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6 years ago, Baldur's Gate 3 first arrived and was completely unrecognizable from its final release. October 6, 2026, 11:00am There have been countless reviews and thousands of hours poured into Baldur's Gate 3, which has been considered one of the best RPGs of the decade, if not of all time. The way this game adapts a D&D framework and gives players the freedom to craft truly unique adventures is astounding, but it was not always the same game players talk about from 2023. The first iterations of BG3 looked quite different than its final, Game of the Year winning version, giving players only a small view of the title it would eventually become. Developer Larian Studios took a lot of time to turn Baldur's Gate 3 into the juggernaut of an RPG that it turned out being, and continued to do so for quite some time after it launched. New character subclasses coming out in future patches combined with additional story changes, extra cutscenes, and even new endings for players to explore post-release. Although Larian will not be a part of anything related to a potential Baldur's Gate 4, the new features they added reflect a willingness to change their games drastically compared to other big development groups. Baldur's Gate 3 launched into Early Access back in 2020 with only Act 1 playable for testing. On October 6, 2020, Baldur's Gate 3 became available for PC players through Early Access, making the game's first story Act playable for everyone to try. After a few closed beta tests at large-scale events, this was the first time the game was put into players' hands officially, opening up playtesting and feedback for Larian Studios to view. The game put out at this time was vastly different from the 2023 version of Baldur's Gate 3, beyond just the existence of Acts 2 & 3 that came out with the later launch. Early Access BG3 was full of different character options, story paths, and even specific mechanics that didn't make it into the final cut of the game. For example, players could Long Rest indefinitely in the first edition of BG3 without any consequences, but patches in the Early Access introduced Camp Supply systems that required players to gather resources to fully restore their party's health and spell slots. At the same time, Larian introduced Karmic Dice later in Early Access, giving players ways to earn more successful rolls without relying completely on random luck from their dice, making an optional feature based on feedback. Some other changes were harder to notice, but the big Early Access refinements that took place over three years had a huge impact. By the time Act 1 was done, it released with 30% more content than when it started, adding new character dialogue, combat encounters, side quests, and other content. On top of UI/UX polish, here are some of the biggest features added to Baldur's Gate 3 during Early Access: * Level Cap raised from Level 4 to Level 5 to allow characters to access better features in Act 1. * Alchemy Crafting systems were added to make collecting ingredients useful beyond just contributing to Camp Supplies. * New Reaction pop-up system to work with certain spells and abilities. * Far more cutscenes throughout different character interactions to make gameplay feel more cinematic. * Extra character customization options for more personalized body types and visual details. * Addition of Half-Orc and Dragonborn racial options with unique abilities. * Addition of the Monk class with unique abilities, resources, and progression features. * Ability to respec class and subclass whenever you like instead of being locked into one option from the start of the game. Character stories & gameplay segments looked far different in Early Access before being changed. However, perhaps the biggest changes from Baldur's Gate 3's Early Access to full release was how it changed the story surrounding origin characters. Important figures like Gale and Wyll were much different in Early Access, with Gale being a far less sympathetic figure and Wyll acting far more cocky and unlikable. The main game fleshes out these characters far more, giving them greater nuance and appealing qualities. Gale and Wyll from Early Access might as well be different characters altogether in some cases, with others like Karlach being non-existent for a time too. Although the end of Early Access gave players the ability to play as origin characters too, it wasn't until the full release that some characters' stories were relevant at all. Karlach was almost a last-minute addition, a strange thing to consider now as she is likely one of the most popular companion characters in Baldur's Gate 3 these days. The same can be said of the Dream Companion, a character you build alongside your own to appear in your head and offer advice throughout the game. The Early Access version of this figure was alternatively called "The Guardian," and was a much more malicious character than their more mysterious version established on release. Player feedback adjusted many elements of Act 1 from Early Access to make it incredibly refined. The Early Access story of BG3 had plenty of pitfalls that got corrected over time, such as a bloated tutorial section on the Nautiloid ship getting trimmed down significantly. Other parts of player feedback influenced what BG3 eventually became, such as having your racial option no longer impact your character's Ability Score stats. The expansion of spells, items, character interactions, and story content were largely based on what fans of the Early Access wanted to see, in addition to general iterations the developers applied. In an era now dominated by mods for this incredible RPG, it's fascinating to remember how different it was when the Early Access first dropped. Although the foundation was there, half of the game's most exciting parts wouldn't have existed without the changes made during the Early Access period. For that alone, Baldur's Gate 3 is a crowing achievement and a testament to how important Early Access can be to a game with as many moving parts as Larian's award winner. What was your favorite part about BG3's Early Access? Let Comicbook know in the comments below!

Baldur's Gate 3 mods have been downloaded more than a billion times, as Larian celebrates new milestone. Larian Studios just celebrated 500 million downloads, but it's actually double in reality Last Updated on August 5, 2026 Yesterday, the developers behind Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios, celebrated a total of 500 million downloads across 13,000 mods on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. But that's only half the picture. This milestone only counts for mods downloaded directly through the in-game mod manager. There's another 500+ million downloads online, bringing the total to more than a billion. The in-game mod manager arrived with official mod support in Patch 7 for Baldur's Gate 3, back in September 2024. The game's modding scene has flourished even more since these official tools were published, and there have been a number of large-scale mods in production that are still yet to be released - the biggest of which is set to be Path to Menzobarranzan. A billion downloads and a recent Baldur's Gate 3 modathon. Glance over at the Nexus Mods homepage, and you'll see that Baldur's Gate 3 currently has the seventh-most mod downloads on the site, with over 509 million. Unsurprisingly, Skyrim still leads the pack by a long way, across two different versions of the game. Either way, BG3 remains an active modding community. In fact, there was a month-long community modathon throughout July. Nearly 200 new mods were uploaded to the site with the BG3 July Modathon 2026 tag. Video Muted Latest PC & tech deals. Prices correct as of July 10th, 2026. The CEO and founder of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, proudly posted on X to celebrate the one billion milestone after it was pointed out online, not long after he was celebrating the half-a-billion figure from the in-game mod manager. Baldur's Gate 3 received its final major update, Patch 8, back in April last year, so it's the modding community that keeps the game alive and kicking. As it stands, Larian Studios will not be developing Baldur's Gate 4 and is instead working on its next Divinity game; Vincke says BG3 will "continue to do well" without them thanks to the thriving mod support. Which Acer Predator Atlas 8 handheld are you most interested in? Acer recently announced UK pricing, but which one do you think is the best config/price? At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.

Baldur's Gate 3 console version gets A spellcasting Barbarian, A Shadow Reaper Class, and new Druid Wildshapes. Published Jul 27, 2026, 6:15 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer's Senior Reporter. He's been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He's interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry's top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He's also interviewed some of the world's biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark's cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu's actress would love to step back into the character's giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam's journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He's covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He's been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he's done countless times. Sam's first review was 2020's Battletoads reboot, and he's since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. After what felt like an eternity's break, Larian is truly back in the swing of dropping new Baldur's Gate 3 content on the console version of the game. In the last few weeks, it has vetted, approved, and uploaded almost 30 new pieces of content, including additional encounters, a custom combat creator, and multiple new classes and subclasses, such as a Witch Elf. It appears Gamerant is back at the cadence of one new drop a week, after a three-week break, and the latest batch is here. This time, Larian has added 15 new pieces of content, including a spellcasting Barbarian, a Shadow Reaper Class, and additional Druid Wildshapes. Baldur's Gate 3's latest console content drop is here, and it's A fantastic one. Baldur's Gate 3 console players aren't blessed like those on PC. While sites like Nexus Mods host close to 19,000 mods for PC players to download, console players have to wait for Larian to manually add them before they can get their fill. And the number available is nowhere close to PC. That being said, the effort the team puts in is valiant. With so many mods available, it chooses the best, vets them, and uploads them to the console edition of the game. The latest 15-piece content drop is here, and Gamerant has got details of all new additions below: * Armor of the Githyanki - Adds 50 pieces of Gith-themed armor for Tav/Origin Characters to the tutorial chest. Some are body type/race restricted. * MysticDoubleResources - Gives the mystic twice as many psi points and psionic mastery charges. * Magmatic Hell Dice - Adds a magma-themed die. * The Rage Mage: A Barbarian Spellcaster Subclass - Adds a new Barbarian subclass that allows for spellcasting while raging. Based on homebrew by Mage Hand Press in Valda's Spire of Secrets. * Eridis: Tiefling Head Preset - Adds a new head preset for Tieflings. * Marcus Restyled (Hair Dye Remover) - Makes Marcus' beard match his hair. * Sorcerer Subclass: Conflagrant Soul - Adds a Sorcerer subclass, focusing on fire and grease and the control of the two destructive elements. * Druid Wildshape Addons - Adds multiple new Wildshape options for Druids. Includes Raptor, Spiders, Boar, Owlcat, Wolf, Rabbits, and Rats. * Short Rest Tweaks - Lets you recover Spell Slots, Sorcery Points, and Rage Charges on Short Rests. * The Shadow Reaper Class - Adds a Shadow Reaper class based on Kayne from League of Legends. The class is based around taking out crowds of enemies, plus allowing you to specialize into either the quick Shadow Assassin, or the Savage Darkin Slayer. * Level Cap 40 - Increases the game's level cap to 40. * Ezuneo's Draconic Tails - Adds 10 draconic-style tails to the character creator. * Gloomy Flower: New Hair For Shadowheart - Adds a new hairstyle for Shadowheart in Acts 1 and 2. * Aylin and Isobel Join The Party - Allows Aylin and Isobel to be recruited as full party members, with unique interactions in Act 3. * Flicker Hair Patch - Adds 11 cybergoth/punk hairstyles for all races and body types. This is quite possibly the best, most game-changing content drop Gamerant has ever received. Usually, the new class and subclasses would headline things, but they take a sideline to some of the other additions. Upping the level cap to 40 is huge, as is the addition of Aylin and Isobel as party members, and the new Druid Wildshape add-ons bring massive variety. I think this might be the update that brings me back from my hiatus.