HBO’s Baldur’s Gate Show Wants To Be a Sequel to BG3. That’s Impossible.

This nonfiction contains immoderate spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3.

So, HBO is turning Baldur’s Gate into a TV show. On its own, that’s rather an breathtaking proposition: a big-budget, live-action bid acceptable successful Dungeons & Dragons’ astir iconic city? Yes please. But the project’s announcement, which came courtesy of Deadline, contains a enactment that instantly had maine burying my caput successful my hands.

“The Baldur’s Gate TV bid volition beryllium a continuation to the games,” says the report, “telling a communicative that takes spot instantly aft the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, arsenic the characters — aged and caller — are dealing with the ramifications of the events successful the 3rd game.”

The ramifications of what events, exactly? The decision of the Netherbrain? Or possibly the enslavement of it successful the sanction of the Absolute? Or Gale’s prime to crook into a magical atomic bomb, sacrificing himself to prevention the city? These are conscionable 3 of the galore ways Baldur’s Gate 3 tin end, and that’s earlier we see the dozens and dozens of choices that you marque connected the mode to that conclusion. There are astir 17,000 variations of the game’s last cutscene. How could a TV amusement perchance “deal with the ramifications of the events of the 3rd game” erstwhile each azygous subordinate has their ain mentation of events?

For immoderate players, Minthara is an enemy. To others, she's a person and a adjacent ally.

The answer, of course, is that showrunner Craig Mazin indispensable determine what choices are “canon.” One fractional of the duo down The Last of Us’ HBO adaptation indispensable present acceptable definite events successful chromatic successful bid to make a baseline to physique his communicative upon. But to determine upon a canon bid of events for Baldur’s Gate 3 is not the aforesaid as, for instance, determining which of Mass Effect 3’s trio of concluding options would beryllium the starting constituent for what comes next. It’s not a elemental lawsuit of however the communicative ends, but everything that happened connected the 100-hour travel up until that point, too.

The full representation of Baldur’s Gate 3, the communicative immoderate 1 subordinate lived, is the effect of hundreds of decisions, ranging from the tactical to the affectional to the wholly unaware. For some, Minsc and his miniature abstraction hamster, Boo, are captious parts of the story. Yet galore won’t adjacent cognize who helium is, having passed by and ne'er recruited him to their party. There are those for whom Shadowheart’s flight from the Church of Shar is simply a defining moment, yet others volition person recovered an arsenic defining pathway successful encouraging her to clasp the acheronian goddess. And for those players of a much chaotic leaning, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the communicative of an unstoppable serial slayer that greedily succumbs to their ain Dark Urge, tearing limbs disconnected wizards and letting goblins slaughter refugees. The crippled is little a azygous communicative with a fistful of antithetic outcomes, and much similar hundreds of quality threads that are entwined similar rope. A enactment that grows thicker and longer with each romance (steady now), argument, betrayal, and astonishment you experience. To unravel each that and find a azygous aureate thread for tv seems astatine champion foolhardy, astatine worst impossible.

Anyone who wants a sequel to Baldur's Gate 3 wants a follow-up to their ain experience, not Craig Mazin’s.“

None of this is to accidental that the amusement is guaranteed to beryllium bad, oregon of mediocre quality. Considering Mazin’s anterior enactment – successful particular, Chernobyl – and HBO’s way grounds with phantasy programming, there’s each accidental that Baldur’s Gate volition beryllium a fantastic show, astatine slightest erstwhile viewed successful isolation. But it’s hard to make that isolation erstwhile the task is explicitly a continuation of the travel truthful galore of america undertook for hundreds, sometimes adjacent thousands of hours. And due to the fact that of Baldur's Gate 3's unrivalled branching RPG design, we person each go profoundly attached to our ain versions of this satellite and its characters.

It should beryllium said that details of however the amusement volition beryllium structured are inactive incredibly thin. It volition diagnostic a radical of caller protagonists, truthful we don’t cognize to what grade the now-famous enactment of heroes and antiheroes that marque up Baldur’s Gate 3 formed volition feature. By being a “continuation to the games”, could it simply beryllium successful a satellite wherever the Netherbrain erstwhile existed, and tales of heroes’ journeys to decision it are muttered successful the city's streets similar mythical tales? Or volition meetings with the likes of Wyll, Astarion, Lae'zel beryllium small much than fleeting encounters, kept somewhat shapeless successful an effort to stay applicable to astir players’ memories of them? It creates a dilemma: purposefully support things vague and perchance undercook the past of this world, oregon prime a defined canon that could alienate ample portions of your viewership?

Television adaptations are, of course, designed with much than 1 oculus connected wider markets. HBO wants radical who person ne'er played Baldur’s Gate 3 to go invested successful its world. But that begs the question: wherefore a nonstop sequel? Why instrumentality spot instantly aft a communicative that a information of your assemblage has nary concern in? If fractional your assemblage has nary attachment to those events, and the different fractional volition astir surely person experienced a antithetic mentation of the events you’re gathering upon, who is winning here? Anyone who does privation a sequel wants a follow-up to their ain experience, not Craig Mazin’s.

Baldur’s Gate won’t beryllium the archetypal amusement to tackle this problem. Just this year, the 2nd play of Fallout told a communicative acceptable aft the events of Fallout: New Vegas, an RPG that besides concludes with a fig of precise different, world-defining options. But Fallout has made a fig of astute choices. Firstly, it’s not a sequel to the game; it’s conscionable acceptable successful the aforesaid universe, and frankincense isn’t trying to proceed the crippled of New Vegas. Secondly, it’s acceptable implicit a decennary later, and purposefully leaves the events during that clip a implicit mystery. And truthful the show’s depiction of the game’s characters and factions doesn’t person to articulation the dots. Did you manus the Vegas Strip to the Legion successful your playthrough? Well, successful the 15 years since, they’ve succumbed to infighting and person fallen from their mighty position. You don’t request to cognize however it happened, it conscionable did.

Using this method, Fallout (sort of) successfully ensures nary 1 New Vegas ending is cemented arsenic canon. Every result could person happened, but the effect of your choices whitethorn not person endured for the 15 years betwixt the crippled and the show. Larian Studios, the developer of Baldur’s Gate 3, understood the payment of this benignant of clip gap; its gargantuan RPG is acceptable much than a period aft the events of its predecessor, ensuring it’s not restricted by the decision of Baldur’s Gate 2 and has abstraction to make its ain story. By starting instantly aft the events of BG3, the amusement won’t person this luxury. It has to marque a choice. It has to invalidate thousands of playthroughs. It can’t beryllium the sequel to your experience of Baldur’s Gate 3.

It doesn’t person to beryllium this way. The existent acquisition to larn from Fallout is that video crippled adaptations thrive champion erstwhile they are decoupled from existing stories. So the large question is, wherefore is this not conscionable a Dungeons & Dragons show? You tin acceptable a D&D amusement successful Baldur’s Gate. You tin telephone a D&D amusement “Baldur’s Gate”. You tin adjacent see characters and notation (certain) events from Baldur’s Gate 3. But to purposefully shackle yourself to continuing the communicative of that game, alternatively than freely exploring its world, feels similar purposefully rolling a captious neglect connected the archetypal circular of combat.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.