My copy of Baldur’s Gate 3 Deluxe Edition arrived yesterday. Yay! You have got to be happy when new games get a “regular” big box release. I oftentimes don’t fancy the bulky collector’s editions that you get nowadays with giant statues in them that I have no place for. Games in my collection that are a little bit too big for my liking are the Utopia Edition of Beyond a Steel Sky, the Collector’s Edition of Neverwinter Nights and the Special/Limited/Collector’s Editions of The Witcher 2 and III. I’m not keen on collecting much more of those type of releases. For instance, I would like to have the signed Kickstarter edition of Pillars of Eternity I, but not the much more bulky collector’s edition of part II.

This Deluxe Edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 looks very nice next to the other Bioware/Black Isle studio games in my collection. I like the cleaner look of the design compared to the earlier parts in the series and appreciate that they kept some similarities like the font and the book-like sides of the box.

Inside there is a variety of things:

• a map that looks too nice, but for too small and cryptic to be of any use.
• a poster that I have no use for. I would have rather seen a better/bigger map.
• numerous sheets of stickers that I also don’t have use for. I don’t know where to put them and even if I did, using them would mean my game is incomplete…
• the PS5 version of the game on two discs. My first PS5 physical game (Hogwarts Legacy and Ratchet & Clank don’t count because I bought them for my kids.) I don’t plan on getting many physical PS5 games.
• the original game soundtrack on three CD’s, which is great
• two patches that I have the same feelings about as the stickers.

All in all, rather underwhelming contents. I would have rather seen a bigger map and some contents that put me more in the mood of the game. I understand that there isn’t a cloth map or a big artbook, as that is reserved for the Collector’s Edition. But something like an developer’s note, a little manual-like booklet, introductory story or small trinket would have been much better to my liking. And a better map of course, although the maps in the original Baldur’s Gate games weren’t much better, at least they had names and descriptions on them.