There is no Baldur's Gate 3 photo mode, but I wish there was. There are some excellent cinematic moments and a few beautiful CRPG backgrounds that I wish I had the chance to explore a little closer than Steam's screenshot key lets me. Thankfully, one modder has stepped in to show off just how good some fantasy photography might look.
Software engineer and photo mode connoisseur Frans Bouma (who we've spoken to before about their work on an unofficial Elden Ring photo mode) announced last week that they'd made a few adjustments to their early access camera tool. The results are amazing, with some stunning portraits of what I presume is Bouma's character, an imposing battle-scarred elf.
There are also some excellent landscape shots, including one of the Selunite chest and one of the areas before the Baldur's Gate 3 Dank Crypt that really show off the game's lighting. God rays filtering through the darkness highlight just how good Baldur's Gate 3 can look - something that it has almost no right to do as an isometric RPG, but I can't say I'm complaining.
Bouma's pictures are so good, in fact, that they've caught the attention and well-deserved praise of Baldur's Gate 3's game director. Sven Wincke chimed in to make his opinion clear, and while that doesn't necessarily mean that we're likely to get a Baldur's Gate 3 photo mode in future, surely it that type of attention can only be good news?
This is so goodAugust 6, 2023
If you want to use Bouma's tools for yourself, you can access them via their Patreon, and find out much more about the tools themselves on Bouma's website.
To find out what we thought about the CPRG event of the summer, check out our Baldur's Gate 3 review in progress.
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I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.
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