27 November 2023 , 18:00
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2023’s most celebrated RPG is set to get even better very soon, as Larian has teased more technical improvements ahead of the official patch notes dropping.
Another week, another Baldur’s Gate 3 patch it seems. But while on the surface this might make it seem like Larian Studios’ GOTY candidate is in a right mess, if anything the opposite is true. In fact, each update continues to offer small but significant nips and tucks to make an already great fantasy RPG even better. Unsurprisingly, then, Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 5 looks to introduce several more crucial changes, which we now know will arrive on PC and PS5 sometime later this week.
Larian Studios itself confirmed as such in a tweet from its official Twitter account. It also revealed that the next batch of Baldur’s Gate 3 patch notes will be targeted at addressing a rather major issue rolled out as part of Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 4, namely “the eternally-active acts of thefts & violence causing slowdowns”. Obviously it’s hard to stay immersed on an epic adventure with your party of heroes if the slowdowns and framerate dips occur, so it’s good to see this addressed.
Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 4 made over 1,000 other changes, too, bringing with it a colourblind mode and the ability to customise the appearance of your hirelings. It’s unclear at present if patch 5 will make changes anywhere near as sweeping, although in a follow-up tweet, the studio said "There’s a lot coming with Patch 5". Larian Studios is yet to release the full list of Baldur's Gate 3 patch notes, of course, which won't be published until patch 5 starts to roll out.
From a rose
So far, the only other major change Larian has teased will be coming as part of patch 5 is a fix to Astarion’s “little kisses”, which could make romancing Baldur’s Gate 3’s vampire companion pretty awkward during intimate moments. Previously there’d be times where touching lips with him could look quite janky, but this should no longer be the case before the end of this week.
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We’ll need to read the full list of patch notes for Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 5 to what other big changes and fixes (if any) are coming to the game. Many players will no doubt be hoping that the long-rumoured Honour mode will be added soon, after sleuths on Reddit dug up evidence of its existence after a leaked achievement popped up on GOG.
Xbox Series X|S owners, meanwhile, still find themselves left without the ability to play Baldur’s Gate 3 at all. Luckily, all signs point towards there being an official Xbox release announcement made before the end of the year; potentially to coincide with the game’s physical edition launch at the start of 2024 – a fact already confirmed by Larian. If this is the case, Xbox players can look forward to playing an incredibly polished experience, thanks to improvements made in updates like patch 5.