Baldur's Gate

Any old school top down RPG or point & click style game feels right at home on iOS! Instead of dragging a cursor around it feels very intuitive to simply point and have your commands met. In lieu of keyboard shortcuts, I actually find this method more enjoyable. The writing here is still the best aspect of the game; funny, engaging, and deep. The entire game has depth, don’t expect to be godlike your first time round - but the fun is deciphering the D&D gameplay mechanics! The only feedback i have preventing BG from getting 5 stars is the lack of iTunes File Sharing. Yes, you are able to export saved games to play on computer & iOS interchangeably. However, on the computer I have several custom portraits I’d like also transferred to iOS. Its not a deal breaker, but sometimes it does pull me out of the story not seeing the characters as I see them in my head. I’ve already purchased the portrait pack, but I like to have NPCs looking unique as well. This was enabled pre 8.3 update, but since it’s been blocked. Enabling the iTunes File sharing for this would be amazing! Overall, thank you Beamdog & Overhaul for giving us the ability to play on the go. Prepared to get hooked, & good luck in Faerûn!

I played through Baldur's Gate when it was originally released many years ago and played it again five years later and then yet again five years later. Unfortunately, my old computer went toast and I swore off PC gaming forever because of the ridiculous costs and hassles of keeping a computer up to date. I had long thought the iPhone and iPad could make perfect platforms for some old classic games. And here it is-- Baldur's Gate, in full iPad glory. Zooming made easy, click with a finger, and you can see all containers easily. I just finished it tonight and I'm a completionist, which means I look in every container and in every nook and cranny for content. There were zero problems and many old bugs fixed. [I do wish they would've fixed the old character scripting issue for thieves set to "Thief Aggressive" where pathing is interrupted whenever the thief automatically attempts to hide in shadows and/or a failure of shadow hiding, but alas...] A friend bought this game for me... I didn't know of its existence on iPad prior to then. Now I'm downloading BG 2 and then Icewind Dale. I do hope Icewind Dale 2 AND Planescape: Torment are in the works!!

I’ve now purchased this game three times! First, upon the original PC release, the updated PC release, and iOS. I really feel like there is so much more opportunity to port old RPG games to iOS... (Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, anyone?) I’m playing this now on the iPhone XS Max. I am LOVING it, but a few interface tweaks could really improve it. Obviously it is not optimized for iPhone X and above, so there is some wasted horizontal screen space. Also, though I know the game was designed for tablets, it is fantastic to bring it around in my pocket, and really the challenge on iPhone for me is just discerning some of the icons, specifically spell icons. Also if the game was programmed to fade the iPhone’s home bar that would be nice - I think there’s some precious vertical space lost there. Anyway, thanks to the developers for realizing the continued value in these classic older games! My opinion is that a pinch of iPhone optimization might get you a whole new batch of players.

This is as much a review as a love letter to Beamdog. Thanks for porting those games. I’ve rolled five characters and played through these games repeatedly. I’ve racked up countless hours in gameplay and many times that much in thinking about ways to explore the game mechanics. I’m sad to see so many bad reviews because it’s “too small for the phone”. I’ve played it on my iPad but honestly prefer playing it on my phone for some reason. I’m glad Beamdog didn’t restrict it to only iPads for fear of getting the occasional bad review from people with sausage fingers. I rarely hit the wrong buttons and don’t know why so many people seem to have a problem with that... Beamdog did a great job correcting issues I had with this port in the past (e.g. collapsing side bars, save importing, etc). My only hope now is that they find a way to port some of the Neverwinter Nights titles someday. Trent said it would be a challenge and presume that means even more than the formidable challenges they faced in getting BG titles out the door, so I’m not holding my breath. Thanks for the memories either way.

I read a couple of the reviews, and I will preface this one by saying I played ( although didn't finish ) the game when it originally was released on PC. There was not a tutorial at that time, and the game was an awesome experience. Apparently, today it looks as if most the poor reviews are from people that did not play the original ( and likely were not alive when it was released ) as the beginning area in this game provided more guidance than I remember of most games at that time. Ok so I have rambled long enough, if you played games in the mid to late nineties, you will like this game whether you ran across this one or not. If you are accustomed to more recent games with integrated and in depth beginning tutorials, you will find this game difficult to get started with. I recommend buying it, and sticking with it. I find it is much easier to play on my iPhone than it ever was on my PC.