Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance Review

20 years after its original release, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is showing other dungeon crawling hack-and-slash games how it's done.

PC gamers have been familiar with the Baldur's Gate franchise since the original launched in 1998, but those on consoles didn't get in on the action until a few years later with 2001's Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Developed by Snowblind Studios and earning critical acclaim at the time of its release, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was a classic of the PS2-era. Until recently, fans have only been able to play the game by digging out their old consoles, but now a Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance re-release is readily available on most modern gaming platforms.

Out of nowhere, Black Isle Studios has re-released Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, bringing the classic dungeon crawling hack-and-slash game to modern platforms more or less exactly how fans remember it. While the graphics are slightly sharper, this is not a remaster of the original game. This new release of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a port, for better or worse.

On the bright side, this means that Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance exists as it did when it first launched in 2001, which is great for the nostalgia-minded. But it also means that some aspects of the game that haven't exactly aged well are unaddressed. Players can look forward to NPCs walking in endless circles, all kinds of graphical oddities, body parts clipping through clothing, and occasional crashing, among other issues. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance also doesn't do a great job of balancing its difficulty levels. The Easy mode is a touch too easy, whereas Normal is bizarrely difficult. Even when facing the sewer rats at the very beginning of the game, those that play through on Normal difficulty will be killed almost instantly. There are two even more challenging difficulty modes after that, but most gamers will likely want to stick with Easy for their first playthrough.

The lack of online co-op will also be disappointing to some, and since there are three playable characters, it would have been nice to see the local co-op expanded to support three players. Despite these shortcomings, though, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is still a blast to play all these years later, especially when playing with a friend. It's a classic dungeon crawling action-RPG experience, with players completing quests, leveling up, buying better gear, and fighting endless hordes of enemies.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is organized into three distinct Acts. The first Act takes place in the city of Baldur's Gate itself, where players have to contend with a villainous new Thieves Guild as well as all kinds of monstrosities in the sewers beneath the city. Act 2 takes place in the mountains, whereas Act 3 takes place in a marsh. Each area is visually distinct from one another and is packed with content.

Each of the three main areas in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance includes a hub with a shop for players to sell their loot as well as NPCs that may have side quests to complete. Players can stick to the main story and ignore everything else, but those that take the time to tackle the extra tasks or stray off the beaten path will be rewarded with extra loot that makes it much easier to afford some of the more high-value weapons and armor.

While out adventuring, players will find that the "dungeons" in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance can be rather lengthy with numerous twists, turns, and multiple levels. The game's map system makes it difficult to get lost, but there are some objectives that would have greatly benefited from a modern-day marker system so players aren't wasting their time mindlessly walking around for hours. And while the map is helpful, the way it fades in and out based on player position occasionally makes it difficult to determine where players have already been and what areas have yet to be explored. It would have been nice to have these quality of life improvements, but the game is still a lot of fun without them. And it does go out of its way to make everything as painless as possible for players. For example, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance players will find plenty of Recall Potions on their adventures that allow them to instantly warp to the nearest town, heal up, and then warp back at the exact spot they left off in the dungeon. This alleviates much of the frustration that there otherwise would be from being over-encumbered or being low on health potions

There are clear ways to make Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance a superior experience, but it's still nice to be able to play it on newer consoles regardless. As previously stated, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is out for most modern gaming platforms, likely due to the impending launch of the new game, Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance by Tuque Games. And hopefully this means that fans can look forward to a potential port of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 at some point as well.

The story itself is fairly generic fantasy fare for the most part with some characters that tend to drone on without having anything interesting to say, but it has some surprising moments and is sufficiently entertaining. The cliffhanger ending stings a bit, but a Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 port would rectify that problem.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a solid pick for those who are looking for a nostalgia trip as well as anyone that missed out the first time and is needing a fun local co-op game to play. There are many aspects of the game that haven't aged well, but the fun factor trumps a lot of those issues. Plus, the game gives players plenty of bang for their buck, with a ton to do in the main story and some unlockable content, including a Gauntlet mode and fan favorite character Drizzt Do'Urden. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was a great game in 2001 and it's still a ton of fun to play 20 years later.