20 December 2025

Afterlight, the Upcoming Baldur’s Gate 3-Like CRPG?

By newsgame

It wasn’t hard to predict that Baldur’s Gate 3 would galvanize CRPG developers the world over, and Epictellers’ upcoming Starfinder: Afterlight is an early example of this. As Epictellers’ first-ever video game, Starfinder: Afterlight follows a formula that is somewhat similar to the development process of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Unlike Baldur’s Gate 3, however, Starfinder: Afterlight has a decidedly science-fiction tinge. The name may sound familiar to some tabletop RPG fans, as Starfinder is actually a TTRPG released in 2017 by Paizo, the same company behind Pathfinder. But while Pathfinder has received numerous video game adaptations over the years, Afterlight will be the first-ever video game based on the Starfinder mythos. Naturally, hopes are high for Starfinder: Afterlight‘s success, as it promises to offer a unique take on the traditionally high-fantasy CRPG space. Afterlight has raised nearly $1 million USD through Kickstarter, at the time of this writing, blowing far past its initial $88,000 goal and indicating a critical level of audience hype.

What Is Starfinder: Afterlight About?

The Starfinder Roleplaying Game blends science fiction and fantasy to create a world defined by magic and technology. It’s very clearly inspired by a number of blockbuster science-adventure franchises, but its most obvious influence is Guardians of the Galaxy, from which it borrows several designs, tone, and lore elements. Crucially, Starfinder takes place in the same universe as Pathfinder, though in the far future. This continuity manifests in several ways, such as through Pathfinder‘s fantasy races appearing in Starfinder.

In Starfinder, the Pathfinder home planet Golarion has mysteriously vanished in an inexplicable event called The Gap. This is used as worldbuilding context in the TTRPG, but perhaps Starfinder: Afterlight will offer interesting revelations about The Gap.

This combination of D&D-esque fantasy staples and contemporary space opera conventions gives Starfinder quite a novel setting, wherein magic and elves rub up against FTL travel, spacecraft, and blaster pistols. Starfinder: Afterlight‘s actual plot is a little murky at the moment, but it seems to revolve around an encroaching darkness called the Afterlight, which threatens to destroy the galaxy—unless the player and their motley crew can stop it, of course.

Starfinder: Afterlight’s Companions

Companion characters are important in most RPGs, but they’re downright essential in CRPGs, especially those trying to hone in on that TTRPG magic. Like its plot, Starfinder: Afterlight‘s main cast is still somewhat enigmatic, but five out of six of them have been revealed through trailers and the Kickstarter campaign page:

Party Member	Actor	Ancestry	Class & Subclass	Background	Home World
Kole Stryker	Fred Tatasciore	Vesk	Solder (Action Hero)	Trooper	Vesk Prime
Tycho	Inel Tomlinson	Ysoki	Operative (Infiltrator)	Scientist	Akiton
Preach & The Larva	Neil Newbon	Shirren	Mystic (Healing)	Raised by Belief	Castrovel
LU-323	Melissa Medina	Android	Envoy (In the Spotlight)	Corporate Agent	Unknown
Sterling	James Alexander	Human Borai	Solarian	Steward	Verces

Starfinder: Afterlight also has a promising cast, including stars like Neil Newbon (Astarion), who voices Preach, and Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan), who plays the narrator. Newbon has also come aboard the Epictellers’ team as Voice Acting Director, which the studio has described as invaluable.

Will Starfinder: Afterlight Have Romance?

In proper CRPG fashion, Starfinder: Afterlight will indeed have romance options, allowing players to proceed through romantic subplots with each and every party member, “plus some surprises,” according to Epictellers. It’s not entirely clear how these romances will play out—and if they’ll feature the same steamy cutscenes as something like Baldur’s Gate 3—but Epictellers has confirmed its existence, at least.

How Similar Is Starfinder: Afterlight to Baldur’s Gate 3?

Comparing an upcoming CRPG to Baldur’s Gate 3 is easy, but how applicable is it in this case? Well, for one thing, Epictellers has directly cited Baldur’s Gate 3 as an inspiration in the past, but there are design elements that parallel Larian’s seminal RPG as well. There are fundamental commonalities, such as the isometric perspective, but also more feature-specific ones:

A D20-based check system
“Story” and “tactical” difficulties
Optional companion characters
Official mod support

Like Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfinder: Afterlight will feature a turn-based combat system with integrated movement, though it will use the famous three-action system from Pathfinder 2nd Edition—most of Starfinder‘s rules are directly copied from Pathfinder 2e. The three-action system is exactly what it sounds like: during their turn, players can take three actions, whether that combination be three attacks, one movement and two attacks, et cetera. Some actions take more than a single action point, though.

Unfortunately, Epictellers has already confirmed that Starfinder: Afterlight will not have multiplayer.

A lot of TTRPG enthusiasts argue that the three-action system is much better than the Dungeons & Dragons 5e action economy, which is used in Baldur’s Gate 3, so that distinction has promise, at least. At the same time, some Baldur’s Gate 3 fans may be turned off by Starfinder: Afterlight‘s cel-shaded art style and more upbeat, lighthearted tone. The game is still early in development and plans to launch into early access in 2026, so it will be interesting to see how it continues to evolve.