The hard part about being an autumnal gamer at heart is that most games aren’t fall-themed the whole way through. You have games likeNight in the Woodsor Knights and Bikes that capture that cozy feeling of fall. But, like the leaves turning crimson, gold, and pumpkin orange, the season is all too brief.
Bully, for example, is an all-timer fall game, but given Rockstar open-school game’s campaign lasts the duration of an academic year, you only get a few hours of Halloween vibes. DittoThe Last of Us, which runs from summer to spring. If you want to experience the autumnal feelings with these games, your options are a) to play them all the way through or b) keep a well-timed save handy for the occasion. Neither of those are easy on short notice.
So, this is your reminder to hold onto that Baldur’s Gate 3 save! Don’t delete it just because you’ve moved on from the Shadow-Cursed Lands. You may want to revisit it later this year, in the same way you long for a cup of hot cider or a trip to the apple orchard. Keeping a save for BG3 is especially crucial because the opening area has a decidedly summery feel, and can take dozens of hours to get through depending on your decisions. If you want to hang out in the Shadow-Cursed Lands whenever the air gets cool, ensure you save after theDeath Shepherd fight.
What is it about Baldur’s Gate 3 that makes it such a good fall game during the Shadow-Cursed Lands section? Well, mostly that it feels a little dark, a little dangerous, but not at all scary. Some of that is due to the separation from the world that the isometric perspective naturally creates. From a distance, it feels like Larian designed the environment using the best decorations available at Spirit Halloween.
There are skeletons strewn all over the place. There are twisting, rotten root paths, and dark, sharp trees that tower increasingly high over the course of a battle. There are shadow monsters that lurk outside an arena, emerging from the outer darkness and retreating if you hit them hard enough. Though the whole of Act 2 is significantly darker than that which precedes it, that kind of works in its autumnal favor. In the same way you might come in from the cold on a chill November night and fix yourself a hot toddy or some mulled wine before getting cozy on the couch, Last Light Inn is a welcome respite after your introduction to the dank Shadow-Cursed Lands. And though Moonrise Towers is obviously a more ominous place, it takes on a relatively homey feeling in comparison to the rest of the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
Baldur’s Gate 3 feels like a Halloween game in the same vein as 2020’sPumpkin Jackin. In other words, it isn’t a horror game. It’s a game that captures the slightly menacing, mostly fun vibe of All Hallows' Eve, but doesn’t try to scare you. Pumpkin Jack casts the player as a guy with a pumpkin for a head as he fights his way through a spooky land withDevil May Cry-lite action combat. I reviewed it at the time, and while I didn’t think it was a perfect game, it did have perfect Halloween vibes.
Baldur’s Gate 3, a much bigger game, is nonetheless Pumpkin Jack’s spiritual successor. It captures the feeling of watching a Halloween special at your mom’s hairdresser while you’re waiting to get your haircut or walking between suburban houses with a Boo Basket or pillow case in hand or marathoning Over the Garden Wall. What more could you want?
