I played this early in life and it's one of my first RPG experiences, but to be honest it's pretty shallow and gets boring after you've played most of the content. And though there's a wealth of mods, very few really address the core issues. It's defiantly worth a play, but there's a lot of better options now a days. I'd go play Oblivion or Tainted Grail instead personally.
My first open ended fantasy experience was Skyrim. For a while I played it religiously before modding it extensively. Eventually I went on to play new things, but nothing quite captured the same essence. After waiting for a long time I was beginning to lose hope another would be made like it and wished someone wouldn't just copy it, but make an improved version. I thought it was crazy no one had taken the opportunity to target this audience. It turns out making a game like Skyrim isn't so easy. Needless to say this game is intending to do just that. Though not perfect (no game is), I think the devs pretty much nailed it given the limited scope; and it's clear they put in a lot of effort with what is included: a mix of Skyrim, Oblivion, Elden Ring/Souls, Gothic, and probably some games I've never played. Personally I think it all comes together to form something that is worth your time and I wholeheartedly recommend you play it, if you can see past it's inevitable imperfections.
I like most about the game, but it just isn't like the classic games that founded the genre. There are some modern advancements, mixed with lack of QoL and refinement. An example is very slow combat encounters that could require a reload, causing a loss of time upwards of an hour or even more. Writing is pretty high level compared to others in the space, though not without flaw; but where role playing is a concern, it manages to fumble in a few areas. For this I will give another example: In act 1, I convinced a druid to put a teifling child in prison for a short time after she stole an artifact. The teifling then attempted to run and got killed somewhat by accident by the carelessness of the druid and her pet viper. Later at the final stage before heading to act 2, the child's mother attempts to murder the druid for revenge, so I convince her to spare her life—at which point I break my oath as a paladin. This made little sense to me, and I understand the developers wanting to leave out a alignment system to streamline; though I think it was not for the better. The point in an alignment system in the first place was to allow the player some flexibility in choice, while forcing them to favor a more focused playstyle at the same time. In Baldur's Gate 3, all choices a hard set to result in specific consequences. Camp is also a very unsatisfying and simplistic system that offers very little challenge in managing your spells and abilities; and I would like to also point out the romance in the game—as it is quality, it also doesn't feel natural or earned. And unfortunately it is the only thing you really have to do in camp. So in conclusion, I like many parts of the game, but it doesn't really scratch that itch for a Baldur's Gate/Pathfinder/PoE experience. So as a triple A title, it manages a great deal of quality content, but as per usual, it doesn't reach beyond the everyday casual gamer.
To me, Grim Dawn still holds up today. Standing alongside some of the giants like PoE or Last Epoch. Personally, I like those a bit more, but this title still fits my niche of a classic offline single-player option compare to the those others. If I had one criticism, I'd love to have a few more tracks on cycle for the base game. The original music is great for setting tone but gets repetitive quickly. I highly recommend you try it out if you like the genre. And as an aside, I can't wait for the Fangs of Asterkarn so I can finally play the build I've been wanting from the beginning—the werewolf.
