The latest major patch for Baldur’s Gate 3 has officially arrived via Patch Five, and this massive patch offers easily the most free additional content of any BG3 patch so far, plus a handful of significant fixes and improvements.
The main highlights are the major additions of new end-game content, via a new epilogue meant to provide closure, an even more daunting difficulty mode, and a chance to hone your DM chops with a completely customizable experience.
The complete Patch Five notes on the Baldur’s Gate 3 website are so lengthy they can’t even fit on the game’s Steam page, which isn’t the first time this has happened. But if you want just the must-know information, here’s our summary.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch Five patch notes
New Epilogue section
One of the biggest pieces of originally cut content is finally making its full release with the launch of Patch Five, the epilogue. A major talking point amongst players who finished all three acts was the feeling that the third felt rushed, and the devs believe this epilogue will provide a great deal of closure and satisfaction.
The epilogue takes the form of Withers’ Epilogue Party, which takes place six months after the end of the game’s story, and it will serve as “the culmination of every choice and consequence that you’ve made since the very start of your adventure.” To access the epilogue, players will have to load up the game before the final fight, meaning you’ll need to complete said fight again.
Honor Mode
After rolling credits following the epilogue, a new challenge awaits those who truly wish to be tested. Patch Five will introduce a new difficulty called Honor Mode, which makes the already devastatingly hard Tactician Mode even more difficult.
Honor Mode “ups the intensity” of Tactician Mode and adds 30 new “tweaks” to all of the game’s boss-fights. A new “Legendary Action” system has also been added, allowing bosses to perform new actions that should catch players off guard. And the cherry on top? One single save file. For the truly elite roleplayers, completing the game on Honor Mode will award you the beautiful Golden D20.
Custom Mode
Custom Mode is a dungeonmaster’s dream, allowing players to completely customize their experience to create gameplay similar to a traditional tabletop experience. There are a plethora of options to tinker with:
- Enemy aggression levels
- Multipliers and modifiers for camp costs, trader prices, and proficiency bonuses
- Hiding enemy HP, roll-to-succeed dice checks, or perception checks
Bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements
There are a large amount of bug fixes and improvements in Patch Five, but here are the ones that stood out:
- Dynamic resolution for PS5
- Performance improvements, most notably in Act Three
- Access to companion inventories that aren’t in your active party while you’re in camp
- Korean language added
- “Improved the physics of characters and walls to prevent NPCs being able to shoot through ceilings inside houses”
The full patch notes for Patch Five can be found on the BG3 website.
