Just when you thought they were finished, Larian Studios gives players another reason to return to the Forgotten Realms. The developer behind 2023’s game of the year is not only gearing up for Baldur’s Gate 3’s biggest update yet, it announced that it isn’t walking away from the role-playing magnum opus after the next patch as originally promised.
Patch 7 for Baldur’s Gate 3 is still slated to release this September, a year after it first launched on console, according to a blog post published on the game’s Steam page Tuesday. The work going into what might be the penultimate update showcases Larian’s exceptional approach to extending the life of their groundbreaking game through substantial, and more importantly totally free updates. All these improvements and additions are being layered onto a game that launched as a premium package with hundreds of hours of gameplay worth experiencing.
The headlining feature of the next update is the introduction of official modding toolkits for the community and content creators. While Baldur’s Gate 3 already has its fair share of mods readily available online, official mod support means direct downloads and the potential to bring user content to console. So no matter where you’re playing, Baldur’s Gate 3 is somehow getting even more replayable than it was at launch.
Mod support is a much-anticipated feature for the game, but it won’t be the only meaningful one. Larian is making major improvements to the game’s couch co-op mode. Players will now have the option to have a split-screen appear dynamically when characters separate, and merge into a single screen when near one another. The change will apply both in and out of combat, making for a much more seamless experience.
For those looking to make their third or fourth playthrough a bit more difficult, Patch 7 will give even more bosses, including the grotesque surgeon Malus Thorm and acolyte for the Cult Of The Absolute Dror Ragzlin new Legendary actions. These actions, which only appear in the game’s Honor difficulty mode, will make fights even tougher.
And of course, no Baldur’s Gate 3 patch would be complete without some additional endings. Players who run through the game with a Dark Urge origin character will now have expanded endings and cutscenes to unlock that will surely make these sinister players devilishly happy.
Larian has previously announced that Patch 7 would be the last Baldur’s Gate 3 update before moving on to whatever’s next for the award-winning team. But that no longer is the case, according to Tuesday’s post.
“The journey isn’t over yet,” the team wrote. “We still have a few things up our sleeve - including many community-requested features like crossplay and a photo mode to capture and share your unforgettable moments.”
The studio says it’s also “working on a host of other enhancements, from gameplay tweaks and quality-of-life improvements to bug fixes and performance optimizations,” meaning the end of Baldur’s Gate 3 support may no longer be in sight.
Whether you’re a dedicated player of the definitive Dungeons and Dragons experience in gaming, or a returning player looking to finally confront the Absolute, the next few months are going to be an exciting time for fans of Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s a glorious send-off for the game before Larian begins work on their next project. While details on Larian’s next game are slim, we know that whatever their next game is won’t be related to the Baldur’s Gate franchise at all.
