Baldur’s Gate 3 patch five is the game’s biggest to date, and it’s out now
On Thursday, Larian Studios released the biggest update for Baldur’s Gate 3 to date, patch 5. This update fixed several bugs and slow downs in the game previous patches haven’t squashed, but also added new epilogues and modes to the game that.
Arguably the most exciting new feature Baldur’s Gate 3 patch five is adding is a “final goodbye” style epilogue to the game. This sequence takes place six months after the final battle back in your camp. Here, players will be reunited with old friends and party members, getting all the time they need to fully say goodbye. Beyond that, there are also new characters who appear during this epilogue as well, invited by none other than Withers. There are apparently 3,589 new lines just in this epilogue, along with additional cinematics and characters, so there’s plenty more in store for players to check out. This ending content is available to all players who load into the game before the final fight.
Patch five is also introducing two new game modes to Baldur’s Gate 3, Honour Mode and Custom Mode. Honour Mode makes the game more difficult, in and out of combat. It introduces over 30 new tweaks to the game’s boss fights, including the new Legendary Action system, which is “designed to catch players off-guard and increase the challenge,” by allowing bosses to take new actions during battles. This mode also turns off save-scumming (loading previous saves to re-do a battle or event) and has turned off several exploits. When players die during this mode, they’re presented with stats about their journey, including how long they survived and how far they got in the overall campaign. Those who manage to finish the whole game in Honour Mode without dying will be awarded the golden D20.
As its name implies, Custom Mode allows players to decide how they want their journey to go for themselves. You can use this mode to make the game more or less difficult, or toggle options to make it feel more like an in-person Dungeons & Dragons game. Some of these include hiding check numbers when you’re rolling, or enemy HP. Players can also make short rests fully heal the party, hide failed perception checks, or disable death saving throws.