Larian Studios’ journey with Baldur’s Gate 3 began in 2016, with a small team starting work on the game’s design and story. Then, in 2020, the game launched in an early access state on PC before its full release three years later in 2023. Now, it’s known as one of the best RPGs ever made.
Today, the journey has ended in a significant way, with Larian Studios releasing the “final major game patch” for Baldur’s Gate 3, Patch 8, which is now live on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Mac, and PC. This is the final patch Larian will release that includes new content, and every update after this will focus on continued maintenance and bug fixing.
“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,” the studio wrote in a blog post on its website.
“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.“
Beyond the new subclasses, cross-play functionality is one of the more significant features added in Patch 8, and it’ll even work with most mods you might want to use. There are a few hang-ups, though, like the fact that all players will have to have the same version of the mods installed, and PC players squadding up with console players will need to be aware that only mods compatible with consoles will work when trying to use cross-play across PC and console devices.
If you’re having trouble, Larian put together a handy video guide to take you through the process. Larian even put together a video guide to help you learn the ropes with the newly included Photo Mode to apply your photography skills to the world of Baldur’s Gate 3.
You can find the full patch notes here to dig into every adjustment and change in Patch 8.
