As PC Gamer is wont to do, we've been posting a lot about how our device of choice has won the console war. I would like to unilaterally, with authority that I do not have (and have not asked for), state that we've lost. Catastrophically, because the PlayStation 5 has randomly received Patch 8 of Baldur's Gate 3 early and I'm volcanic with jealousy.
The only saving grace is that it's not, er, actually supposed to be this way. In an announcement made to the Baldur's Gate 3 Discord, a senior community manager by the name of Salo writes: "No, the Patch 8 stress test hasn’t yet begun. Yes, PS5 players do currently have access to Patch 8."
This seems corroborated by, well, the internet—here's one player who's downloading it, here's another. Here's a PS5 player on the Discord server realising that they had, in fact, downloaded Patch 8 of the game with a: "Hexblade is new, right? Because that means that update 8 is in fact, out right now."
This has Larian, broadly-speaking, on high alert—Larian's Tumblr account (yes, it's official, no, I don't know why it's called John Larian and why the header image is like that) also shared what appears to be a Slack message titled: "Hello! Welcome to the patch-8-is-on-ps5-for-some-reason-help-help-ahhh task group."
I should note that, if you do happen to be on PS5, you probably shouldn't go gung ho on your saves just yet. While Patch 8 might be out, it hasn't been stress tested yet, which means it's probably not exactly ready. This is a warning that Larian itself echoes:
"While we work with our partners to understand what’s going on, please note that any new saves made while on Patch 8 will not be compatible with Patch 7," before asking: "How's your Monday going?" It's going okay, Larian, thanks. I'm just thinking about where I'd put my hexblade in my party comp—if I had one. I'm not seething or coping, honest.
In all truth, I'm not convinced this state of affairs will last too long—it might, however, be a solid hint that Patch 8 is soaring through the pipeline and may very well be in our laps soon. Alternatively, PS5 players are presently downloading a glitchy, horrifying mess. Either way, I'll update this article when Larian's done putting out its fires and has an explanation.
