Baldur’s Gate 3 has come a long way since early access, and a new short cartoon showcases some of the changes the game has gone through in a delightfully humorous way. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a sprawling RPG that promises hours upon hours of gameplay either enjoyed solo or as a co-op adventure. The game spent 2 years in early access on the Windows, Mac, and the ill-fated Stadia platforms prior to its August 3, 2023, release date.
Like most RPGs Baldur’s Gate 3 lives and dies by the colorful characters that inhabit its fantastical world. Larian Studios has established a reputation for its impeccable character design. Baldur’s Gate 3 has continued this legacy by featuring several well-written and powerful companions that each have their own unique personalities and stories for players to discover, not to mention the game’s robust world building and complex Dungeons and Dragons-based mechanics. Of course, it did not start out this way; it took time and effort to create such a well-realized game, and those who played it in early access will know this better than anyone.
Mashed, a YouTube channel known for creating funny cartoons that are often related to gaming culture, has now released a Baldur’s Gate 3 short titled “Launch Party.” The animated short follows companions Gale, Karlach, Astarion, and Shadowheart as they venture forth through a portal that takes them from the early access version of the game to the launch version of the titular city, Baldur’s Gate. Before long they encounter the launch versions of themselves which results in a funny exchange that doesn’t end well for the early access companions.
With the massive popularity and critical acclaim Baldur’s Gate 3 is enjoying across platforms, fans can likely expect more entertaining fan-made content like “Launch Party” in the future, but there is something that makes this particular short special and unique. Fans will notice that the voice acting is on point, and that is because the actors and actresses who did the voicework for the characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 lent their voices to the Mashed team to give “Launch Party” an authenticity that would otherwise be difficult to replicate.
This funny short might be bittersweet for Baldur’s Gate fans who await the game’s Xbox release. There has been no official word of when the game will land on Xbox as yet, but those looking forward to playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on the platform can at least rest easy knowing that Larian Studios will not compromise on quality.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now for PC and PS5 with an Xbox Series X version also in development.
