Baldur’s Gate 3 players seeking a way to keep enjoying the game without picking up a controller have a new option designed just for them. The Official Baldur’s Gate 3 Coloring Book, out Aug. 11 from Ten Speed Press, features 80 pages of everyone’s favorite tadpole-infected companions — along with detailed depictions of landmarks across the world of Faerûn, from the Underdark to the city of Baldur’s Gate and beyond.
According to the book’s illustrator, Jaki King, there’s hidden lore scattered throughout. In a recent Reddit post and video, she revealed that the pages she drew contain references specific enough that many players, even those who have finished Baldur’s Gate 3 several times, will need some help finding them.
So she offered that help…and, in doing so, quickly showed that yes, the references she’s included through these pages are indeed on a level I wasn’t expecting (and am delighted to see). On a page featuring Raphael, a devil who offers the player a Faustian bargain, he appears poised over a game of chess. Look closely and draw on the detailed knowledge of chess history that you certainly have, you’ll see that King arranged the board in a famous chess position. Specifically, it’s move 18 of The Immortal Game, a legendary 1851 match built on a string of increasingly reckless sacrifices — one player gives up a bishop, both rooks, and eventually his queen — en route to a checkmate delivered with almost nothing left on the board. “It felt fitting,” said King, “given how much a Tav or Durge has to sacrifice to beat the game.”
Floored? I was, too. The joy of discovering countless cleverly hidden callbacks awaits Baldur’s Gate 3 players who purchase the coloring book. As King flipped through the pages, she handed out a few more hints to get eagle-eyed readers started:
- In art featuring the Goblin Camp leader, there are two small spiders tucked into the background art. These represent the giant spiders players can free, talk to, and team up with during the camp encounter.
- On the page with Grym, the geometric pattern behind the massive mechanical boss is pulled directly from the forge room’s floor. The lava texture underlying the main art is a nod to the strategy a player employs to fight him.
- In an illustration of the Arcane Tower page, the framing patterns behind Bernard (an arcane automaton) mimic the design of the moving elevator platform players have to activate in order to reach him.
- Alongside Minsc and Boo’s portrait, the cracked stonework came from a tracing of the actual floor plan of the room where dedicated players can track down the characters (a ranger-berserker and alleged space hamster).
- On the page featuring the Iron Throne, the gnome front and center isn’t a background filler character. It’s actually Obelia Toobin, the gnome players are tasked with saving during the “Save the Gondians” questline.
In response to King’s video, one commenter asked how anyone was supposed to catch that chess reference. King replied that she only knew it because she’d included it. And she clearly loves Baldur’s Gate 3.
The coloring book, one of a lineup of Baldur’s Gate 3 books releasing this year, is out now. You can find it at major retailers including Target, Walmart, and Amazon. At under $20, it’s a low-stakes way to revisit the game’s world in detail…especially if you’ve replayed Baldur’s Gate 3 enough times that you feel like you know the overworld in Act 1 like the back of your hand. Turns out, you may be pleasantly surprised by the details you miss.