My Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough has stalled. There’s a few reasons why, but a lot of it is analysis paralysis. When every miniscule decision feels like it could impact my entire playthrough, I’m so desperate to not mess it up that I’ve come to a complete standstill.

I’m still firmly in Act 1, and while I’ve seen some spoilers for what’s to come, I know very little about the second and third parts of the game. I’ve ventured briefly into the Underdark, fought a Beholder, and saved the Emerald Grove, but I’ve encountered a bunch of stuff that I seem incredibly underleveled for in the first area alone. I saw Githyanki with dragons, the devil himself appeared before me, and I haven’t visited the Moonrise Towers, despite Halsin’s constant insistence I do so. Even our Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henley has overtaken me, and she started with the PlayStation 5 release almost a month later.

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I’m scared to push forward in any direction because I don’t want to take a misstep. I exited the Underdark because a) my entire party was nearly dead, and b) I didn’t want to advance to Act 2 before finishing as much of Act 1 as possible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back to this, so I’m going to leave no stone unturned.

But there’s a problem. I don’t know which way is forward. I would guess the Moonrise Towers (which in my head will always be called the Moonrise Kingdom, thanks Wes), but the Underdark seemed to be a solid path to Act 2 as well. I’m definitely not ready to take on a dragon yet, so that’s out of the question. In games like Starfield, I’m pretty good at deducing the intended route forward and picking the opposite direction to explore. But in Baldur’s Gate 3, any direction could lead me to a point of no return, and this doesn’t seem like a game that would warn you.

It’s been over a week since I last played Baldur’s Gate 3. That’s not entirely because of the game itself – work’s been very busy, and I’ve been preparing for my daughter’s birthday – but it’s got me worried. I think part of the issue is that I can’t be arsed going all the way up to my office, sitting in my work chair at my work desk and playing on my work PC for an evening. I like to spend what little time I have in the evenings with my partner, and secreting myself in my office to play virtual Dungeons & Dragons is not the most sociable of pastimes. If I play Pokemon on my Switch or even something on my Xbox, we can share a sofa and chat with each other while doing our own things. That’s not the case for Baldur’s Gate 3.

This combination of indecision and an unwillingness to be unsociable has stopped my Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough dead in the water, and now I’m worried I won’t ever finish. I’ve dropped plenty of games after a similar number of hours if I’m not enjoying them, but the opposite is true of Larian’s CRPG.

The first act is one of my favourite gaming experiences in years. I love the depth of its mechanics and I’m willing to fight to the death for my party. The stories are great, the decisions are meaningful and the repercussions brutal. I can’t let Baldur’s Gate 3 become another game on my unfinished pile. This is purported to be the game of a generation, so why can’t I find the motivation to play on?

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