Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is a slightly improved version of the classic (1998) RPG, which is based on a Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. There's the original Sword Coast expansion included, as well as a brand new expansion Siege of Dragonspear which drastically extends the already huge game.
You control a party of up to 6, with each character having a defined class, weapon proficiencies, moral alignment, then attributes like Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma. You can create whatever character you want, then your party members join as you find them along your journey. 3 are available within moments of leaving the start location, with 2 more being available shortly after. You don't have to recruit them, and can switch them out when you discover other characters. There are plenty of characters to find, and a few new ones for the enhanced edition. One thing to bear in mind is that some characters are friends so will leave together if you remove them. Some join your party on the condition you help them, and will leave after a few days if you haven't.
Classes are limited by the character race, and classes have different bonuses. There's some more complex mechanics like "dual class" and "multiclass" if you want to mix up the styles.
You need a balanced party since some areas have traps which require a thief to detect and remove. There's plenty of locked chests, and even locked doors which allows you to find more quests and items. The thief can "hide in shadows" and explore the map without being attacked (if successful of course), and has the ability of a "backstab" for triple damage. Having a magic user can make a huge difference when they can add buffs, or area of effect attacks. Many spells like Confusion and Charm last way too long which means you will lose loads of health or a party member if a mage hits you with these. There’s loads of similar spells as well which end up having similar results like Sleep, Paralyse and Hold.
Levelling up is really slow, and mainly doesn't give you a choice of improvement (sometimes you can add a new proficiency, or choose which thief skills to improve). You are told about the HP increase, any additional skills, or increase resistances/chance to hit etc.
The isometric view and controls are like a strategy game. You click individual characters, click and drag to multiselect. Hotkeys are available too with numbers 1 to 6 selecting individuals, and 0 selecting all. You click to issue move and attack commands. Can click through menus for special abilities. You right-click the character's portrait to manage inventory. The “real-time with pause” mechanic means you can pause to dish out commands, then unpause to see them carry out the actions. The characters have repetitive quips when you command them, but you can reduce the frequency in the options.
You can zoom the camera in and out to get a better view, but it does look very pixely when you zoom all the way down. I think the perspective makes it highly playable today.
There's a brilliant sense of exploration - you are always intrigued by what is waiting to be discovered. The map starts off covered in black to show where you haven't explored, with "fog of war" then hiding what your characters cannot see. The outside maps are represented with a large square, but then buildings and caves have different sizes, configurations and can have multiple floors. There's lots of looting from defeated enemies, chests, or other household items such as bookcases and tables. When items are on the ground, there is an "autoloot" feature which merely puts all items in range in another menu so you don't have to tediously click individual bodies to loot them.
Each character has a limited amount of slots to carry, and is also limited by weight which is based on their strength. You will be spending a long time in the menus, moving items about to maximise your carry capacity.
It’s a bit unclear how good the equipment is. You generally see high scores as if it is better but then the "To Hit Armour Class 0" (THAC0) needs to be lower. So some items are unclear if it is making you easier to hit, or makes it easier to hit your enemies.
Magic items are often shown with a blue background and need to be identified. If you have a character with high lore, they may be able to identify the item automatically, otherwise you need to use an Identify spell or pay 100 gold to a vendor. Attempting to sell an unidentified item just gives you a 1 gold price. Some items are cursed which often have negative effects and have low/no resale value.
The general combat is slow as you are watching your characters constantly miss. Smaller enemies can easily kill your characters, and it's costly to revive or heal them. Later on when you become stronger, your items and wealth will drastically increase. What this means is that the start of the game is really difficult and you will need to specifically look for side-quests to get that extra XP. Certain "boss" characters during the early story quests are almost impossible to defeat, but when you level up, going from 10 HP to say 16 HP makes a huge difference. If your character dies, then you have to reload. Other characters are allowed to die, and sometimes can be revived at the church (the exception is if they are totally "gibbed" on death). There's many difficulty levels to choose from, but the standard difficulty is incredibly difficult, and often relying on cheesing the game mechanics to progress.
Wands are very powerful but can be pricey to buy. These really help you get through the tougher battles. It is easy to reload and aim a nice fireball where you know there’s a crowd of enemies for a free hit. The electric wand can be very deadly, even to yourself because it bounces off walls. With that particular wand, you have to have a visible target which means the enemy will start to charge at you, meaning it can be trial and error to use it effectively. The “Wand Of Fear” is also great for dealing with crowds which causes them to move about randomly without attacking.
Another infuriating spell/effect is Petrify from Basilisks. You need the immunity from a scroll or potion, or alternatively, use the spell to return your character from stone. There is one part of the story where you have to pass through a cave with Basilisks guarding the only exit.
You need to rest to restore spells and fatigue, and small amounts of HP. You can rest in the wild but may get attacked. Inside towns, you can pay a few gold to rest at an inn which is always safe. At lower levels, magic users will only have a couple of spell slots, which means you will be resting frequently if you need these spells.
There is a button to highlight interactable chests/doors/barrels etc and put names above everyone's heads so you can easily locate quest-givers from general NPCs that are merely there to bring life to the towns. There are loads of NPCs populating the towns, and the occasional one to find in the wild. Some people will approach you, others you have to approach them. By talking to people, sometimes gain side-quests, other times just information. The character at the top does the talking, so move the highest charisma character there. The dialogue is often multiple choice with some dialogue presumably hidden if your charisma is low.
Despite the game’s flaws: mainly the harsh difficulty which leads to trial-and-error, or exploiting the mechanics; the game is highly addictive and a grand adventure which is fun to explore.
I played the original game, probably around 2003 but couldn’t get past the final chapter. Replaying this game was nostalgic, and was good to finally complete it. Including the extra Siege of Dragonspear expansion, it ended up taking me 68 hours.