Every Baldur's Gate game, ranked
All 4 Baldur's Gate games we hold, spanning 2000 to 2023: 2 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 873,405 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Baldur's Gate 3 (GamingPickz Score 9.2), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) and follow the release-order timeline below.
- For the money: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Baldur's Gate games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 2 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
2 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 2 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Every game by critic score
The grid above is built from Steam data, so it can only place the Baldur's Gate games that were on Steam. This one uses the Metacritic critic aggregate, which the older console-only entries have too, so the whole series lands on a single chart: critic score against release year.
On Steam (also has a GamingPickz Score) Console-only (Metacritic only)
2 best Baldur's Gate games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Baldur's Gate 3
Best for: Players who need accessibility options that actually exist
9.2GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceBaldur's Gate 3 at a glance Released 2023 Studio Larian Studios Player sentiment 97% positive of 855,414 Critics 96/100 Price $59.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 150 GB Accessibility 10 declared features Raw 97% shrinks to 97.0 on 855,414 reviews, then blends with the 96 critic aggregate, giving 9.2.
What the data supports- 97% positive across 855,414 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Declares 10 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 2
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Best for: Players who trust other players over critics
7.8GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceBaldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition at a glance Released 2013 Studio Beamdog Player sentiment 92% positive of 17,991 Critics 78/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 92% shrinks to 91.8 on 17,991 reviews, then blends with the 78 critic aggregate, giving 7.8.
What the data supports- Cloud saves and cross-platform play, so progress follows you between machines.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 92 against 78. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
Only the 2 Baldur's Gate games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Baldur's Gate game we can score is Baldur's Gate 3 at 9.2. The lowest is Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition at 7.8, a 1.4-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition at $19.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Baldur's Gate entries on Steam:
- Verified: Baldur's Gate 3
- Playable: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Platforms across the series
Where the 4 Baldur's Gate games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 4 of 4 |
The Baldur's Gate series, game by game
Every Baldur's Gate game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2000
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Metacritic 95Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment for Windows in September 2000. It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on… (Wikipedia)
Plot
Setting In the Government District, Athkatla, are the Council of Six building, the Prison, and the estates of the rich nobility. The Forgotten Realms , the high fantasy campaign setting in which Baldur's Gate II is set, is a fictional world similar to a medieval Earth , but with its own peoples, geography, and history. In the Realms, as its inhabitants call it, fantastic creatures and magic are common. (Wikipedia)
Characters
Bhaal, the God of Murder, was slain by an adventurer named Cyric, who himself became a god, but Bhaal foresaw his destruction and walked the land before the other gods. He left behind him "a score of mortal progeny", whose later deaths, when they were slain by heroes, would fuel his rebirth. The game's protagonist is one of these offspring, but, through the choices of the player, may be either good or evil. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Sales In the United States, Baldur's Gate II entered PC Data 's computer game sales charts at #5 during the September 17–23 period. It rose to second place the following week, behind The Sims: Livin' Large , while its Collector's Edition captured the seventh position. In its first 14 days, Baldur's Gate II drew in revenues of $4 million across all SKUs in North America, a sales record for an Interplay computer title. (Wikipedia)
- 2013
The classic returns! Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition restores the full original adventure and Tales of the Sword Coast, now polished with quality‑of‑life upgrades for a smoother timeless Dungeons & Dragons journey. (Steam)
Plot
Much of the game retains the original setting of Baldur's Gate and its expansion - that of the Forgotten Realms continent of Faerûn , the city of Baldur's Gate and the locations south of it within the regions of the Sword Coast and the Western Heartlands, including Beregost, Nashkel, Durlag's Tower and Candlekeep. The main story, too, is still retained - the player creates a character and takes them across the game's setting to investigate the iron crisis… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition received mostly favorable reviews from critics; on aggregate review website Metacritic the game attains an overall score of 78 out of 100 on the PC. Shacknews praised the remaster, calling the game "a truly enhanced version of a classic game". IGN gave the game 8. (Wikipedia)
- 2023
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Steam)
Plot
Baldur's Gate 3 shares its Dungeons and Dragons setting, called the Forgotten Realms , with previous games in the franchise. BG3 and its predecessors take place on the continent of Faerûn , primarily near or inside the namesake city of Baldur's Gate. BG3 occurs over 100 years after the events of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) and shortly after the events of the D D tie-in adventure , Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (2019). (Wikipedia)
Characters
Main article: List of Baldur's Gate characters The world, alongside the player's thoughts and observations, are recounted by the game's narrator (Amelia Tyler), acting as BG3 s dungeon master . While the narrator was originally planned to deliver lines contemptuously, Larian was impressed by Tyler's deadpan delivery. Of the ten companions, six can be chosen as the player character in the character creator. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception According to review aggregator website Metacritic , Baldur's Gate 3 received "universal acclaim" from critics, with 98% of critics recommending the game on aggregator OpenCritic . Critics praised the game's detail and scope, with several comparing the studio to a gracious dungeon master, and describing the game as faithfully emulating the tabletop Dungeons and Dragons experience . The Guardian s Nick Rueben said the game enabled players to… (Wikipedia)
- —
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Metacritic 78No sourced description on file.
Plot
Setting Set in the Forgotten Realms continent of Faerûn , Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition takes place in the nations of Amn and Tethyr . As with the original Enhanced Edition, all locations from the original production are present as well as new locations. Depending on the characters recruited, up to thirty new locations can be accessed. (Wikipedia)
Characters
While the original characters of Baldur's Gate II return once again, the Enhanced Edition brings back the new characters introduced in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition - Neera the Wild Mage, Dorn Il-Khan the Blackguard, and Rasaad the Monk - who are once again recruitable, with two additional new characters, unique to Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition - Hexxat the Thief, and Wilson the Bear. Each, like before, have a personal character quest that sees the… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received positive review scores from most of the critics. On Metacritic , it holds an aggregate score of 78/100 for the Windows version while the iOS version holds an aggregate score of 70/100. Ryan Cartmel of the online magazine Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4. (Wikipedia)
Baldur's Gate, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Baldur's Gate vs other series
How Baldur's Gate stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Baldur's Gate vs Orcs Must Die!, Baldur's Gate vs Watch, Baldur's Gate vs Age of Wonders, Baldur's Gate vs Beholder, Baldur's Gate vs Darkest Dungeon, Baldur's Gate vs Divinity, Baldur's Gate vs Dungeons, Baldur's Gate vs Kingdom Rush, Baldur's Gate vs Marvel’s Spider-Man, Baldur's Gate vs Might & Magic, Baldur's Gate vs Pathfinder, Baldur's Gate vs Shadowrun, Baldur's Gate vs Soda Dungeon, Baldur's Gate vs Town of Salem, Baldur's Gate vs Wasteland, Baldur's Gate vs XCOM
Common questions
How many Baldur's Gate games are there?
We hold 4 Baldur's Gate games in the catalogue, released between 2000 and 2023. 2 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Baldur's Gate game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Baldur's Gate 3 rates highest at 9.2. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Baldur's Gate games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2000 to 2023. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
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