You’ve finished the campaign. Maybe you saved the world, or maybe you burned it all down with a smirk. Either way, the credits rolled, and now there’s this weird, hollow ache in your chest. You miss Astarion’s sass. You miss the tactical anxiety of a 5% hit chance actually landing. Finding games like Baldur's Gate 3 is honestly a nightmare because Larian Studios set the bar so high it’s basically in orbit.
It’s the reactivity that ruins you for other games. You realize that most "choices" in gaming are just color-coded buttons, whereas BG3 felt like a living, breathing D&D session where the DM was actually listening to your nonsense. If you're looking for that specific high, you have to be picky. You can’t just jump into any RPG and expect the same level of cinematic horniness and tactical depth.
The Larian Pedigree: Looking Back to Move Forward
If you haven't played Divinity: Original Sin 2, stop reading this and go buy it. Seriously. It is the most obvious answer for anyone seeking games like Baldur's Gate 3 because it’s the literal blueprint. It’s the same engine, same "shove people off cliffs" philosophy, and arguably a more complex elemental combat system. In Divinity, if you rain on a campfire, you get steam. If you electrify that steam, you get a stun cloud. It’s chaotic. It’s messy. It’s brilliant.
The tone is different, though. While BG3 leans into that high-stakes cinematic drama, Divinity is a bit more whimsical and, frankly, weirder. You can talk to every single animal in the game, and they usually have better dialogue than the humans. One minute you’re saving the world, the next you’re helping a neurotic chicken fulfill its destiny. It lacks the close-up, mocapped dialogue scenes of BG3, which might feel like a step back at first, but the sheer mechanical freedom makes up for it.
Dragon Age: Origins is the Spiritual Ancestor
We need to talk about BioWare. Specifically, 2009 BioWare.
Dragon Age: Origins is the only game that truly captures that "misfit party against the apocalypse" vibe with the same intensity. It’s gritty. The companion approval systems are brutal—Morrigan will literally mock you for being a decent person, and Alistair is the golden retriever boyfriend we all deserved before Wyll came along.
The combat is real-time with pause (RTWP), which feels faster than BG3's turn-based slog but requires just as much tactical thinking. You aren't just clicking on enemies; you’re setting up "if-then" AI scripts for your teammates. It’s old, yeah. The graphics look like they were smeared with brown paste. But the writing? It still holds up better than 90% of modern AAA releases.
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The CRPG Renaissance: Complexity Over Graphics
Some people love BG3 for the dating sim aspects, but others love it because they want to crunch numbers until their brain hurts. If you fall into the latter camp, the Pathfinder series by Owlcat Games is your next obsession. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is an absolute behemoth.
It’s based on the Pathfinder 1E tabletop rules, which are basically D&D 3.5 on steroids. If you thought BG3’s multiclassing was complex, Pathfinder will make you feel like you’re doing taxes for a dragon. You can spend three hours just in the character creator. It’s not for everyone. It’s crunchy, sometimes unfairly difficult, and the "Crusade Mode" management is a bit of a polarizing gimmick. But the power fantasy? Unmatched. You can literally turn into a Lich and raise your fallen enemies as undead companions, or become an Angel and call down holy nukes.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister
If what you specifically love about BG3 is the 5th Edition D&D ruleset, Solasta is actually a more faithful translation of those rules than BG3 is.
It uses the System Reference Document (SRD) 5.1 rules. The lighting mechanics matter. Verticality is huge—flying enemies will actually stay out of reach of your fighters. The downside? The character models look like they were carved out of old potatoes. The voice acting is... a choice. But the tactical combat is arguably tighter and more "correct" to the tabletop experience than Larian’s version. It’s a budget title with a triple-A heart for mechanics.
Narrative Heavyweights That Ditch the Dice
Sometimes you don't want to manage an inventory of 400 rotten tomatoes and rusty daggers. You just want the story. You want the "oh my god, I can't believe I just said that" moments.
Disco Elysium is the smartest game you will ever play. There is no combat in the traditional sense. You play a hungover, amnesiac detective in a crumbling city, and your "party members" are the different parts of your own brain. Your Logic might argue with your Rhetoric, while your Electrochemistry tries to convince you to smoke a cigarette you found on the ground. It is hilarious, devastating, and deeply philosophical. It captures the "rolling a natural 1" feeling better than any game with actual dice, because failing a check in Disco Elysium is often more interesting than succeeding.
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Pillars of Eternity and the Obsidian Touch
Obsidian Entertainment is the king of "grey morality." Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a pirate-themed CRPG that lets you sail an actual ship around an archipelago while dealing with colonial politics and reincarnating gods.
The reactivity here is insane. The game remembers everything. It also offers a choice between real-time-with-pause and a dedicated turn-based mode, making it one of the most accessible games like Baldur's Gate 3 for players who hate the chaos of RTWP. The companions are deeply tied to the world's factions, meaning your choice of who to bring along actually changes how NPCs treat you in a meaningful way.
Why We Can't Stop Comparing Everything to BG3
The reality is that BG3 is an anomaly. Most developers don't have six years and a mountain of Early Access cash to polish a niche genre to a mirror sheen. When we look for similar games, we're usually looking for one of three things:
- The Horniness: The cinematic romance and deep companion bonds.
- The Sandbox: Using the environment to cheat your way through a fight.
- The Choice: Seeing the world change because you decided to be a jerk to a goblin.
Hardly any game does all three at once. The Witcher 3 has the cinematic flair and great romances, but the combat is basically a rhythm game and your choices, while heavy, are more linear. XCOM 2 has the tactical "I missed a 99% shot" rage, but your soldiers have the personality of a wet brick.
You have to decide which pillar of the BG3 experience you value most. If it’s the writing, go BioWare or Obsidian. If it’s the mechanics, go Owlcat or Tactical Adventures.
What Most People Get Wrong About "Clones"
A lot of lists will tell you to play Starfield or Dragon’s Dogma 2 just because they are big RPGs. That’s bad advice. Those games are great, but they aren't games like Baldur's Gate 3. They are action games with stats.
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The magic of a true CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) is the "Party." It’s the feeling that you aren't a lone superhero, but a leader of a group of idiots who might leave you if you annoy them too much. It’s the isometric perspective that lets you see the battlefield like a chessboard. Don't get distracted by flashy graphics; look for the "Vibe."
The Underdog: Rogue Trader
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is the newest big player on the block. It’s from the same people who made Pathfinder, but it’s way more approachable. You play as a space aristocrat with a giant ship and a warrant that basically says "I can do whatever I want."
The turn-based combat is chunky and satisfying. You can have a giant Space Marine in your party, or a literal Inquisition agent who is constantly judging your life choices. It captures that high-stakes, "every choice matters" feeling perfectly, even if it’s a bit buggy at the edges.
Actionable Steps for Your Next 100-Hour Journey
If you’re staring at your Steam library feeling paralyzed, here is how you should actually choose your next game based on what you liked about BG3:
- If you loved the elemental chaos and "systemic" gameplay: Play Divinity: Original Sin 2. It is the closest you will ever get to the same feeling.
- If you loved the companion drama and romance: Go back to Dragon Age: Origins. If you've already played that, try Cyberpunk 2077—the perspective is different, but the character writing is top-tier.
- If you want to feel like a tactical genius: Pick up Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Turn off the "Karmic Dice" in your brain and embrace the 5E grind.
- If you want a game that respects your intelligence: Play Disco Elysium. It has no combat, but it will haunt you for weeks.
- If you want a massive world to get lost in: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Just be prepared to keep a wiki tab open at all times.
Don't expect any of these to be "Baldur's Gate 3 but again." That game was a lightning strike. Instead, appreciate these titles for the specific things they do better—whether it's Pathfinder's sheer depth or Disco Elysium's poetic misery. The CRPG genre is deeper than it’s been in decades, and there’s plenty of adventure left if you’re willing to trade those 4K face scans for some really good text boxes.