It's 2025 and Baldur's Gate 3 resembles more of a cult than a game at this point. I still think about it constantly, despite my last session being over five months ago when I diligently tested out the modding client. Tuna the mystical Kuo Toa might not have made it further than Emerald Grove, but the multiple meme pages, inside jokes with friends, and the cast's firm foothold in the industry's convention scene mean that Baldur's Gate 3 is soldered to my prefrontal cortex like the Netherese Orb is to Gale's soul.
I'm not the only one who can't stay away. For a game that was supposed to be finished save for some final touches, Larian seems allergic to letting the ink dry. And who can blame it when BG3's Dungeons & Dragons setting has so much more to give? Larian's dedicated support of its blockbuster RPG has cemented Baldur's Gate 3 as a legacy already, turning it into a living, breathing artifact that could well reach Stardew Valley levels of perma-development if the studio really wanted it to.
YOU get a subclass, and YOU get a subclass…
Baldur's Gate 3 has changed so much in 2024 that I wish the RPG could be my GOTY again this year
For certain Larian developers, Baldur's Gate 3 has become a labor of love more than anything else. Today marks the day Patch 8 will prove that to us. The latest batch of BG3 content is being unleashed upon PC and console players alike as we speak, and by the sound of those 48 page-long patch notes, this update is no mere bugfix.
With 12 new subclasses for each of its base game character classes (i.e. not including modded ones), Patch 8 looks set to change the landscape of future Baldur's Gate 3 playthroughs as we once knew them. Your subclass doesn't just dictate how you play the game; it comes with dedicated scripted moments, dialogue, spells, and more to set your myriad Tavs apart. This granular level of detail and customizability is part of the reason BG3 has normalized repeat playthroughs more than any other RPG since Skyrim: no two adventures can ever be the same.
That said, after completing the game six times over, my hunger for back-to-back playthroughs has admittedly waned since early 2024. But what's this? Death Domain clerics are being added in Patch 8, along with an adapted take on the D&D homebrew subclasses like Drunken Master? Well, it's been nice knowing you all. To top it off, we're finally getting photo mode. That, paired with the fact that twelve new playstyles have officially entered the game almost two years since it first launched, solidifies Baldur's Gate 3 as my favorite never-ending RPG that unfortunately keeps flirting with said ending.
It would have been impressive enough for Larian to have pulled off a patch of this size with its whole cohort involved, but the fact that just a dedicated handful of developers are still working on Baldur's Gate 3 makes it all the more exciting. Patch 8 is just the latest finishing touch being applied to the gargantuan RPG, and it's also being pitched as the final big Baldur's Gate 3 update. But the amount of hype around it speaks to just how much this game still means to player and studio alike, and that itself is a stunning rarity.
It's a level of reciprocal passion only seen in a scant few games, and more often than not, it indicates something too good to let go of on either end of the creator-consumer divide. Look at Stardew Valley, for example, and how developer ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barone) is still churning out updates despite the shadow of Haunted Chocolatier's expectations looming overhead. Or Terraria, which has been going strong since 2011 and is preparing to launch its sixth final update.
Larian might say it's done with Baldur's Gate 3, but a part of me will always pin an invisible "for now" onto the end of that statement. It's easy to turn a full stop into a semi-colon, after all.
It goes without saying that Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the best RPGs ever, but it's in very good company...
