Baldur's Gate 3's new Honour Mode adds an uber-difficult twist to every single boss fight

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Patch 5 has arrived in Baldur's Gate 3, and with it comes a new game mode only for the most hardcore adventurers in Faerûn.

Released alongside a more flexible Custom Mode difficulty, Honour Mode will force players to forego the widely accepted practice of save-scumming, preventing you from reloading past saves to circumvent unwanted dice rolls. As a consequence, "Honour Mode not only makes the game more difficult in and out of combat but also introduces 30+ new tweaks to all of Baldur's Gate 3's boss fights." Here we were thinking the Tactician Baldur's Gate 3 difficulty setting was rough, but it looks like it really can get worse. Or better, if that's your thing

Honour Mode might sound almost too brutal for some, but one benefit of it is that it will make those inspiration points matter. These points can be earned by acting in line with your chosen BG3 background, and they let you reroll the dice should you fall a saving throw or check. Save-scumming all but makes these obsolete in many ways, but without the ability to reload your saves, keeping track of your inspiration will be key in Honor Mode.

If you thought Viconia's Act 3 fight was a nightmare, look away now. The grueling new game difficulty also includes "a new Legendary Action system designed to catch players off-guard and increase the challenge," developer Larian Studios states in the patch notes. "Now, bosses can perform new actions, adding twists and turns to all major fights throughout the game."

As well as Honor Mode, Patch 5 includes a "complexly written" 36,000-word epilogue that will hopefully help you lick those battle wounds with a bit more company after slogging through the game's trickiest difficulty. Here's how to get the BG3 epilogue, if you were wondering. Better yet, patch 5 features a long-awaited inventory fix that lets you manage all companions even if they aren't in your party

The latest patch of Baldur's Gate 3 is now live to download, and it's a true whopper that makes your game 130GB.

Jasmine is a Senior Staff Writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London, she began her journalism career as a freelancer with TheGamer and Tech Radar Gaming before joining GR+ full-time in 2023. She now focuses predominantly on features content for GamesRadar+, attending game previews, and key international conferences such as Gamescom and Digital Dragons in between regular interviews, opinion pieces, and the occasional stint with the news or guides teams. In her spare time, you'll likely find Jasmine challenging her friends to a Resident Evil 2 speedrun, purchasing another book she's unlikely to read, or complaining about the weather.