The Impossible Dream: Why Baldur's Gate 4 is a Narrative Nightmare in 2026

As I gaze upon the legacy of Baldur's Gate 3 in the year 2026, a game that still dominates my waking thoughts, I'm faced with a terrifying, earth-shattering truth: crafting a direct sequel is a task more impossible than convincing a Mind Flayer to become a vegan! The sheer, overwhelming, glorious freedom that made BG3 the undisputed king of role-playing games has, in a cruel twist of fate, become the very anchor that could sink any potential Baldur's Gate 4. It's a paradox so profound it makes my head spin faster than a Beholder's central eye! 😵

Baldur’s Gate 4 Can’t Possibly Work With Every Single BG3 Ending!

A Multiverse of Outcomes Leads To No Official Conclusion To Follow

Let's be brutally honest—the endings of Baldur's Gate 3 are more numerous than the stars in the Astral Plane! We're talking about a veritable explosion of narrative possibilities. Did you lead a crusade of righteousness that would make Tyr blush? Or perhaps you embraced the Absolute's power and plunged the Sword Coast into an era of delicious, tyrannical darkness? Maybe you just told everyone to shove off and sailed into the sunset with your vampire boyfriend. Evil, good, and neutral endings are all possible, with a plethora of unique, deeply personal paths that are etched into the very soul of your save file.

The catastrophic problem for any sequel is this: no ending is established as "canon" for any characters. From Astarion's tragic (or triumphant) ascension to the Dark Urge's... well, urges, every choice is valid. I've scoured the realms, and I've found that none of these conclusions are considered the "official" one. An imaginary Baldur's Gate 4 that dares to follow this story would have to perform narrative acrobatics worthy of a circus in Waterdeep! It would need to reconcile countless divergent plot threads. For instance:

• Did Shadowheart embrace Shar's cold embrace or find solace in Selûne's light?

• Did Astarion become an all-powerful Ascended Vampire Lord, or did he find a fragile, sunlit peace?

• Is Karlach burning in Avernus, or did you find a miraculous, heart-wrenching solution?

These aren't minor quibbles; they are foundational world-states! At least one ending needs to be brutally marked as canon to have any sequel continue the story, but doing so would be like throwing a Fireball into a room full of your most devoted fans. Even picking a "neutral" path as the official one would utterly invalidate the profound, emotional impact of the ending I personally fought tooth and nail to achieve!

A Baldur’s Gate 4 Time Skip Would Be a Catastrophic Cop-Out!

Building a New Era From Scratch Means Losing Everything We Love

"Ah-ha!" I hear you cry. "Just set BG4 a hundred years in the future or the past! Problem solved!" Oh, you sweet, summer child. This so-called solution is a trap more deadly than a Beholder's lair!

One possible solution for a potential BG4 is to have it take place far in the past or future, theoretically making the "canon" ending irrelevant. But this creates a void, a soulless chasm! Oftentimes, the heart of a sequel depends on the rich, intimate details from the past to give it life and meaning. By leaping ahead, you sever the immediate, emotional tether that ropes in fans who lived and breathed the events of BG3. Players like me, who want to walk the streets of a rebuilt Baldur's Gate and hear whispers of the legendary Tav or their companions, would be left with nothing but cold, distant echoes.

Furthermore, building a whole new era in the Forgotten Realms is a Herculean task. Any distanced story requires monumental effort, and any setting in the future would still be shackled to an established BG3 ending. Do the Githyanki rule? Is the Cult of the Absolute a forgotten myth or a dominant religion? Wizards of the Coast would never allow a single video game's branching outcome to definitively shape the core history of such a pivotal Dungeons & Dragons location. The timeline would be a mess!

The Best BG3 Follow-Ups Would Have to Abandon Baldur's Gate Entirely!

An Indirect Story Might Be The Only Viable Path Forward

After countless sleepless nights pondering this conundrum, I've reached a heartbreaking, yet inevitable conclusion. The only way to avoid the messy, impossible canon of BG3 is to bravely, utterly avoid its core narrative in a follow-up.

Think about it. Having a prequel or a title set far apart from the Sword Coast might be the only sane direction. But here's the kicker—doing so might mean a game called Baldur's Gate 4 has almost nothing to do with the city of Baldur's Gate! The irony is thicker than a dwarf's skull. Indirect connections might rob a future Baldur's Gate game of its geographical identity, but it flings open the doors to uncharted, exhilarating possibilities.

A truly great successor title in 2026 wouldn't be BG4 at all. It could be a magnificent, standalone adventure set in another iconic Dungeons and Dragons realm. Imagine the possibilities:

Potential Setting	Unique Opportunities
Neverwinter	Political intrigue, the legacy of Nasher, and threats from Mount Hotenow!
The Jungles of Chult	Tomb-raiding, dinosaur-riding, survival-horror adventures!
Greyhawk	A return to classic, gritty, sword-and-sorcery roots!
Dragonlance	Epic wars, draconic lore, and the conflict between Paladine and Takhisis!

Yes, it's a bitter potion to swallow, abandoning the stories and characters that made BG3 a masterpiece for the ages. But perhaps the staggering, beautiful flexibility of that game's narrative is a gift that should remain singular, untouched, and perfect in its own multiverse of possibilities. For Baldur's Gate 4 (or whatever it's called) to have any hope of being another legendary RPG, it may need to cut the cord with Baldur's Gate 3 entirely. It must venture into the unknown to forge its own legend, lest it be forever consumed by the shadow of a story that was, by design, meant to end in a thousand different ways. The future is not in a direct continuation, but in a bold new beginning elsewhere in the vast, wondrous tapestry of Dungeons & Dragons. 🐉✨