Play Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance Online

Summary

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on Game Boy Advance reimagines the console hack‑and‑slash in a handheld form. While the core trio of races—fighter, wizard and archer—remains, the GBA forces you into a single human male, unlocking an Elven Fighter only after a fresh playthrough. The game drops the cooperative mode; you roam the streets of Baldur’s Gate solo, navigating a more interactive town where NPCs talk, houses can be entered, and breakable barrels yield loot.

Side quests are expanded and you can save at any moment, which is a welcome change for on‑the‑go sessions. Absent are the jump mechanic and recall potions, so traversing dungeons relies purely on ground movement. Despite those compromises, the isometric perspective and real‑time D&D‑3.0 combat retain the spirit of the original, delivering a crunchy, level‑based action‑RPG that feels at home in a pocket device.

Storyline

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on the Game Boy Advance follows three Harpers—Vahn, Adrianna, and Kromlech—who arrive in Baldur's Gate only to be ambushed by thieves of Xantam's Guild. After being rescued by the city watch and clearing the Elfsong Tavern’s cellar, they discover an undead‑infested crypt and destroy the Orb of the Undead. Joined by the Harper Jherek, they kill the guild’s beholder leader Xantam and step through a portal to the Sunset Mountains, where they aid a dwarf mining village oppressed by drow, light a signal fire, and defeat the ice dragon Ciraxis guarding a second portal.

The portal leads to the Marsh of Chelimber, where the lizardfolk Sleyvas warns them about Eldrith the Betrayer and the Onyx Tower. The heroes battle lizardfolk, slay the tribal leader Sess’sth, and enter the tower via the Elemental Plane of Water. Inside they confront the ghost of Captain Keledon, learn Eldrith’s tragic past, and finally defeat her on the tower’s roof, causing the structure to collapse.

With the tower falling, the trio escapes through the last portal into an unknown forest, only to be surrounded by dark creatures, hinting at a new threat.