The “Shove” mechanic in Baldur’s Gate 3 can ruin an encounter, and I love it

Enlarge / This is the place where I discovered my love for the "Shove" mechanic. Except I staged this moment after the fact, by reloading one of many saves and reversing the circumstances. (credit: Larian Studios)

I had done a fair amount of optional grinding by my 25th hour of Baldur's Gate 3, My Githyanki warrior, Lae'zel, was leveled and geared up enough to be mostly one-shot-ing any goblins or wildlife that tried her, and quickly incapacitating even bigger threats. I was growing concerned that I was leaning on her a bit too heavily, not exploring the deeper tactical offerings of BG3's combat.

"Ha!" the game retorted. "Ha, ha!" That's what it sounded like to me, anyway. Lae'zel led the charge into the last decrepit corner I had yet to explore inside the goblin camp, eager to take out the third and final leader of the tribe. After ending her turn on a wooden bridge, a nearby goblin boss, Skrut, ran toward her. I wasn't concerned until, a few seconds later, the action log in the lower-right corner delivered the news: "Lae'zel perished in a chasm."

Skrut had leaned into something I had forgotten about since BG3 first introduced it: the Shove action. It was initially suggested as a way to get a character out of your melee range. If you shoved an enemy and it landed a long way down, they may even take damage and end up lying prone and vulnerable. But now I understood why the game showed you the text "Chasm" when you moused over a seemingly endless pit, the kind drawn into many games for pure environment. You can't click to walk your characters into a chasm, but they sure can be pushed into one.