Baldur's Gate 3 is not a single narrative. Yes, you will always be challenged by quests related to the mind flayer tadpole that has stuck in your brain, but otherwise, the story weaves around your decisions as you react to your class, race, relationships, and dialogue choices. This alone is not unusual for a D&D-inspired game, or for a game by developer Larian, but the breadth of openness still seems poised to impress.

We recently sent editor Robert Jones to the current home of Baldur's Gate in Ghent, Belgium, to see just how reactive this RPG really is. He was able to play with "Dark Impulse," a newly released potential companion that can also be played like any other companion. Choosing this background meant spending the game as a character with a voice in his head, which, in Rob's play, was bad news for his magical companion Gail.

When Gail encounters a portal early in the game, she notices a hand sticking out of it and can be recruited into a squad of fantasy heroes. If he is a friendly hero, this might start a friendly chat and eventually a new caster might join his ranks. However, The Dark Urge has a rather unique option.

"I chose to give in to the 'Dark Urge,' and right then and there, while I was still only looking at Gale's hand, I decided to bite his hand and keep it as a nice souvenir. 'I hear a scream, lots of blood, and the portal closes. And Gail was gone from my story.

Having a voice in your head tempting you to the dark side naturally makes you see the world differently. But every character with a pre-prepared background has those hooks and unique perspectives.

"You go down different routes, but they are connected," says Sven Vinke, founder of Larian. 'For example, if you're Lae'zel [a Gysyanki warrior who hunts mind flayers], you'll see the perspective of an evil goddess who doesn't like what's going on. But if you are Shadowheart [half-elf cleric], you might see it through the eyes of the goddess in Baldur's Gate. But if you are Karlak [a tiefling barbarian], you might say, "One of those bastards put me through hell!" You would see it from a perspective like that.

And you will still see a lot of this with custom characters. For example, being a Githyanki druid gives you special options when you encounter other druids and many Githyanki. There is individual reactivity in the game."

I'll be playing BG3 for a while, and I'm sure I'll be playing a lot of new characters and choices, but since the early access launch, I knew right away who I'd be playing on my first play: the sexy vampire egg, Astarion. If you play this sexy vampire, you might end up feeding on your friends to stay healthy. That's what friends are for.

To read more about Rob's adventures in the Forgotton Realms, pick up PC Gamer issue 386, out July 20.