You can watch them from high above, guiding them with the perspective of a god. Or you can hover behind them, pushing them forward like the wind at their back. And, of course, you can twist around them like a drunken ghost hovering around puny humans. This is how you view your characters in two of the best games released so far in 2023:Pikmin 4andBaldur’s Gate 3. ThoughLarian Studios’ RPG andNintendo’s adventure RTS have little in common, (when playing with a controller) their cameras operate in exactly the same way.
On the surface, the two games are as different as any games released in 2023. One is a horny RPG with a heavy emphasis on reactivity and choice. The other is an exploration-focused RTS about guiding little creatures around to complete tasks efficiently. But, both use the same camera system. You pull back on the thumb stick to view your characters from an isometric perspective. You push forward on the thumb stick to look at them from up close. And you rotate the stick to rotate the camera.
The perspective being so similar led me to wondering if Baldur’s Gate 3 and Pikmin 4 are actually all that different to begin with. The answer is still yes, but there are more similarities than I initially expected.
In both, you play as a silent character who goes around recruiting other characters to join your party. In both, you can have a dog on your team — though Pikmin’s Ochi plays a much more active role than Scratch, the pooch who hangs out in your camp in Baldur’s Gate 3. Both games are interested in elemental interactions — you can throw fire to burn stuff down in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Pikmin 4. And both have you going back to camp to rest up between missions.
But, there are deeper similarities too. Both games have an isometric perspective, in part, because they’re about managing a large group, not a single character. While first-person and third-person viewpoints have been the most popular perspectives since the dawn of 3D games in the ‘90s, they only really make sense if a game is focused on a single character. Looking over a character’s shoulder or through their eyes works well if they are the only character whose interactions with the world matter. Shooting, adventuring, running, jumping, whatever! If one character is primarily doing it, a perspective that is locked to them makes sense.
But, when the focus of the gameplay is multiple characters who all need to be visible, the isometric perspective has utility that nothing else really has. It lets you see a broad swath of the environment, so you can guide your group of helpers — whether it’s four chaotic misfits in Baldur’s Gate, or four dozen leaf creatures in Pikmin — where they need to go without losing track of anyone.
Every game has to make this decision about where its camera will go. We tend to see the same perspectives over and over. It can lead to us forgetting that how we see the world actually has something to say. But Pikmin 4 and Baldur’s Gate 3 having the same isometric camera does say something. It’s the perspective of a shepherd, not a cowboy; the viewpoint for someone who needs to keep track of the 100 without losing the one.
NEXT:Playing Dark Urge In Baldur’s Gate 3 Made Me A Weirdo In D&D
