50 copies of Baldur's Gate up for grabs

Baldur's Gate

Not only did Good Old Games recently come back from the fake-dead, they dragged Baldur's Gate back with them. GOG aren't the only masters of the dark arts around here: we've managed to conjure up 50 keys for BioWare's RPG classic. All you have to do to win one is post in the comments below. Read on for details.

Baldur's Gate is an epic fantasy RPG tale in which you and a party of warriors set out to explore the Sword Coast, seeking the cause of a local iron shortage. This soon spirals into an epic plot involving secret societies, conspiracies and the God of Murder. He's a bit of a bastard. The complex levelling systems are based on an old version of D&D, and keeping your party happy is half the battle. Each character has their own concept of right and wrong. and your every action will affect their opinion of you. Do something outrageous and you can end up fighting your own friends.

Let's set one thing straight, though. The hero of Baldur's Gate isn't you, or your powerful, wizardy mentor, Gorion. The hero is a seven foot tall mentally ill Ranger called Minsc, who takes advice from a "miniature giant space hamster" called Boo. Once you've witnessed Minsc charging into battle, commanding his beloved rodent to "go for the eyes, Boo!" it's hard to leave him out of the party. It's never clear whether or not Minsc is mad or Boo is, in fact, a giant miniature space hamster with powers beyond our mortal understanding.

This is where you come in. We want you to come up with your own Boo. Invent a faithful familiar you'd take with you on your adventures. To win a copy of Baldur's Gate post in the comments below with your animal's name, what type of creature it is and one special ability. Make us laugh and you could find yourself the proud owner of a brand new copy of Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga, which includes the expansion Tales of the Sword Coast, and a host of other digital goodies including the soundtrack and a ton of art from the game.

Good luck!

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.