Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting a game-changing update later this year

By Tomas Franzese Published June 3, 2024

A character speaks in Baldur's Gate 3 — Larian Studios

Baldur’s Gate 3 will finally get official modding support this September when Larian Studios releases Patch 7.

The developer confirmed this news in its latest community update on the Steam page for Baldur’s Gate 3. Although this patch is a few months out, Larian announced it early because it wants to beta test what it’s calling the “Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit” prior to a wide release. It’s inviting popular modders to test out the toolkit this month and will hold a bigger closed beta that supports 1,000 players in July.

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An FAQ in the post reveals even more details about what the mods will entail. Larian is using Mod.io as the platform for its toolkit, meaning players will eventually be able to download mods on PC and console. The studio encourages modders to make new weapons, armor, classes, subclasses, spells, and dice skins for the game, although it admits that cross-platform support won’t be possible for mods that try to direct edit levels, cinematics, dialogue, or quests. Thankfully, Larian says it will continue to allow mods not made with this official toolkit, as well as mods that break those rules to be published on other modding platforms.

Ultimately, Larian says it is making an official Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit for modders to “improve compatibility and give us the opportunity to ensure they’ll work wherever you’re playing Baldur’s Gate 3″ for mods. Larian reiterated that more updates are on the way for the Dungeons & Dragons RPG as well, including a photo mode and cross-play.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Official mod support will be enabled for Windows players first via Patch 7 this September before coming to Mac, PlayStation, and Xbox.

A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

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Gaming

Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t getting DLC or a sequel from Larian, and that’s OK

Shadowheart post-launch outfit in Baldur's Gate 3.

Baldur's Gate 3 game director Swen Vincke shocked fans of the Dungeons & Dragons RPG when he revealed that the critically acclaimed game would not get any expansions and that Larian Studios would not go right into making Baldur's Gate 4. Considering how much of a runaway success Baldur's Gate 3 has been, it seemed like that would be the most logical continuation of things. Larian isn't the only studio to leave behind a wildly successful game either; Nintendo has confirmed The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom also won't get any expansions.

Those might seem like baffling decisions, both from a business perspective and from the point of view of an eager player who just wants more of a thing they love. But they become a lot more understandable when you learn to view these games as complete works, appreciate the post-launch support that has happened for a game like Baldur's Gate 3, and turn that excitement toward whatever is coming next from these developers.
A complete work
Vincke explained to IGN that Larian had actually started to do some preliminary work on Baldur's Gate 3 DLC but that the constraints of working within D&D 5th edition meant that work "wasn't really coming from the heart" and that the team's passion lied with two other projects Larian wanted to make. As a result, leadership at Larian made the decision not to work on a massive expansion or sequel to Baldur's Gate 3 for the time being, and Vincke claims the studio was "elated" by that decision. Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma offered a similar sentiment when he revealed Tears of the Kingdom wasn't getting DLC, explaining that "we feel like we have already fully explored and exhausted the gameplay possibilities in this world" and that "the next [Zelda] game will offer a completely new experience."

Gaming

All companions in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how to get them

Wyll with horns dancing.

There's a lot to see in Baldur's Gate 3, but you're not going to get far without a few good companions by your side. Thankfully, you'll stumble upon a wide assortment of NPCs that'd love nothing more than to accompany you on your journey. These friendly faces fill several different roles -- from mages and healers to archers and warriors, there's bound to be a companion that augments your playstyle.

Many of these companions also come with their own series of quests and unlockable skills, turning them into more than just faceless characters to help you in combat. In fact, you can spend hours unraveling their narratives, and depending on your actions, your companions might look very different at the end of Baldur's Gate 3 than when you first met them.

Gaming

The long, winding road to Baldur’s Gate 3 was paved with these Larian games

Divine Divinity (2002) gameplay

A career-crowning achievement as monumental as Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't come out of nowhere. From Divinity to Dungeons & Dragons, Larian Studios has long been one of the loudest advocates for rich storytelling and true, meaningful freedom in Western RPGs.

Larian Studios' story is a rags-to-riches tale about a group of passionate developers whose deep and diverse portfolio of games piled up for nearly three decades before Baldur's Gate 3 ever saw the light of day. Amid canceled projects, Larian narrowly skirted total bankruptcy. In order to survive, there are several points in its history when the independent studio experimented. There were dives into real-time strategy, educational games for the Belgian kids' TV station Ketnet, the Diablo-esque Divine Divinity, and Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, a third-person action RPG built on Bethesda’s Gamebryo engine.