Did you forget about Baldur’s Gate 3? Because Baldur’s Gate 3 did not forget about you. Specifically, it did not forget about the incorrigible evil-doers amongst you who’ve been gunning for some additional plot catharsis. Larian’s very bestest RPG has been biding its time in the shadows while you’ve been busy with other games. It has lingered silently while you go heisting on Tatooine or get messed up by Golden-Eyed Beasts, waiting and waiting for the perfect moment – and now, it has finally struck with an unholy new patch, which adds 13 new Evil Endings, revamped splitscreen and an official modding toolkit. Foolish summer child! It is too late to flee.
We last heard about Patch 7 back in July, in the shape of a blog post that contained no less than 10 mentions of kissing. Subsequently, there was a stern memo about players eating soap. The full changelog eases off on both the soap and the sauce, with just five kisses to unearth and minimal discussion of cleansing products. It also details revisions to the game’s “Show Cinematic Nudity” option, which is now “Show Sexual and Violent Cinematics” and has a more extensive description.
I highlight the Show Sexual And Violent Cinematics setting because you’ll need to disable it if you want to view the aforesaid new evil endings in their entirety. They are, after all, very evil. “This setting does not affect your adventure, your choices, or your access to romance options,” the changelog reassures. “However, it does block sexual content with nudity and particularly violent scenes with gore.”
If you’re playing as a Dark Urge character, the update also makes it possible to add a particular Tiefing bard to your party as a controllable character at camp, given an empty slot. This is very much a “one-night kinda thing”, however. “There are no new companions,” the developers note. “There is only death.” If you were hoping for a surprise deluge of permanent full-time party members, you’ll have to console yourself with new Honour Mode features instead. These include new Legendary Actions – Dror Ragzlin will now be able to befriend pit spiders, while local physician Malus Thorm has a new trick called Grasping Appendage.
And then there’s the official in-game mod manager and accompanying toolkit, available via Steam, which are far too voluminous to summarise. “With this new and supported way to create and install mods, you should see improvements in compatibility and accessibility, and can rest more assured that your supported mods work wherever you’re playing Baldur’s Gate 3, which will include consoles a little down the line,” the devs note.
Patch 7 weighs approximately 11.6GB on PC, and will require 160GB of free space to install – the devs suggest uninstalling and reinstalling the patched version as a single download if you don’t have room.
Larian are still working on crossplay and photo mode, but this will be one of the last significant Baldur’s Gate 3 patches, as the developers bid the Sword Coast goodbye and commence work on no less than two new games. As the patch notes conclude, “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.”
Disclosure: Former RPS deputy editor Adam Smith (RPS in peace) now works at Larian and is the lead writer for Baldur’s Gate 3. Former contributor Emily Gera also works on it.