Beamdog announces Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear

Last week we reported on the mysterious countdown that appeared on the Baldur’s Gate website, theorizing that it would turn out to be official news on Beamdog’s expansion to the lauded BioWare RPG. Well, speculation proved true as the announcement of over 25 hours of original storyline was made via the Beamblog. Siege of Dragonspear is set to bridge the events of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II, while maintaining the style that has become associated with the franchise.

Following the death of Sarevok, Baldur’s Gate is still in turmoil and under the threat of northern crusades and conscription, a possible new god child appears on the scene in the form of the Shining Lady.

The campaign itself will focus on Dragonspear Castle, “You start off trying to do something right, and it goes a little wrong. And then it goes a little more wrong. And eventually, it’s just this web. I always find those characters much more appealing and much more human. We really wanted to engage with the humanity of your opposition,” Beamdog’s Trent Oster explains.

Siege of Dragonspear brings with it four new characters, as well as favorites suhc as Minsc and Boo, voiced by returning actor Jim Cummings. Oster continues, “when you get Jim excited about stuff, it’s hilarious. Minsc is just so much fun to play with. He’s like a walking caricature – he can just do so much.”

To compensate for leveling issues, Beamdog will be updating Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition to ease the transition and make all three campaigns work together in a smooth way. The new expansion also brings to the table a more user friendly inventory system, tamping down some of the esoteric algebra from earlier incarnations where better armor came in the form of lower numbers, “We really took that idea of, let’s show people the math,” said Oster.

Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear will be coming to Windows, Mac and Linux.