Well folks,
This is it. Our final major game patch for Baldur’s Gate 3.
You’ve helped us make BG3 a bigger success than any of us could’ve ever hoped for, and that passion could keep us tweaking things and making changes until the end of time. But then we’d never be able to create something new.
Outside of minor bug fixing, Patch 8 will be the last game patch to introduce new content. That means we won’t be adding any new narrative content or significant changes to storylines, Origin characters, or companions. We’ve told our stories the way we needed to tell them, and tried our best to make them impactful and engaging, and we’re continuing to get better at handling our own chaos so that we can continue to create more chaos in the future.
From the start, your feedback has been incredibly important to us, and will continue to shape our future projects. As Swen said during the Baldur’s Gate 3 retrospective panel at PAX West in August of last year, it’s time for the team to go back to our cave and hang the armour on the wall while we focus on bringing you our next project.
If you’re already feeling nostalgic, you can click here to watch our last Baldur’s Gate 3 panel, where we looked back on Baldur’s Gate 3, from early access through to release, and answered some of your questions.
From patching in a way to change your appearance with the Magic Mirror, introducing Honour Mode for those of you looking for a hard time, and giving you new ways to make out with your romanced companion, to new cinematics for your most evil runs, and handing you the tools to create your own supported mods, Patch 8 now rounds off with cross-play, Photo Mode, and 12 new subclasses for you to enjoy.
To help us close the door on our last major patch, the party are back with their final animated short in collaboration with Spud Gun Studios - with a special appearance by the man in metal himself: Swen in his animated debut!
Patch 8 Now let’s talk about what's new with our final patch!
Cross-Play Players on PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 will now all be able to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer, with full cross-platform progression and cross-play.
Using the Larian Network, you can now join and create cross-play lobbies to take on your adventures together.
Cross-Play & Mods You’ll be able to continue to enjoy creating chaos with mods in cross-play, but it’s important to note that all players joining the lobby must have the same version of mods installed. When joining a host’s game, you’ll be prompted with the Mod Verification window to enable, upgrade, downgrade, or install any missing mods.
If you are a PC player creating a cross-play lobby, keep in mind you can use the “Available on Console & Mac” tag to browse mods that will be compatible with consoles and Mac, and that the mod limit on consoles is 100. Third-party mods cannot be used on consoles.
Using Cross-Play How to join another player in multiplayer via cross-play:
On the main menu, select “Multiplayer”.
Select the “Cross-Play” tab.
Join the other player’s lobby.
If you or the host are using mods and there are any discrepancies, the Mod Verification window will open to inform you of which mods need installing, uninstalling, or updating.
How to create a cross-play multiplayer lobby:
Access multiplayer.
Select “Cross-Play”.
Select “Create”.
Customise your options and select “Launch”.
Get started with cross-play by following our video guide!
Photo Mode Position and pose your party, play around with camera settings, and whack a few stickers on there. Photo Mode is now yours to explore with Patch 8!
Getting Started To test out Photo Mode, toggle it on or off by pressing down on both analog sticks if on console, or by pressing F9 if on PC. You can also enable Photo Mode by clicking on the Photo Mode icon on the HUD minimap.
Exploring Camera Settings When you’re adventuring with your party, you’ll be able to alter their positioning and try different facial expressions and poses, while making the most of the camera, lens, and scene settings, even during combat encounters.
While you won’t be able to change the position of your party or camera angle during dialogues and cinematic scenes, you will still be able to enjoy a range of post-processing effects, including colour-grading settings, frames, and stickers.
Photo Mode & Modding Speaking of stickers, Photo Mode already includes more than 300 stickers, but keen modders out there will be able to create and upload their own via the BG3 Toolkit!
Finding Your Screenshots Capture your favourite moments forever and find them saved in your respective media galleries for Xbox and PlayStation, and in C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\Screenshots for PC, or ~/Pictures/Larian Studios/Baldur's Gate 3/Screenshots for Mac.
We know budding photographers will already be plotting the ways in which you can take photos of your companions in compromising positions, so if you’re looking for some tips and tricks to get started using Photo Mode, check out the video below!
New Subclasses One new subclass for each playable class is now available, featuring new abilities, animations, VFX, unique summons, powerful cantrips, and voiced dialogue for the Oathbreaker Knight for those playing as the Oath of the Crown Paladin subclass!
Packed with new ways for you to play, whether you want to roleplay the God of Thunder by using Elemental Cleaver, imbuing your Path of the Giant Barbarian’s hammer with shocking damage and flinging it out for it to come back to you, or as a drunken monk, with truly homebrewed abilities that will enhance your next playthrough, there’s surely a subclass for you!
- Path of the Giant Barbarian
- College of Glamour Bard
- Death Domain Cleric
- Circle of Stars Druid
- Arcane Archer Fighter
- Way of the Drunken Master Monk
- Oath of the Crown Paladin
- Swarmkeeper Ranger
- Swashbuckler Rogue
- Shadow Magic Sorcerer
- Hexblade Warlock
- Bladesinging Wizard
Unlocking The New Subclasses - Each new subclass can be selected once you have reached the level required to unlock it. This varies depending on your chosen class. Check out the table below to see when subclass selection becomes available for each class!
Level 1 Cleric, Sorcerer, Paladin, Warlock
Level 2 Druid, Wizard
Level 3 Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue
Larian: Channel From Hell For a more detailed breakdown of each subclass and to help you settle into Patch 8, check out the videos in the below playlist. While this might be our final major patch, it’s certainly not the last time you’re going to hear from us! Tune into
Twitch tomorrow to watch our first live stream hosted by Aoife Wilson, featuring a guest appearance from Senior Systems Designer, Ross Stephens, where we’ll be taking a closer look at Patch 8, including the new subclasses!
There will be more to come as we welcome you behind the scenes of Baldur’s Gate 3, sharing some secrets and introducing the developers who helped make it, with a new stream every Wednesday from 1pm UTC. Hopefully that’ll keep you occupied until we can reveal what comes next… we promise we’ll share more on that when we can.