How to highlight objects in Baldur's Gate 3

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Certain buttons can be used to mark nearby objects in BG3

Baldur's Gate 3
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

To highlight objects in Baldur's Gate 3, just hold down the left Alt button or R3. It's an important feature and one you'll want to use liberally, as the distant camera perspective and complex environments can make it easy to miss important details in Baldur's Gate 3. You can also toggle the settings to give all characters, including NPCs, a permanent colored highlight to help you distinguish friend from foe from afar.

Developer Larian Studios have included a way to highlight objects, items and more. Here's how to highlight things in BG3 so that you never miss useful loot again.

Highlighting objects in Baldur's Gate 3 explained

You can highlight objects in Baldur's Gate 3 by pressing and holding the Left Alt button, usually to the left of the space bar, or by pressing R3 on PS5 and controller. Objects, items and certain environmental details will all be marked in yellow while you hold the button, as well as having their name on them.

Keep in mind that this won't necessarily highlight everything - only things your character can currently see. Enemies in stealth, things that are too far away, traps or secrets they haven't spotted, or little details like the Baldur's Gate 3 scuffed rock can all go missed by the highlight option. It doesn't reveal new things, only marking what's already there. Keep this in mind - it's still entirely possible to step on a tripwire you didn't notice and have a rock squash you.

Objects like that are marked by successful passive checks that all the Baldur's Gate 3 party make when the game decides that they're close enough to have a chance to spot the object in question. Some objects might be easier or harder to notice, depending, while characters with high perception, insight, investigation or similar Baldur's Gate 3 skills are better at noticing less-obvious elements in the world around them.

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Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.

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