Baldur's Gate 3's Honour Mode is a whole new RPG, and even Tactician veterans are struggling

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The game's punishing new difficulty option is "breaking" players

Larian Studios
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Baldur's Gate 3's new difficulty setting is so tough that even Tactician veterans are having a tough time getting anywhere with it. 

Baldur's Gate 3 patch 5 adds even more challenge to what is already a very challenging RPG. Dubbed Honour Mode, it comes with stricter rules, more powerful bosses, and a single save slot, so you can't resume from an older save if things go to pot. To top it all off, if your party is wiped out, it's game over. It's certainly not for the faint-hearted, as these Baldur's Gate 3 fans discovered when they tried out the new mode. 

"Honour mode is breaking me," says user paymemoreplsty on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit. Having played through the game on Tactician no less than three times, they opted to try out the new mode using the Bard class, and despite their considerable experience, after 20 hours and several class changes, they're still struggling to make it through Act 1. 

So far, their deaths have been down to "accidental thievery," "giant owls," and "being stupid", among other things. "Honour difficulty is a whole new beast," they write. "What a beautiful game."

Other players have also been sharing their experience of Honour Mode. In a separate post, user SuperSeriousSam reveals that NPCs in their playthrough are dropping like flies in the absence of multiple save options. Sadly, among the casualties is Baldur's Gate 3's best boy, Scratch, which, if you ask us, should also result in a run being instantly over.

In another post, Baldur's Gate 3 fan Salt-Artist-7973 shares what they say is "probably the most embarrassing way to lose in Honour Mode." After painstakingly making it all the way to Act 3, the player's character didn't meet their end in battle, but in bed. "Imagine my shock when I died in [the] Haarlep sex scene as I never slept with them before and did not know about this possibility..." they write. "Guess I will start a new run as soon as I stop seething."

Elsewhere, Baldur's Gate 3 fans have spotted a bunch of additional combat changes added in patch 5 that are not mentioned in the patch notes, many of which only apply to Honour Mode.

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Anne-Marie Ostler
Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.