 hours of cinematics,” so you might not have time for Starfield anyway.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is launching almost a month earlier than planned on PC: August 3, 2023. According to developer Larian Studios, the game will now, “be released at a time where you’ll have more time to play it." It was originally planned to launch a week before Bethesda’s sci-fi game Starfield.

The Dungeons & Dragons-based RPG will now be released, “in order of platform readiness.” While PC players are getting their hands on the game a tad earlier, PlayStation 5 players are instead being hit with a slight delay. The game will launch on PS5 more than a month later on September 6, while Xbox Series X|S versions have been delayed without a release date. Larian wants to ensure that, "the game is performing without compromise across the entire Xbox X|S ecosystem," hinting that the less powerful Series S console might be slowing things down a bit.

While the PS5 version now launches on the same day as Starfield, PC players will get a lot more time to play through this immense game before the busy gaming months of September and October. Larian says that Baldur’s Gate 3 boasts 174 hours of cinematics, which is “twice the length of every season of Game of Thrones combined.” Getting through all of that before September, where games like Mortal Kombat 1, Payday 3 and Starfield joust for attention, will be a challenge.

Baldur’s Gate 3 will offer a ton of content at launch, according to Larian’s latest community update on Steam. Its 11 playable races include the newly-revealed Dragonborn and Half-Orcs, and some of these races have their own subraces too. There are also 12 classes and 46 subclasses, creating further opportunities for player individuality. The game’s level cap has been increased to Level 12, and players can progress past Act 1 without being locked into a specific cast of companions, almost all of whom can be romanced.

PS5 players will now have to make a difficult choice, however. On September 6, will they go for Baldur’s Gate 3 or Starfield?

Baldur's Gate 3 is coming to PC a month early to avoid Starfield