The highly anticipated Patch 7 forBaldur’s Gate 3is finally live for PC-based fans. While it does include the usual complement of bug fixes and adjustments, there are some major additions as well. These include new endings, multiplayer changes and, perhaps most importantly, the release of Larian’s official modding tools for the game. Since active development for Baldur’s Gate 3 is expected to conclude not too long from now, this last feature will almost certainly be absolutely crucial to the game going forward.
Starting with thenew story content for Baldur’s Gate 3,Patch 7 introduces a brand-new set of evil endings for all playable characters. Previously, playing as a good or evil character didn’t have all that much of an impact on the endings. There were “good” and “bad” endings, but they didn’t reflect upon one’s character’s choices as much as many would have liked, with evil playthroughs getting the shorter end of the stick.
That all changes today though, as thirteen new ending cinematics have been added to show players the full repercussions of their evil deeds. These include unique endings for each Origin character too, so fans need not worry whether there’s enough evil to go around. It seems Larian Studios let a bit more of its own dark side out with these too, as they’ve been included among the content that the newly renamed “Show Sexual and Violent Cinematics" toggle can turn off.
Honour Mode fans will have more legendary actions to contend with than ever before.
As for gameplay features, Baldur’s Gate 3 gets two big updates in this patch. The first is a revamp to split screen multiplayer, which makes the experience a bit more dynamic. Specifically, players’ screens will smoothly merge when their characters come close together and then dynamically split apart again once the characters are far enough apart.
The second is the addition of at leastfivenew legendary actions for boss characters in Honour Mode. These include “Shredding Scales” for the Bulette, “Grasping Appendage” for Malus Thorm, “Soul Sacriface” for Ch’r’ai Tska’an (leader of the githyanki ambush in Act II), “Tu’narath’s Embrace” for Ch’r’ai Har’rak (leader of the githyanki ambush in the Knights of the Shield hideout) and “Ptarian Dogma” for Ptaris. Many existing legendary actions have also been buffed along with other enemies being granted new spells and abilities.
Those who wanted an even more difficult Baldur’s Gate 3 have definitely gotten their wish. An already merciless mode now has the capacity to be downright sadistic.
Last, and probably most importantly, is the arrival of an official mod manager and mod toolkit for Baldur’s Gate 3. The mod manager is pretty much what it sounds like: an in-game way to quickly and easily handle all of one’s mods. This includes a feature that helps players sync up their mods for multiplayer campaigns without all the usual fuss.
The mod manager is pretty much what it sounds like: an in-game way to quickly and easily handle all of one’s mods.
Further, mods made and uploaded via the new toolkit can be browsed and installed from within the game. The toolkit is a separate application that can be downloaded from Steam, and Larian Studios has provided a full breakdown for installing it and getting started inthe official blog post and patch notes,so those interested would do well to give it a thorough read.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox Series X|S and macOS. Currently, Patch 7 is only on PC, but it’s supposed to make it to consoles and Mac in October. Those who aren’t really up to speed as to what it’s all about should verify to check out our review and see if it’s something for them.
Review: Baldur’s Gate III
Baldur’s Gate III is one of those rare games that’s nearly flawless in its execution and should be experienced by every RPG fan.
