Baldur’s Gate 3 is unabashedly a Dungeons & Dragons video game, filled with choices to make, enemies to battle, and characters to romance. However, a cut mechanic would have made it the ultimate D&D video game in the eyes of many.
A post on the game’s subreddit uncovered the game’s canned “exhausted” mechanic, with six levels of exhaustion that characters can reach. Each level gets worse and the only way to recover from this is to use the “Long Rest” mechanic.
D&D fans are more than familiar with the mechanic, as actions in the tabletop RPG wear the characters out. Long Rests in D&D allow players to recover their spell slots and health so they can continue going on adventures.
There are hints in Baldur’s Gate 3 that show this mechanic was supposed to be in the game. Party members will often talk about how tired they are, though that never really affects the main adventure.
Resting is still pretty important, however, as the RPG does follow how spell slots and health recovery works in the tabletop game. However, players and their companions can’t really get tired during gameplay. It’s assumed that this would have broken the flow and made this interactive campaign more stressful.
Larian Studios previously discussed how this RPG wouldn’t be tackling high-level D&D, due to the overpowered spells and enemies that come with it. That’s why we won’t be getting a major expansion for this title anytime soon, especially since the RPG is long enough as is.
It’s clear that the exhausted mechanic didn’t affect players' enjoyment, as Baldur’s Gate 3 is a critical darling. The RPG is so popular that it managed to have 870,000 concurrent players on Steam, which is unheard of for most single-player titles.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now on PC, with a PS5 version coming out next month on September 6.