Larian Studios has published its Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 patch notes along with a farewell message to players who followed the journey for the last few years.

Details on everything included in this final major Baldur’s Gate 3 update found their way to the project’s official website today. Its launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S players today marks a bittersweet moment for fans who have patiently waited for Patch 8 to add long-desired features like crossplay, Xbox Series S split screen, and photo mode as the team at Larian moves on to what’s next.

“Outside of minor bug fixing, Patch 8 will be the last game patch to introduce new content,” the studio said. “That means we won’t be adding any new narrative content or significant changes to storylines, Origin characters, or companions. We’ve told our stories the way we needed to tell them, and tried our best to make them impactful and engaging, and we’re continuing to get better at handling our own chaos so that we can continue to create more chaos in the future.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 is the last major update, so it makes sense that Larian is sending off its Game of the Year-winning 2023 hit with loads of other goodies. Some highlights include Steam Trading Cards support for PC players and a modding update that gives modders partial level editing tools. There are, of course, also 12 new subclasses for those looking to explore the Dungeons & Dragons experience from a fresh perspective. And Patch 8 also comes with a list of bug fixes and minor gameplay tweaks.

“From the start, your feedback has been incredibly important to us, and will continue to shape our future projects,” Larian’s message added. “As [Larian CEO Swen Vincke] said during the Baldur’s Gate 3 retrospective panel at PAX West in August of last year, it’s time for the team to go back to our cave and hang the armour on the wall while we focus on bringing you our next project.”

Patch 8 was revealed as Baldur’s Gate 3’s final major update in November of last year. It’s always been positioned as one of the RPG classic’s biggest content drops, which is why the months-long wait has felt particularly long. Things got more complicated when the update unintentionally found its way to PS5 in late January, giving fans a surprise shadow drop before Larian quickly moved to fix the error.

For more on Baldur’s Gate 3 and Larian, you can read up on Vincke’s thoughts surrounding the status of single-player gaming. You can also learn more about how Larian is preparing for its next mystery project now that work on Baldur’s Gate 3 has largely come to an end. Finally, you can read up on the full Patch 8 patch notes below.

Baldur’s Gate 8 Patch 8 Patch Notes

Well folks,

This is it. Our final major game patch for Baldur’s Gate 3.

You’ve helped us make BG3 a bigger success than any of us could’ve ever hoped for, and that passion could keep us tweaking things and making changes until the end of time. But then we’d never be able to create something new.

Outside of minor bug fixing, Patch 8 will be the last game patch to introduce new content. That means we won’t be adding any new narrative content or significant changes to storylines, Origin characters, or companions. We’ve told our stories the way we needed to tell them, and tried our best to make them impactful and engaging, and we’re continuing to get better at handling our own chaos so that we can continue to create more chaos in the future.

From the start, your feedback has been incredibly important to us, and will continue to shape our future projects. As Swen said during the Baldur’s Gate 3 retrospective panel at PAX West in August of last year, it’s time for the team to go back to our cave and hang the armour on the wall while we focus on bringing you our next project.

If you’re already feeling nostalgic, you can click here to watch our last Baldur’s Gate 3 panel, where we looked back on Baldur’s Gate 3, from early access through to release, and answered some of your questions.

From patching in a way to change your appearance with the Magic Mirror, introducing Honour Mode for those of you looking for a hard time, and giving you new ways to make out with your romanced companion, to new cinematics for your most evil runs, and handing you the tools to create your own supported mods, Patch 8 now rounds off with cross-play, Photo Mode, and 12 new subclasses for you to enjoy.

To help us close the door on our last major patch, the party are back with their final animated short in collaboration with Spud Gun Studios – with a special appearance by the man in metal himself: Swen in his animated debut!

Patch 8

Now let’s talk about what's new with our final patch!

Steam Trading Cards

Baldur’s Gate 3 now supports Steam Trading Cards! And you thought you’d never get them.

Collect the unique trading cards to craft badges, and unlock exclusive profile backgrounds and emoticons to use anywhere on Steam! Speaking of Steam, Baldur’s Gate 3 is now on sale with 20% off until April 21st:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1086940/Baldurs_Gate_3/

Cross-Play

Players on PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 will now all be able to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer, with full cross-platform progression and cross-play.

Using the Larian Network, you can now join and create cross-play lobbies to take on your adventures together.

Cross-Play & Mods

You’ll be able to continue to enjoy creating chaos with mods in cross-play, but it’s important to note that all players joining the lobby must have the same version of mods installed. When joining a host’s game, you’ll be prompted with the Mod Verification window to enable, upgrade, downgrade, or install any missing mods.

If you are a PC player creating a cross-play lobby, keep in mind you can use the “Available on Console & Mac” tag to browse mods that will be compatible with consoles and Mac, and that the mod limit on consoles is 100. Third-party mods cannot be used on consoles.

Using Cross-Play

How to join another player in multiplayer via cross-play:

1. On the main menu, select “Multiplayer”.
2. Select the “Cross-Play” tab.
3. Join the other player’s lobby.
4. If you or the host are using mods and there are any discrepancies, the Mod Verification window will open to inform you of which mods need installing, uninstalling, or updating.

How to create a cross-play multiplayer lobby:

1. Access multiplayer.
2. Select “Cross-Play”.
3. Select “Create”.
4. Customise your options and select “Launch”.

Get started with cross-play by following our video guide!

Photo Mode

Position and pose your party, play around with camera settings, and whack a few stickers on there. Photo Mode is now yours to explore with Patch 8!

Getting Started

To test out Photo Mode, toggle it on or off by pressing down on both analog sticks if on console, or by pressing F9 if on PC. You can also enable Photo Mode by clicking on the Photo Mode icon on the HUD minimap.

Exploring Camera Settings

When you’re adventuring with your party, you’ll be able to alter their positioning and try different facial expressions and poses, while making the most of the camera, lens, and scene settings, even during combat encounters.

While you won’t be able to change the position of your party or camera angle during dialogues and cinematic scenes, you will still be able to enjoy a range of post-processing effects, including colour-grading settings, frames, and stickers.

Photo Mode & Modding

Speaking of stickers, Photo Mode already includes more than 300 stickers, but keen modders out there will be able to create and upload their own via the BG3 Toolkit!

Finding Your Screenshots

Capture your favourite moments forever and find them saved in your respective media galleries for Xbox and PlayStation, and in C:Users[username]DocumentsLarian StudiosBaldur's Gate 3Screenshots for PC, or ~/Pictures/Larian Studios/Baldur's Gate 3/Screenshots for Mac.

We know budding photographers will already be plotting the ways in which you can take photos of your companions in compromising positions, so if you’re looking for some tips and tricks to get started using Photo Mode, check out the video below!

New Subclasses

One new subclass for each playable class is now available, featuring new abilities, animations, VFX, unique summons, powerful cantrips, and voiced dialogue for the Oathbreaker Knight for those playing as the Oath of the Crown Paladin subclass!

Packed with new ways for you to play, whether you want to roleplay the God of Thunder by using Elemental Cleaver, imbuing your Path of the Giant Barbarian’s hammer with shocking damage and flinging it out for it to come back to you, or as a drunken monk, with truly homebrewed abilities that will enhance your next playthrough, there’s surely a subclass for you!

• Path of the Giant Barbarian
• College of Glamour Bard
• Death Domain Cleric
• Circle of Stars Druid
• Arcane Archer Fighter
• Way of the Drunken Master Monk
• Oath of the Crown Paladin
• Swarmkeeper Ranger
• Swashbuckler Rogue
• Shadow Magic Sorcerer
• Hexblade Warlock
• Bladesinging Wizard

Unlocking The New Subclasses

Each new subclass can be selected once you have reached the level required to unlock it. This varies depending on your chosen class. Check out the table below to see when subclass selection becomes available for each class!

Level 1 – Cleric, Sorcerer, Paladin, Warlock

Level 2 – Druid Wizard

Level 3 – Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue

Channel From Hell

For a more detailed breakdown of each subclass and to help you settle into Patch 8, check out the videos in the below playlist. While this might be our final major patch, it’s certainly not the last time you’re going to hear from us! Tune into Twitch tomorrow to watch our first live stream hosted by Aoife Wilson, featuring a guest appearance from Senior Systems Designer, Ross Stephens, where we’ll be taking a closer look at Patch 8, including the new subclasses!

There will be more to come as we welcome you behind the scenes of Baldur’s Gate 3, sharing some secrets and introducing the developers who helped make it, with a new stream every Wednesday from 1pm UTC. Hopefully that’ll keep you occupied until we can reveal what comes next… we promise we’ll share more on that when we can.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Modding

Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit

As well as Patch 8, the Baldur’s Gate 3 Modding Toolkit is receiving an update, which means mod authors will now be able to explore partial level editing! Whether you fancy creating your own NPC, dropping a metric ton of carrots across every existing level just for the sake of it, pledging your undying love to Shadowheart by turning all wolves into bunny rabbits or by moving them to the House of Hope, you’ll now be able to use the Toolkit to add or override certain template types in existing levels.

Partial level editing means that what you won’t be able to do with the official Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit is add dialogues or change the static parts of the world like buildings, scenery or terrain. You can, however, create your own interactive objects like a chest that teleports away every time you get close to it – no one will touch your belongings ever again! Including you. Or you could make a salami statue that you can put in your pocket. The world truly is yours.

Modding Guidelines Update

To support the new realm of possibilities with the latest Toolkit update, we have now updated the modding guidelines with new information, and will continue curating mods for console. As part of this update, we have reviewed technical requirements, and unfortunately, mods that introduce new playable races are unable to be curated for console. If you’re a mod author, we suggest giving the guidelines a read by clicking here.

UI Functionality Improvements

We have been continuing to work closely with mod authors to ensure there are fewer conflicts between game mods and new patches, particularly for those that have ImpUI as a dependency. While the ImpUI mod isn’t currently being maintained, to help keep things running smoothly and to support the creative passion of those in the modding community, we’ve introduced minor changes to how some functionalities are handled in the Toolkit. Now, mod authors will be able to make changes directly for mods that rely on UI tweaks during Character Creation.

The changes now supported natively in the Toolkit include:

• Action Resources
• Racial spells at LevelUp
• Race passives
• UI scrolling for Heads, Passives, Equipment, Class, Subclass, and Origin selection
• Feat passives
• Radial customisation and descriptions

Thank you to Djmr for their incredible work on this mod and for keeping in contact with us while we resolved the conflicts and introduced this functionality, as well as Caites, both who have been particularly helpful, and whose names now lie firmly in the Baldur’s Gate 3 game credits, along with the mod authors who have been helping us test Toolkit functionality!

Mods In Patch 8

As Patch 8 begins to roll out, please remain patient and respectful of those in the community who put work into creating their mods. Some things might not work immediately after a new update and it might take a little while before a mod can be updated. If you can’t wait to dive in but are worried about your mod list, we recommend starting a new playthrough to enjoy the new subclasses and to try out photo mode.

Patch Notes

Along with the new additions, Patch 8 also tackles a range of bugs, like fixing Shadowheart’s penchant for hair dye while skinny dipping, Cerys will stop getting involved in combats with Minthara from across the region, and we’ve resolved an issue with the moving platform in the Gauntlet of Shar that has accidentally proven harder to survive than, well, the actual Gauntlet of Shar.

SPOILERS – Please bear in mind some of the entries below might contain spoilers, proceed at your own risk

HIGHLIGHTS

• Photo Mode
• 12 brand new subclasses – one for each class, including: Path of the Giant Barbarian, College of Glamour Bard, Death Domain Cleric, Circle of Stars Druid, Arcane Archer Fighter, Way of the Drunken Master Monk, Oath of the Crown Paladin, Swarmkeeper Ranger, Swashbuckler Rogue, Shadow Magic Sorcerer, Hexblade Warlock, and Bladesinging Wizard
• Cross-play
• Xbox Series S split screen

Gameplay

• Fixed containers inside inventories not scattering their contents when they get destroyed, which could potentially lead to key quest items getting lost for good.
• Fixed an issue where picking up items from the ground in multiplayer could then block movement via the controller stick.
• Fixed the Wild Shape: Panther's Prowl action and Prowling condition not working correctly.
• When you succeed a Perception check, the spotted item will now ping on the minimap and be listed in the combat log.
• Fixed an issue where the special abilities of some of your allies weren't properly provided at the end of the dialogue with them at High Hall.
• Scrolls and potions inside unlocked containers in your party inventory can now be used when rolling in dialogues.
• Neutral and friendly NPCs will no longer become hostile when, outside of combat, they walk into surfaces created during combat that trigger passives (like electrified surfaces triggering Thunderbolt Strike). Take it easy, lads.
• Fixed Freecast being reset when any condition is applied.
• Fixed characters getting stuck when pathfinding via a ladder that's already in use by another companion.
• Fixed a bug with the moving platform in the Gauntlet of Shar that would sometimes leave you behind, causing you to plummet to your death.
• The Self-Same Trial in the Gauntlet of Shar will now offer a proper challenge to those using modded classes.
• Fixed an error when joining a game via a friend invite on Xbox.
• Fixed War Magic being active before Extra Attack, forcing the player to use a bonus action before getting access to other Extra Attacks.
• Eldritch Knights now properly use free Extra Attacks before their War Magic attack.
• Fixed Valiant Damage not triggering properly.
• Fixed an issue with Shadow Blade spells and the Knife of the Undermountain King dagger not granting Advantage against an obscured target.
• Fixed a bug where moving the controller sticks in specific directions wouldn't register any input.
• Fixed Jhannyl's Gloves not correctly triggering the Defy Villainy passive that casts Lesser Restoration.
• Updated Elemental Weapon to allow all damage types at all spell levels and include upcast benefits at Levels 5 and 6.
• Examining in-world surfaces with the 'Pin Tooltip' keybind now correctly displays the tooltip.
• Fixed a bug causing keyboard input to block if you spam the Level Up button and the Esc key.
• Fixed a potential blocker causing mouse input to get disabled when clicking an enemy's portrait as they die.
• Fixed a blocker when a follower or summon used the Scrying Eyes in the Iron Throne.
• Fixed a blocker when you tried to use any item while your character was Knocked Down.
• Fixed the game freezing when dragging items while trading or bartering.
• Fixed a multiplayer issue where the host would get a black screen for 15 seconds when transitioning to a crime dialogue.
• Fixed an Honour Mode issue at High Hall where all party members would die when reaching the top of the stem if anyone in the party was being dominated by an enemy, causing a Game Over.
• Fixed the skiff at the Morphic Pool sometimes appearing in the wrong spot or floating in the air.
• Fixed body type 1 duergar incorrectly receiving halfling stats instead of dwarf stats.
• Fixed Gimblebock getting stuck if his attack triggered a Reaction.
• Fixed characters not being able to pick up any items if an invalid pickup request was, somehow, stored in the savegame.
• Fixed a bug causing non-Dark-Urge avatars to say Dark Urge lines. You're not all obliged to be wretched things with headaches.
• Fixed a bug where difficulty and game settings wouldn't save properly when adjusted after experiencing a Game Over in Honour Mode.

Combat

• Fixed an issue causing neutral NPCs to trigger combat for seemingly no reason.
• Cerys will stop getting involved in combats with Minthara from across the region. An eager beaver no longer.
• Fixed a bug causing damage riders to be added multiple times in Honour Mode.
• Fixed Sneak Attack not activating for actions that spawn additional projectiles, like Curving Shot.

Modding

• Fixed an issue causing you to get stuck at a 0% loading screen when attempting to join a multiplayer session that uses mods.
• The Mod Verification window will now trigger regardless of where the request to connect to a multiplayer game is coming from.
• Replaced the third-party mod warning with clearer messaging.
• Fixed a mod issue preventing some modded classes and subclasses from levelling up.
• Fixed a bug causing the Mod Verification window to appear empty and preventing you from closing it if you get a warning about insufficient storage before it opens.
• You can now navigate between the left and right columns of the Installed tab in the Mod Manager with a controller.
• Improved Character Creation functionality for modded games.
• The Mod Verification window will now also appear on PC for console-related mod issues to account for cross-play.

Performance and Options

• The Steam Deck's default FSR setting is now FSR 2.2 on 'Quality'.
• Fixed the ruleset selector not appearing on the 'Alter Custom Mode' screen when accessing the ruleset settings via the multiplayer lobby.
• Improved server performance in the Adamantine Forge.

Scripting and Flow

• With 12 new subclasses arriving in Patch 8, we’ve rechecked some achievements, including ensuring the armed version of Stunning Strike no longer counts as an unarmed attack for the Fists of Fury achievement, and its unarmed variant now does.
• Monks' Unarmed Strike bonus action now also correctly counts toward the Action Surge achievement.
• Fixed an issue where you could tell Astarion that Gandrel has been looking for him even if Gandrel refused to tell you the name of his prey.
• Fixed a savegame issue where you wouldn't get the appropriate amount of Umbral Gems for the Gauntlet of Shar.
• Halsin will now show up to your camp in Act II as long as you saved him, even if you happened to skip the celebration with the tieflings at camp.
• Minthara now comments on the Emperor's reveal.
• Reminded Minthara that 'knocked out' does not mean 'dead', so she'll more reliably appear in Moonrise Towers.
• You can no longer teleport out of Moonrise while controlling Minthara unless you tell her to stay put.
• Minthara is now willing to talk to you after you tell her to wait in the torture chamber.
• Minthara no longer gets stuck babysitting Thaniel in Act II.
• Fixed an issue where you could talk about Art Cullagh as though he's alive even if he isn't.
• Your character will no longer think Shadowheart is dead if she isn't when talking to Viconia.
• Characters who were in a relationship with Gale when he sacrifices himself in the endgame to defeat the Netherbrain will now receive a tonally appropriate (read: lovey-dovey) letter that was missing.
• Fixed a dialogue issue preventing Avatar Gale from talking about the orb to Lae'zel after consuming a magic item.
• You should no longer be able to ask Shadowheart about her Shar worship after recruiting her at the Goblin Camp if you don't know about her faith.
• Shadowheart's wound flare during the Arabella scene in the Emerald Grove will not be considered to have triggered when Shadowheart wasn't present in the dialogue.
• Fixed various Background Goals that weren't triggering.

Animation

• Added dance animations for some creatures that didn't have it, like ettercaps, kobolds, and harpies.

Art

• Fixed an issue causing the Flaming Fist armour to clip and generally freak out a bit.
• Fixed some clipping and textural issues with the Barbarian starting armour when worn by body type 1 gnomes.
• Fixed the Cleric starting armour bouncing around a little too much when worn by body type 1 characters.

UI

• Discovered and available (non-hostile, alive, etc.) traders are now shown on the world map regardless of how far away you are from them.
• Fixed button or keyboard shortcut inputs in the UI sometimes not working.
• Fixed some Reaction tooltips like Divine Allegiance not showing some values correctly in the description.
• Fixed a bug causing the UI to lock up when rapidly switching between keyboard and mouse input and controller input.
• Fixed a bug where opening the Main Menu on controller wouldn't automatically select the 'Resume' option at the top of the menu.
• Fixed a bug where you'd have to deselect your current passive when respeccing a character before selecting a new one. Now, you can just click the new one.
• Mentioned the damage that Corrosive Spit deals in its condition tooltip.
• Updated the names of the condition tooltips for the Dilophosaurus wild shape's Corrosive Spray spell, adding 'Dissolving' and 'Dissolved' for clarity.
• The Tides of Chaos passive tooltip now correctly states that it only works for ability checks.
• Updated the Lifedrinker tooltip to match functionality; it does not require Pact of the Blade.
• Rephrased the Hexblade's Curse tooltip to prevent the technical text '+ProficiencyBonus' from appearing in Character Creation and Level Up.
• The Acolyte of Nature passive tooltip now shows up in the Character Sheet as expected.
• Fixed the controller UI not accurately showing when you're logged into your Larian Account, which could cause cross-play connection issues.
• Fixed the multiplayer session manager panel not populating properly for players that connected while the panel was open.
• Fixed a bug where if a user tried to join your session while you were filling out a user report, cancelling the request would close the report window in the background instead of cancelling the request.
• Fixed the body type slider sometimes skipping through a choice on controller.
• Fixed the 'No savegames available.' message showing up in the background while the game is loading the list of saved games on controller.
• Updated the credits to include developers who have worked on the game since release, playtesters, moderators, and Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit testers. Also updated the order of the voice actor credits to prioritise larger roles at the top.
• Fixed a bug causing an empty text-input panel to pop up and block gameplay.
• Fixed an '%%% Empty' passive feature appearing for rogues during Character Creation.
• Fixed a 1-frame glitch where swapping between two party members' Inventories would briefly show the first character's equipment in the inventory of the second character.
• Fixed the tooltips for the combat log not consistently appearing on controller even if you have the tooltips toggled on.
• Fixed a bug preventing you from pasting special characters into the password form when logging into your Larian Account.
• The filters in the multiplayer lobby now filter properly.
• Fixed the generic icon for some passive features missing from their tooltips in the Character Sheet.
• Fixed visual issues with the white translucent VFX that appears over portraits in the Party Line, caused when dragging one character's portrait over another's.
• Fixed the character tooltips that appear beside character portraits on the Party Line not showing up correctly on hover.
• Fixed a tooltip bug while trading where hovering over any equipped item would display a faulty tooltip, but trying a second time would magically fix it. The tooltips now populate correctly the first time around.
• Fixed a bug causing the sliders in the Gameplay options to autoscroll continuously when the left stick is flicked to the left or right.
• Fixed an issue causing the game to freeze for a second when switching between two characters with the Character Sheet open.
• Fixed a bug on controller preventing you from scrolling through the spells in the Replace Spell UI when levelling up.
• Fixed the footwear slot in the Character Sheet deciding to just not show up.
• Fixed the ‘Venture Forth’ text shaking during Character Creation while the button is held down on controller.

Sound

• Added a new spot where the easter egg song plays. Happy hunting!
• Restored some of the original music from the scene with Ansur before its rework.

Cinematics

• Shadowheart has agreed to stop repeatedly changing her hair colour during certain intimate moments.
• Tidied up and improved some cinematic animations for characters of different heights if you kiss during the evil ending.
• Fixed the VO getting cut off prematurely for githyanki and drow characters entering the Shadow-Cursed Lands for the first time.

Writing

• Fixed a duplicated dialogue option and the wrong version of another dialogue option appearing in Minthara's main party dialogue.

Multiplayer

• Fixed a crash on the client's end when a local host attempts to start split screen.
• Fixed a bug preventing you from logging back into your Larian Account after losing internet connection.
• Fixed a bug preventing a host from inviting a client whose game is suspended to the multiplayer lobby. The client would instead get a persistent 'Please wait…' message.
• Fixed an issue causing random session time-outs and disconnects for multiplayer clients.
• Fixed a loop on PS5 that would keep taking you back to the PlayStation Plus upgrade screen if you try to join a lobby without permissions.

CRASHES AND BLOCKERS

• Fixed a crash when trying to start a game from a lobby multiple times.
• Fixed several crashes and freezes related to the UI.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when balancing a trade offer.
• Fixed a potential crash when starting a Custom or Honour Mode game.
• Prevented a crash that could occur when loading an invalid savegame.
• Fixed a potential crash when levelling up.
• Fixed a potential crash when trying to load a savegame.
• Fixed a potential crash on split screen when trying to cast a projectile spell on a very distant target.
• Fixed a potential crash when trying to drop items on the ground.
• Fixed a bug where you could get stuck in the map when creating a map marker and then teleporting in quick succession.
• Fixed a potential crash on startup on Xbox when there's a corrupted save in the system.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when loading into another region.
• Fixed a potential crash when dragging items of clothing from a trade straight into your equipment slots.
• Fixed a potential crash when dropping a drag-and-drop item.
• Fixed a potential crash when right-clicking an empty equipment slot.
• Fixed a potential crash when loading a modded savegame with those mods disabled.
  Fixed a crash when switching between keyboard and mouse and controller in Character Creation.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when the game was reloading the UI.
• Disabled the 'Smooth' split screen animation option when DLSS is enabled, which was, in fact, not smooth.
• Fixed a rare and random crash related to materials.
• Fixed a UI-related crash.
• Fixed a potential softlock related to the HUD remaining on screen when loading into a savegame made right at the start of a cinematic.
• Fixed a potential crash related to the Rewards UI after finishing a dialogue.
• Fixed a potential crash for the multiplayer client when the host accepts the client's request to join a game and then immediately enters Photo Mode before the client starts to load in.
• Fixed a crash when taking custom avatars out of Withers' Wardrobe in multiplayer.
• Fixed a potential crash on PS5 when the game is left idle.
• Fixed a crash when switching to keyboard and mouse while in the Map UI on controller.
• Fixed a crash while browsing the quest journal on controller.
• Fixed a potential crash when trying to spawn an item while a region is loading.
• Fixed a potential crash related to summons.
• Fixed a potential crash related to tooltips.

COMBAT AND BALANCE

Across Acts

• The Potent Spellcasting passive now affects Bursting Sinew and Toll the Dead.
• Fixed the Owlbear's Rage condition clearing when it's hit instead of lasting the intended duration.
• Fixed the Owlbear's Rage condition clearing after the owlbear loses its Temporary Hit Points.
• Updated Storm's Fury to deal Lighting damage as intended, not Thunder.
• The Absolute Consumption condition no longer stacks.
• Fixed the Icy Cloud formed via Wall of Ice dealing 5d6 instead of 10d6.
• Fixed the Slayer's default attack being Relentless Lunge instead of Slay.
• Ghouls and ghasts should no longer be able to paralyse drow characters.
• Updated Wild Strike so that it can work with the War Priest extra attack.
• The 'Fierce Perilous Stakes' Illithid Power can now only be targeted at allies, as specified in the tooltip.
• Fixed the Displace condition appearing on characters who didn't take Falling damage.
• Warden of Vitality can now be cast with Level 4, 5, and 6 spell slots (with no additional benefit).
• Flying Ghouls' Devour action can now correctly target characters affected by Eyebite: Asleep.
• The teleport portion of Mobile Flourish can now be used on creatures killed with the initial attack.
• Healing Vapours no longer immediately makes creatures Wet in addition to creating a Water surface.
• Freedom of Movement will now correctly preserve against Haunted Approach.
• Tavern Brawler works with Wild Shapes in Honour Mode again.
• Tiger's Bloodlust will no longer target items (like the bloody remains of already-dead creatures).
• Specified more accurately whether Wild-Shaped owlbear, dilophosaurus, and panther attacks are magical or non-magical, depending on the type of druid you are.
• Fixed a bug causing the upcasted version of Grasping Vine to cost an Action instead of a Bonus Action.
• The Forbidden Knowledge passive now works with Wisdom Skill Checks as well as Wisdom Saving Throws, as intended.
• Updated Mind Sanctuary and Grease to not target items through walls.
• Fixed Harper Skywin having Strength-based stats, which wasn't appropriate for her Dexterity-based build.
• Fixed an Undead Harper in the Shadow-Cursed Lands looking like Harper Skywin's identical twin. Nothing to see here, move along.
• Fixed some of the creatures summoned at higher levels missing the Hide action.
• Fixed Evasive Footwork only working against melee weapon attacks. It now works with any melee attacks.
• Fixed an infinite NPC spawn-despawn loop in combat if all the party members are Invisible at the end of a combat round.
• Fixed area-based spells like Lightning Bolt and Sunbeam not working on the redcaps in the Blushing Mermaid.
• Updated the Wild Shape rules for myrmidons to merge the myrmidon's proficiencies with the character's.
• Fixed an animation bug causing Way of Shadow monks to be able to apply the damage roll of Shadow Strike twice.
• Glyph of Warding now works correctly with item effects, like those granted by the Spellsparkler, Mourning Frost, and Winter's Clutches.
• Fixed some issues with Uncanny Dodge: it will now trigger correctly, it will no longer trigger multiple times per round, and rogues can no longer somehow still use it even if they're Incapacitated.
• All Wildheart rages now give bonus damage to off-hand melee weapon attacks as intended. Wildheart rages should now also deal the improved damage past Level 9.
• Updated War Magic to make sure it works with Extra Attack if you trigger War Magic during an Extra Attack.
• Shadow Blade, granted by the Shadow Blade Ring, no longer requires Concentration.

Act I

• In Honour Mode, the papa owlbear will now correctly gain Owlbear's Rage when the mama owlbear or their cub dies.
• The Sussur Antimagic Field will now also prevent you from casting spells like Shield via reactions.

Act II

• Balthazar can now cast Shield in Tactician Mode.
• Gave the Shadow-Cursed Shambling Mound some bifidobacteria-rich yoghurt to regulate its Digestive Juices. The condition now makes the target Vulnerable to Bludgeoning damage as advertised.
• In Tactician and Honour Mode, Malus Thorm will now use his Multiattack at 70% HP instead of 40%.
• In Tactician Mode, increased the spell level of Kar'niss' Sanctuary spell from 4 to 5.
• Fixed a bug related to fleeing from the combat with Ketheric. You now have to leave the Moonrise Towers region in order to successfully flee.
• Bumped the debuff of Spindleweb Skepticism from -4 AC to -6 AC.
• Fixed Susdera's summons not entering combat when she's in combat.

Act III

• In the Knights of the Shield combat, the Gate Masters will no longer bring reinforcements after the portals are closed. The infinite supply of githyanki spawning from nowhere was a little disconcerting.
• While in Slayer Form, Orin's Immutable Form passive will no longer apply twice.
• Surprising Orin in the Temple of Bhaal will no longer cause the Boon of Bhaal to take its turn at the same time as her.
• Gortash's Manifestations of Tyranny now have an appropriate Unarmed Attack.
• Fixed Black Gauntlets being able to target characters under Sanctuary with Phantasmal Killer.
• Gortash was overenthusiastically using Tyrant's Bindings, so we made him less eager about it when other actions would make more sense.
• Fixed a bug causing Gortash to react with Invoke the Black Hand every time he gets damaged.

GAMEPLAY

Across Acts

• Reminded enemy NPCs that it's okay to kill the unconscious party after they commit a crime.
• Fixed a bug where pressing the left bumper on controller during a dialogue or trade would open the Action Radial Menu in the background and make it seem like you were stuck in the dialogue or trade afterwards.
• Fixed a bug causing alchemy recipes to not unlock when you pick up the ingredients from within a container.
• The 'Summon Us' item is no longer tradeable.
• Fixed Jhannyl's Gloves not doing what they say on the tin. They'll now make the wearer cast Lesser Restoration to clear negative conditions.
• Fixed some instances of the party not being able to load into another region with no clear reason.
• Greater Invisibility stealth checks now get progressively harder in Honour Mode.
• Prevented Fast Travel – like going to camp via the hotbar – while on moving platforms like the cable car up by Rosymorn, which could cause your characters to plummet to their death in the interim.
• Fixed a potential soft-lock where using a melee attack on something in the environment that's too high to reach (like a wall turret or a dangling cocoon) could block your movement until the action was interrupted.
• Fixed an issue causing the Attack of Opportunity arrow to not be visible on Mac.
• Fixed reflected damage knocking out player characters when non-lethal damage is toggled on.
• Fixed an issue where you couldn't use Sneak Attack again on your next turn if the enemy before you in the Initiative Order was killed.
• Clients should now be able to join a multiplayer session while the host is snoring away during a Long Rest as long as there is a free avatar.
• Looting many items at once is now about 15 times faster, so the game will no longer lock up for some time when you do so.
• Fixed the screen turning black for several long seconds on multiplayer when a dialogue is interrupted by another player's action.
• You can no longer Long Rest while in the Astral Plane after meeting the Emperor. This led to the portal back to the Material Plane sometimes disappearing when you ended your Long Rest.
• A couple of chests will no longer unlock things as though they're keys.
• The Everburn Blade will no longer consume weapon coatings that don't apply to it anyway.
• You now have to actually have a shovel in your inventory in order to start digging with it.
• You can now Dash with Actions and Bonus Actions with Ranger's Companions.
• Fixed another (all together now!) trade exploit. This one let you take items from traders by moving them from a bag in their inventory to a corpse in your inventory. No more packing dead squirrels with goods.
• The Purple Worm Gullet now has an in-world item label.
• Fixed Shield, granted by the Amulet of the Harpers, not reacting to Magic Missile or reducing its damage to 0.
• Fixed certain Illithid Powers becoming unusable after you've been Polymorphed.
• Fixed some of the Sentient Amulet's lines not appearing overhead (even though the audio was playing just fine) when it was sitting in your inventory.
• Fixed the ESC key closing the container that was opened first instead of the one that you're currently focused on.
• Fixed the Traveller's Chest remaining open when you leave the camp while it's open.
• Fixed a data mismatch error appearing on the launcher in a case where it shouldn't.
• Fixed some lighting bugs on split screen related to how in-game light was showing up in cinematics and in different locations.
• Fixed an issue where when a local player would drop into the game, the lighting would fade in very slowly for them. This was apparent in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, which resulted in washed-out colours for a few seconds after joining.
• Prevented Movement from being consumed when you enter Turn-Based Mode on controller.
• Fixed a split screen bug where clouds wouldn't show up for Player 2.
• Fixed Lathander's Light resurrecting characters it shouldn't have resurrected.
• Added a check for when you suspend the game to buy the Deluxe Edition from the Xbox store during gameplay so that it detects it without you having to restart the game.
• Fixed the environmental fading system (that makes walls fade out so you can see through them, for instance) not working properly when loading a split screen savegame created while in Turn-Based Mode with the players on different floors.
• When playing on split screen, if the screen is merged and one player moves to a different terrain level, it would cause the ground to fade and appear invisible for the other player, making it hard to navigate. The game will now dynamically split the screen if both players are on different floors or there's enough of a terrain height difference between them.
• Fixed a bug where hurling a healing potion as a rogue in what is presumably an attempt to heal a target would trigger Sneak Attack and sometimes damage or even kill the target.
• Fixed a potential bug causing the class names in dialogue options being replaced with 'Rare' when loading a savegame.
• Fixed a bug causing targets of the Seeming spell to briefly appear naked or have invisible equipment.
• The Gloves of Battlemage's Power now correctly grant Arcane Acuity.

Act I

• Fixed an issue in a particular corridor in the Crèche that could cause the camera to turn black when enabling Tactical View.
• Fixed an issue with NPC neutrality on the nautiloid at the start of the game, causing characters to sometimes turn hostile when they shouldn't.
• Alfira will now join in on your performance of the Deluxe Edition songs.
• Fixed a bug where interacting with the Ceremonial Battleaxe would cause the Guardian of Faith at Rosymorn Monastery to initiate combat with you even if you were way out of his range.
• Fixed a chasm in the cave beyond the Apothecary's Cellar that you couldn't shove NPCs down.
• Fixed a bug causing Fighters to appear unarmed when starting a new game.
• Tweaked the drop table for Derryth Bonecloak so she doesn't conveniently sell the Timmask Spores and Tongue of Madness you need for the 'Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite' quest.

Act II

• You'll now need to deal with a healed Ketheric & Co. if you Long Rest during the assault on Moonrise. The passage of time heals all!
• You can no longer use Silence to keep the protective dome over Last Light from collapsing if Shadowheart kills Nightsong.
• You should no longer get stuck in combat on the roof of Moonrise Towers if there aren't any enemies left.
• Wild-Shaped druids are no longer instantly arrested by the army of the Absolute when following the road to Baldur's Gate from the Shadow-Cursed Lands.

Act III

• Those who own the Digital Deluxe game version will now find that we have fixed Kiam Goda's Kilat Drum not playing the Digital Deluxe songs like other Hand Drums.
• Fixed an issue with Shadowheart's parents that would cause them to sometimes turn hostile when they shouldn't.
• Added some fallback Countermeasures for the combat Atop the Netherbrain in case of modded subclasses.
• Fixed a bug where killing hostile NPCs in Wyrm's Rock with non-lethal attacks on would be too confusing for them and they'd become unresponsive.
• Steel Watchers can no longer get Drunk.
• Fixed newly-spawned Flaming Fists sometimes spawning with just the name 'Fist'.
• Fixed a missing screen fade when transitioning to the Upper City region on split screen.
• Fixed a flow issue in the epilogue letting you say 'My home is with Gale' to Jaheira even if you were never in a relationship with him.

FLOW AND SCRIPTING

Across Acts

• Fixed a bug where ignoring Gale and his mirror image at camp would lead to his double hanging around in the morning.
• Saved some players who were stuck sleeping at camp.
• Fixed some repeating overhead dialogues across the game to reduce combat log and audio spam.
• Fixed Gale's body not moving at all while he delivers a line about Voss.
• Jaheira no longer trades items at camp as though she's a merchant while she's still in the party – this led to strange interactions at camp. If you engaged in trade with her and left items on her, you can get them back by just taking them out of her inventory the normal way.
• Fixed an issue with the Shadowheart vs Lae'zel fight night where the defeated character could still survive the night and would hang around without being able to join the party.
• Fixed some cases where the night would literally never end (careful what you wish for) because a party member not in the active party was in a dialogue while everyone else was snoozin'.
• Fixed some characters who were stuck in Wild Shape form.
• Fixed a dialogue flow issue where asking Shadowheart about the fight with Lae'zel would make her talk about Astarion. Focus, Shadowheart.
• Fixed a case where the non-summoned version of Scratch had no dialogue at camp. Balance is restored.
• Fixed an issue where some of Shadowheart's incurable wound flare-ups would block later flare-ups, blocking off some later content.
• Fixed a bug where Origins that were resurrected for camp nights during region transitions and died outside of camp were not sent back to camp.
• Fixed Sceleritas sometimes referring to the Dark Urge using the wrong pronouns when talking to other party members. Also fixed him sometimes repeating his lines.
• Fixed companions talking about being in the swamp from Act I even if they're not. It's rude to call people's homes 'stinking swamps', Astarion.
• Gale should no longer tell you to join Elminster at camp if you're already at camp.
• You no longer need to interact with Nightsong and Isobel at the end of Act II to receive their Gather Your Allies ability.
• Fixed a voice line not being audible when the cursed monk possesses the corpse of Shirra Clarwen.
• Fixed some cases where the cursed monk inhabiting the amulet would fail to comment on certain areas while the amulet is equipped.
• Fixed the game displaying an empty Strength check in the dialogue that happens after you use Heal on the Dark Urge.
• Fixed a multiplayer issue where if one avatar had enough approval with a companion for a romantic scene to trigger but wasn't available for it, and none of the others had enough approval, the romantic scene would still trigger.
• Gale will no longer demand to eat your magical trinkets if you don't even have him recruited to the party.
• Minthara no longer insists on repeating herself about the Emperor's illithidity.
• Fixed a bug where being spotted by a guard while committing two crimes at the same time, with one crime being trespassing, could lead to a soft-lock. For example, a Wyrm's Rock prison guard could spot you in a forbidden area immediately after you destroyed the door leading to the main part of the prison.

Act I

• Shadowheart should no longer bang on the chapel door while talking. That's manners.
• Fixed an issue where you wouldn't receive the locket from Arabella's parents after dealing with the Shadow Druids.
• Fixed a bug where approaching the goblins at the windmill with a non-avatar character would cause both avatar and companion to be addressed. This could unnecessarily cause combat to ensue.
• Fixed a bug causing Shadowheart to appear dead when loading older saves should she have been killed in the showdown with Lae'zel. This fix prevents the bug from happening in new playthroughs.
• Fixed a bug where if you killed Gekh, then used Glut's Animating Spores to resurrect him, then dismissed Glut, both Spore Servant Gekh and Glut could become hostile towards you. It would also cause Gekh to try to stop you from using the raft to cross the lake.
• Fixed multiple Oath of Vengeance dialogue options not appearing in Act I dialogues.
• Fixed a bug allowing Glut to travel outside the Underdark if you used a waypoint from within the camp. Back in your cave, Glut.
• Fixed an issue where Halsin would join the fight but not take his turn if you decided to fight Elminster at the camp in the Rosymorn region.
• Sceleritas will no longer refer to your artful handling of the poor bard's carotid artery if you didn't 'take care' of her yourself.
• In rare cases where the illusion concealing the true nature of the hag's servants is broken but the illusion concealing the general area is not, the dialogues will now reflect that.
• Interrupting Nere's dialogue after rescuing him from the cave-in should now correctly cause him to become – and remain – hostile when necessary.
• Fixed a bug where talking to Baelen for the first time while he's in the middle of picking up his backpack could cause him to not teleport beyond the bibberbang field. If this already happened to you, you'll need to talk to him again to make him go to the Myconid Village. He's forgetful, you see.
• Fixed the goblins from the Goblin Camp sometimes joining combat in the Emerald Grove when they shouldn't.
• Meli now actually pickpockets Barth.
• Removed a particular overhead line in the Adamantine Forge that suggested the hammer was just starting to move when it, in fact, had just stopped moving.
• The healing potion Auntie Ethel gives you in the Emerald Grove now correctly applies the healing effect.
• Fixed an issue where Sovereign Glut could join the party as follower after being killed and refuse to leave.
• Fixed a bug that was preventing Wyll from commenting on the fact Astarion held a blade to your throat during Astarion's recruitment dialogue by the beach.
• Halsin is a little more reliable when it comes to joining you at camp when he says he will.
• The sleeping bugbears in the Goblin Camp will now more consistently react to you choosing to attack them via the dialogue UI.
• Fixed Auntie Ethel's double sometimes appearing again after her death. Surprise!
• Lae'zel will no longer name-drop Ketheric before he's ever mentioned when you speak to her after meeting Voss at camp.
• Raised the attitudes of some characters from the Emerald Grove when Minthara is defeated.
• Sazza will now walk off near Priestess Gut when you save her by killing Minthara and her would-be executioner.
• Added a missing dialogue option to leave the dialogue with Bex and Danis a little earlier if their repulsively adorable chatter about getting a pet is too much for you.
• Fixed a multiplayer issue where instead of Lae'zel confronting the avatar that goes inside the cave in the Astral Prism, the game would incorrectly choose Lae'zel's avatar instead of her for the dialogue, resulting in a buggy dialogue between two avatars.
• Sazza will now follow another character if the character she was already following is dismissed to camp.
• The hag will no longer start her menacing speech if she spots someone in her lair while someone else is close enough that she won't be able to finish the speech due to combat triggering.
• Fixed a soft-lock where you could get stuck in the Enclave Library if you sent the Key of the Ancients to camp.
• Fixed a bug where unlocking the Emerald Grove Environs waypoint before triggering the cinematic at the front gate of the Emerald Grove would cause Memnon and Arka to forgo mourning Kanon.
• Fixed a duplicate dialogue option about the grove being nature's beating heart when talking to Halsin.
• Fixed a bug causing three of the goblins at the Goblin Camp to get stuck in front of the Collapsed Corridor instead of following all the other goblins to the Emerald Grove.
• Fixed a bug causing Sazza to get stuck cowering after battle is over.

Act II

• Hostile Last Light Inn residents will now become neutral again when the hostility is caused by an erroneous reaction to Minthara.
• Added some fallbacks so you can still confront Oliver after destroying his Nightdome even if you and/or Oliver are Silenced.
• Shadowheart will no longer immediately turn hostile and act like you committed a crime in the Shadowfell if you tell her 'You want to fight? Fine.' While she's not afraid of a good brawl, she'll finish saying what she has to say first.
• Fixed a dialogue option specific to sorcerers in the conversation with Dolly Thrice causing the Moonlantern to not work.
• The Moonlantern crafted at Moonrise Towers will now protect you from the shadow curse as intended.
• Fixed an issue where attempting a skill check against Kar'niss could occasionally cause the dialogue to end abruptly.
• Fixed an issue causing avatar Origin characters in a party with a Dark Urge character to potentially turn hostile along with other companions during a Dark Urge event at night in Act II if the Dark Urge character fails to persuade them that they are not responsible for the murder. Also fixed avatars that were broken in this way, including dead avatars that can't be resurrected.
• Fixed an issue where a dead Shadowheart could still trigger a dialogue at camp with Nightsong.
• Fixed a rare bug where being arrested by the marching army when trying to get to Baldur's Gate for the second time could lead to player characters who were present during the first arrest, but not during the second arrest, to still be teleported into the prison cell in Moonrise Towers.
• Minthara will now continue to want to speak to you after you tell her to wait.
• Fixed an issue where sending Gortash's Netherstone-Studded Gauntlet directly to camp instead of picking it up wouldn't give you his Netherstone until you went back to the Traveller's Chest and retrieved the gauntlet from it. Now sending the gauntlet to camp results in you getting his Netherstone immediately to prevent you from losing track of it.
• Minthara and Halsin will now more consistently choose to remain in the Shadow-Cursed Lands when you load into another region.
• Z'rell will no longer fail to do her duties – namely fighting back when she's attacked – when she's in her office.
• Characters at the bazaar at Moonrise Towers will no longer continuously catch unwelcome visitors and leave it up to the guards to determine who's welcome and who isn't.
• Fixed His Majesty and Thaniel sometimes becoming hostile under the wrong circumstances.
• The Harpers returning to Last Light after the ambush will now be appropriately hostile or friendly, depending on the state of the area.
• Fixed a bug where Halsin could trigger a trespassing crime from within Moonrise Towers even if he was outside.
• Fixed a bug where the surviving Harper scouts could sometimes turn hostile at Last Light if their leader died fighting the drider.
• Fixed your character addressing Shadowheart after deciding Nightsong's fate when Shadowheart isn't there.
• Minthara's Speak With Dead dialogue options now make more sense if she dies in Act II before joining the party.
• A certain plaque in the Thorm Mausoleum now correctly mentions who the coffin belongs to.
• Party members will now comment on the area below Moonrise Towers if they fall through either entrance in the prison.
• Fixed one of Karlach's lines not playing when you talk to her when entering the Colony in Act II.
• Fixed the cutscene for deciphering one of the Engraved Githyanki Discs not triggering.
• Prevented Minthara from being replaced in her escape-from-Moonrise dialogue by an avatar or another character.
• Fixed a couple of flow issues in the dialogue between Lann Tarv and Karlach.

Act III

• Fixed a dialogue flow that repeated multiple times in the Szarr Palace.
• Fixed companion Shadowheart not interjecting with Shar-related lines in an endgame dialogue.
• If you're playing as Karlach, you'll no longer miraculously come back to the Elfsong after burning out or going to Avernus after defeating the Netherbrain when you have multiple romantic partners.
• Fixed a bug causing you to get stuck in the Elfsong camp.
• Fixed a flow issue where if Halsin was your romance partner and you chose to go with him at the end of the game, during the epilogue he would act as though you didn't.
• Fixed a wrong check issue that would prevent Shadowheart from saving her parents if given the opportunity.
• Fixed a bug where Scratch could escape the kennels by the Sword Coast Couriers through the power of fetch. Look, a bug is a bug, okay?
• Fixed an issue where, on some older savegames, Kith'rak Voss would not be present in the Sewers in Act III.
• Fixed a rare case in which unconscious characters would get stuck in permanent combat with the turrets in Ramazith's Tower that would never kill the character, preventing the portal connected to the shop from opening again, which in turn cut off characters outside of the tower.
• Fixed a bug where Orin's version of the Netherstone dagger failed to swap to the player version of the dagger when you equipped it directly from her corpse in a specific circumstance.
• Fixed an issue where Flaming First Madigan could get stuck in an infinite dialogue loop, desperately trying to send you back to prison.
• Fixed a flow issue in the Investigate the Murders quest where some players had their quest log update to say they'd learnt the passphrase to enter Candlehallow's Tombstones even if they hadn't. We've reverted this quest step update so you can continue the quest as normal.
• You no longer need to manually progress with spacebar or mouse or by pressing 1 to continue through Karlach's scene in Avernus with Wyll.
• Fixed the cinematic where Minsc bursts out of a mimic not starting when you enter the vault shapeshifted.
• Fixed Minsc getting stuck in the Counting House vaults.
• Fixed a flow issue where if you were playing as Gale and you didn't become the God of Ambition, you could still find yourself looking and acting pretty godlike in the epilogue.
• Fixed an un-interactable Oskar recovering from unconsciousness after a Long Rest before Kerri's portrait is destroyed if his possessed condition was removed using the Protection from Evil and Good spell.
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause Zanner Toobin to just stand in the doorway to the Steel Watch Foundry if you walked out of the building while he was your follower. He will now always return to the office and wait for you to come back. Guess he likes it in there.
• Fixed a very rare bug where you could break up with your partner but still be unable to date Halsin.
• If Allandra concluded the funeral and returned to her office, the waveservants will no longer stop you if you want to finish the 'Avenge the Drowned' quest.
• Fixed a bug causing Ravengard to die when exiting Wyrm's Rock Fortress after loading a save in which he was broken in a very specific way. Note that if he had died as a result of this bug he will not be resurrected when loading this patch.
• If one of your companions is abducted by Orin with the Mysterious Artefact on them and then sacrificed at the altar, the artefact will now be returned to a party member.
• Lae'zel will now respond more appropriately after you kill Voss in the Sewers if she is loyal to Orpheus.
• Fixed the Emperor thinking you don't have all the Netherstones if one of them is in a camp chest.
• Fixed a few issues with Minsc greetings when talking to him after dealing with Gale and the Crown of Karsus, and after making a choice regarding Orpheus.
• Warning Cora Highberry about the wine if you have the Sage background will no longer incorrectly grant the 'Crossing's Namesake' Inspiration Point.
• Hope should now correctly acknowledge that Korrilla is alive, if she is, when you ask her what she'll do next.
• Fixed an issue preventing you from reporting to Lucretious that you've found a piece of Dribbles before you'd found every single one.
• Zevlor's follow-up scene at High Hall now plays correctly.
• Withers will no longer let you ask if you can dismiss your hirelings at High Hall, given that he doesn't actually offer that service in dangerous areas like that.
• The Emperor now joins the Gather Your Allies moment when your rousing speech doesn't ignite the fighting spirit you were expecting.
• Fixed an issue preventing Aelis Siryasius from speaking after you talk him out of fighting you.
• Fixed some rare cases where you could trigger the alarm at the House of Hope after you'd already left.
• If you meet Devella before solving Father's Lorgan murder in Rivington, when you come back after solving it, the dialogue option about being sent by Valeria will now be more appropriate.
• Fixed Halsin repeatedly bringing up Astarion's relationship with him in overhead dialogues under certain circumstances.
• Roger Highberry will no longer follow Cora's corpse to mourn in front of it if you move it outside the boundaries of the wine festival. This will prevent Roger from, for example, appearing at your camp if you move Cora's corpse to your Traveller's Chest.
• Fixed an overhead dialogue about Gale triggering even if he's not in the party.
• The courier informed us that he found a lost letter from the Grove that was meant to arrive at an important party. It's now been sent on its rightful way.
• The Steel Watchers at Baldur's Mouth no longer sometimes slack off on their security duties if you've killed Gortash.
• Minsc will no longer mention the Zhent taking over the Guildhall in the epilogue when Nine-Fingers is still in power. Silly Minsc seeing into alternate timelines.
• You'll no longer say you recognise the Armbrust family if you never met them.
• Added a quest reward for bringing the Zhent shipment to the Zhent at Guildhall.
• Carrion's heart will now properly teleport from Thrumbo's corpse to the basement of Philgrave's Mansion if the dialogue was triggered by dropping Thrumbo's body in front of Mystic Carrion.
• Fixed a rare issue that caused Dame Aylin to not join the fight with Lorroakan in Ramazith's Tower and then become uninteractable afterwards.
• Fixed some of the vampire spawn not reacting to you attacking them after Cazador dies.
• Fixed the Counting House's restricted area not responding to trespassing in some rare cases.
• Lae'zel will no longer have trouble deciding whether she recognises Avatar Astarion in some greetings if he's disguised.
• When talking to Jaheira about her Rite of the Timeless Body, you could tell her your race lived longer than hers, regardless of facts or logic. Now this only applies if your race does, canonically, live longer.
• You can now ask Barkeep Severn about Cheeky Nora after the Guildhall coup is resolved.
• There were two copies of Taming Hope: Part Two in the House of Hope. The second copy of that book has now rightfully been replaced with Taming Hope: Part Three.
• Fixed a rare case where Yurgir wouldn't appear in the House of Hope, which could lead to you not being able to leave the House of Hope after combat.
• In the cinematic with Beorn Wunterbrood at High Hall, Jaheira or Halsin will now speak up before Withers does when appropriate.
• Wyll's greeting after entering the city will now be more appropriate to your Attitude rating. If it's below 20, no more Mr Nice Guy.
• Gale should now have a slightly different response when faced with the endgame choice after Orpheus has been freed.
• Fixed the duel between Sir Penghyst and Lord Jeth triggering twice if you choose to attack them both via the dialogue.
• Other characters should no longer show up during Gale's contemplations about surviving the end of Act II after departing.
• If you accepted the runepowder bomb from Wulbren in Act III, Wyll would disapprove. Now, you can now gain Wyll’s approval if you refuse it.
• Ringmistress Lucretious may now join your fight against 'Dribbles' & Co. at the circus.
• Animal tamers at the circus should no longer open the beast cages before the clown joins the fight. The beasts used to just run away without their leader in combat.
• Fixed the abrupt transition between two sitting animations for Lord Shattershield's Bodyguard.
• Fixed a Perception check that could let you spot a key inside Crimson Draughts through the roof.
• In the Devil's Fee, you can now close the hatch by using the bust again. The bust itself will always be available for use.
• Fixed a bug blocking off a dialogue option in Halsin's epilogue dialogue about him being modest about his achievements.
• Fixed a bug preventing overhead dialogues from playing when throwing Boo. Behold! The last little cheeks you will ever see!
• Fixed a bug in the 'Find the Nightsong' quest causing Rolan to die after a Long Rest if Nightsong and Lorroakan are killed.
• Fixed a bug preventing your kuo-toa allies from showing up in the endgame.

Journal

• The journal will now close the 'Free the Artist' quest after you defeat Kerri and will no longer will tell you to go get a portrait from Oskar if he and Jannath split up, since he won't make one in that case.
• Fixed the 'Avenge the Drowned' quest not closing correctly if Redhammer didn't initiate conversation with you after all the waveservants were defeated.
• Ensured that the 'Steal a Githyanki Egg' quest isn't left open in the journal if you pass a point of no return and can't return to the Crèche to complete it.
• 'Rescue the Druid Halsin' and its parent quest 'Find a Cure' now resolve properly once you load into the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
• Fixed the journal not updating when you ask Mystic Carrion for a cure for Oskar's possession.
• Fixed the journal not detecting whether you already have the Torch of Revocation when you learn its purpose.
• Fixed a bug causing Minthara to continue asking you to kill the tieflings even if they're all dead, blocking quest progression on the 'Raid the Emerald Grove' quest.
• Tweaked a journal update in the 'Raid the Emerald Grove' quest to avoid suggesting player involvement in cases where it wasn't possible.

MODDING

• Fixed the Mod Manager not being accessible after disconnecting a local player on Xbox.
• Made overall improvements to the Mod Verification window to improve user experience.
• Fixed the Next/Previous Mod button allowing you to cycle through the empty Mod Details pages of third-party mods.
• Updated the search filter options in the Mod Manager to ensure accuracy.
• Fixed mod thumbnails sometimes not showing up in the Mod Loading Order section of the Mod Manager.
• Fixed a bug in the Mod Manager where downloading a mod via the browser and then going to the Mod Details page wouldn't let you uninstall it via the 'Uninstall' button.
• Fixed a FileSystem error showing up and requiring you to close and reopen the game to update or uninstall mods used in the current game session.
• Fixed various issues with mod thumbnails, like pixellated images or inconsistencies between the thumbnails and the title photos.
• The Memory Used widget should now be more accurate on PS5 when uninstalling a mod.
• Fixed a bug causing some mods to get stuck loading at 25%.
• Enabling a mod in the Mod Details window will now give you visual feedback that its dependencies have also been enabled.
• Whenever you log into mod.io, you'll now automatically get subscribed to all your currently installed mods. Also fixed a bug where the UI wouldn't update from 'Installed' to 'Subscribed' when appropriate.
• Fixed a bug letting you access the Mod Manager on split-screen even if one of the players doesn't have the correct permissions on PlayStation 5.

BALDUR’S GATE 3 TOOLKIT

• Enabled editing of existing levels for the following template types: Items, Characters and Triggers (add/override).
• Added an option to reuse the base game shaders when creating materials.
• Added limited support for importing existing mods.
• Added a TranslatedStringKey editor. You can now create/edit strings in your own mods, and view translated strings in dev mods for reference.
• Added 'reloadUI' and 'reloadLoca' debug commands.
• Added a label to show when the Material Editor is in read-only mode.
• Added localisation for certain fields in the Tag Editor.
• Items Editor no longer displays items that can't be picked up in the 'available items' list.
• Validation Errors should no longer disappear when switching between tabs inside the Project Settings window.
• Fixed TextureResources not importing correctly.
• Fixed inability to change a project back to its original name.
• Fixed an Exception Error due to the Dependency list not updating after renaming a project in that list.
• Fixed the horizontal scroll bar not adjusting to text width in the Story Editor.
• Fix a validation error when trying to restore previous mod name if the mod hasn't been saved after renaming.
• Fixed the 'Render Equipment Icons' process in the Toolkit sometimes causing a deadlock.
• If you override an item's parent value in the Stats Editor via the Sidebar, you'll now see the orange diamond icon, as expected, indicating that the value has been overridden.
• The Project Browser will no longer generate a crash dump if there was no crash and you closed the Project Browser window normally.
• Disabled the 'Save' button in the Project Settings window for modders while in developer mods.
• Fixed a bug that could get you stuck in a save-overwrite loop in Toolkit by moving the publishing of .paks to AppData/../Local Mods instead of the /Data folder.
• To prevent a crash, you can no longer input unsupported characters when renaming using the Rename/Move tool.
• Forced Effect Resources to be inside /Data/Public/Assets/Effects when using the Rename/Move tool so that they don't disappear from AllSpark when you rename them.
• Fixed a potential crash caused by the UUID Editor letting you save while in Game Mode.
• Fixed potential data corruption caused by saving tech names with whitespaces in them.
• Added the Patch 8 content that was missing from the Toolkit in the Stats Editor and UUID Editor.
• Added an option to automatically update mod dependencies to include GustavX.
• Moved the Photo Mode section in the Toolkit to where the other base components of the game are so that it can't be edited via the Stats Editor.

PERFORMANCE AND OPTIONS

• The game will now remember the changes made to the audio settings after you click the 'Reset' button.
• Improved the performance of Voice Chat during loading screens on console.
• When you agree to reset tutorial pop-ups during Character Creation, the tutorial pop-up setting in the options will now also get re-enabled.
• Fixed instances of 'Savegame Error 544' on PS5 when you have long, multibyte avatar and savegame names. The savegame name length is now limited according to the length of the avatar's character name.
• Fixed the 'Restore Defaults' button in the Difficulty settings not working when you access it while you're already in gameplay.
• Added a Terrain Texture Quality option to the Video options. Previously controlled by the Texture Quality option, this now controls the texture quality of all terrain. Changing the terrain texture quality doesn't require a game restart for the changes to apply. The terrain texture quality can also be modified on DirectX 11, where previously, terrain textures would always be loaded at the highest resolution.
• Fixed an issue where adjusting your Texture Quality would secretly reset the value to Ultra the next time you opened the game. The setting no longer has a mind of its own.
• Removed the outdated God Rays setting from the Video options, which is now effectively covered by the Fog Quality setting.
• Fixed a potential memory corruption issue when loading out of a level while a player character is being confronted for a crime.
• Fixed screen tearing on Vulkan when VSync is disabled or set to Triple Buffering.
• Optimised the performance of inventories, particularly with lots of items in them.
• Optimised fog rendering when Fog Quality is set to Low.
• Optimised the combat AI.
• Improved performance related to in-game lights.
• Improved the Discord rich presence by adding things like in-game location and the ability to request to join the game.
• Optimised terrain shaders.
• Improved some sluggish performance when navigating through the radial menus on controller.
• Improved potential performance dips related to switching between keyboard and mouse input and controller input.

UI

• Added an error message that'll take you back to the Main Menu when the game can't load Honour Mode files properly.
• Fixed character abilities sometimes being duplicated on the Character Sheet after loading into a new region.
• Fixed the equipment slot filter showing all items instead of items specific to that slot the first time you open it up in Party View.
• Fixed the Inspiration UI sometimes displaying the incorrect XP value.
• Fixed Ability Point bonuses not influencing the number of prepared spells in Character Creation.
• Updated the Movement Speed tooltip to show remaining movement more precisely.
• The Spellbook will now correctly display the spells you've unlocked through feats when playing on keyboard and mouse.
• Items and characters in your inventory that you can't throw will now show up in the Throw menu but will appear disabled.
• Fixed the in-dialogue UI buttons overlapping the text on some screen ratios.
• Fixed the model of the Arcane Turret not being centred in its Examine panel.
• Fixed the Character Sheet tabs sometimes missing their background image and being slightly misaligned.
• Fixed particularly long NPC names in Japanese sometimes overlapping with gold values in the Trade UI.
• Fixed particularly long custom map marker names in Japanese exceeding the bounds of the textbox.
• Fixed some grid-like artefacts showing up on the character models in Character Creation when switching between them.
• Fixed the context menu sometimes displaying the context menu of the last container you interacted with.
• Fixed the wrong error message showing up in the main menu when activating split-screen after trying to create a multiplayer lobby without permissions.
• Fixed a bug on split-screen preventing you from selecting modifiers during an active roll in dialogue.
• Fixed the dice animation missing when quickloading a save made during an active roll in a dialogue.
• The Bhaalist Armour's Aura of Murder tooltip now displays the correct aura radius (3m).
• Fixed the UI missing for a couple of frames when the screen is fading in or out.

Tooltips

• Fixed the tooltip for the Hunted condition not linking out to the Blinding Ambush tooltip when you hovered over it.
• Improved the Attack Bonus and Damage tooltips that link out from the Character Sheet, which weren't always updating to the correct values.
• The tooltip for the Obliging Assistant spell that the sisters at the House of Healing have will now show the correct healing values.
• Fixed some tooltips, like Paladin's Healing Radiance, not showing the proper calculations in Character Creation.
• Fixed Fireball missing its upcast description when upcast to a Level 4 spell slot.
• Fixed the description of the Nightdome's Cursed Vengeance passive in Tactician Mode.
• Fixed the Strength increase not showing up correctly in the Bolstering Brew tooltip.
• Fixed the Bane's Wrath tooltip showing the wrong damage values.
• Fixed the incorrect damage amount in the tooltip for Curriculum of Strategy: Artistry of War.
• Fixed the tools wielded by the sisters at the House of Healing having '1d6' in their tooltips where they shouldn't.
• Fixed comparison tooltips sometimes missing the player name.
• Clarified that Pact Weapon and Hexed Weapon use Charisma as the modifier in their respective tooltips.

Icons and Portraits

• Updated the icon for the Shadow Blade to better match its visuals.
• Fixed the Reward UI sometimes not displaying the icon of the rewarded item.
• Fixed the wrong variant of the Barbarian class icon appearing in Character Creation.
• Fixed the Lesser Hellboar's portrait, which had a golden outline.

Controller, Multiplayer, and Split Screen

• Fixed the wrong controller rumbling when updating the rumble settings with two controllers plugged in.
• Added a 'Move To' option to the context menu on controller while in combat or Turn-Based Mode.
• Added a Forced Split Screen option on the Gameplay tab of the options menu for controller.
• Fixed the HDR Calibration preview not showing up correctly on controller or when switching to or from controller mode.
• Fixed a visual bug when active roll bonuses first fade in on controller.
• Fixed a couple of missing button prompts in the controller tutorials for Pickpocketing and Sneaking.
• Fixed an issue where if you reduced the number of slots in the multiplayer lobby and this caused a player using a secondary controller to be kicked (because they were assigned to one of the removed slots), that slot would become permanently unavailable and the UI wouldn't update properly either.
• Fixed a split screen bug where one player's open tooltip would close when the other player updated their selected item via the equipped items pop-up.
• Removed the voice chat UI for non-console games.
• Added player names to the main Multiplayer Settings UI on keyboard and mouse.
• Fixed a bug on split screen causing the text that indicates whether a container is open or closed to be inaccurate when a container is opened by one player and another player is also highlighting it.
• Fixed the Traveller's Chest UI not closing when you select 'Close' from the context menu on split screen.
• Fixed a bug causing split screen to merge into one screen if one player is in a dialogue and the other player enters Turn-Based Mode.
• Fixed a split screen bug where adding a second controller and character during Character Creation would create a character that can't be edited.
• Fixed a split screen bug on Xbox where Player 2's in-game environment would reload when Player 1 entered the Level Up screen.
• Fixed the 'Sell' and 'Select' buttons in the Trade UI being mapped to the same button on controller when you open a container within a trade and try to multiselect items. The 'Sell' option is no longer available while you still have that container open.
• When you highlight a tooltip on controller, the outer border will now appear beneath the item's icon.
• Fixed a bug on split screen causing the inventory context menu on another player's item to get stuck temporarily.
• Fixed a bug where the in-game custom dice UI would require you to press controller buttons twice instead of once to navigate through them.
• Fixed a split screen bug where Player 1 would become invisible from Player 2's perspective if Player 2 disconnected from the session while in a cinematic.
• Fixed some overlapping button prompts on the Report UI in the Mod Manager.

LEVEL DESIGN

• Added a Memorial Portrait to the streets of Rivington.
• Tweaked some rocks and bookcases to improve the appearance of the cutscene at camp where Lae'zel attacks you, depending on where it happens.
• Fixed some lopsided and upside-down chairs letting you sit on them anyway.
• Fixed a gap in the wall near the Verge of the Shadows.
• Fixed some terrain that was protruding from the ground in the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
• Moved an unreachable Blue Dye in Carm's Garms.
• Fixed some black planes in the background of the first cinematic with Yurgir in the Gauntlet of Shar.
• Tweaked some curtains in the Szarr Palace that could interfere with cinematic shots when talking to Vilhelm.
• Moved an old bottle in the Blighted Village to make it reachable. Keep those lootin' fingers limber.
• Grounded some floating rocks in the Ruined Battlefield.
• Moved the hirelings' spawnpoints to prevent them from spawning in Shadowheart's tent.
• Removed a teeny tiny itty bitty untextured cube that was hiding beneath the bridge to Wyrm's Fortress.

ART

• Fixed some low-resolution textures on Flaming Fist outfits.
• Tightened He Who Was' belt so it fits him better around the chest. We're pretty sure he could have tightened it himself, but he insisted someone else do it.
• Fixed female dragonborn rogues missing the belt from their starter outfits.
• Adjusted the Selûnite Robe on all races so that gloves now correctly hide the sleeves when worn.
• Fixed a rogue occluder in the Hollow, letting you see the waters beneath the earth at certain angles.
• Fixed Morgan's sleeves clipping through her gloves.
• Adjusted the Dark Justiciar Half-Plate for female characters, which, when worn without underwear underneath it, was letting the nips peek through.
• Gave Bunny and Blossom – two very much human children in the Lower City – clothes fit for humans. Without tail holes.
• Updated several boots that were making githyanki knees disappear when equipped.
• Updated the Teal Slimfit Outfit to correctly show a tiefling body instead of a human body when equipped by tieflings.
• The colors of the Strapped Choker Leather Ensemble should now display correctly after you switch from a visual with the same mesh but different colours.
• Fixed the colour of the Oath of Devotion's default tunic. It was appearing ruddy red instead of the intended blue.
• Fixed the glass around one of the lamps in the Arcane Tower not aligning properly with the light itself.
• Fixed the back of some posters in the sewers' Abandoned Cistern missing their texture.
• Adjusted Eye Make Up Style 7 so the colour no longer also appears on the character's neck.
• Adjusted the icon and loot item of the Shade-Slayer Cloak to reflect the model used when it's worn.
• Adjusted the Adamantine Scale Mail armour on female dwarves so it better hides the chesticles.
• Fixed some clipping on Boris and Jacob, the skeletons at the circus.
• Fixed lip colours not showing up on Head 8 for male humans.
• There was a discrepancy between the facial spots on the female githyanki Head 1 character model and UI icon. They now have the same spots.
• Fixed some stretching on the Emblazoned Plate of the Marshal.
• Fixed some clipping on the starting armour for paladins when worn by male githyanki.

ANIMATION

• Fixed clipping on some of the starting armour across classes and races.
• Fixed some stretching on the Armour of Persistence when worn by male githyanki characters.
• Fixed the Scale Mail stretching on female gnomes' legs.
• Fixed the Flaming Fist Half Plate Armour clipping into characters' thighs.
• Fixed Lae'zel's hair looking like it was badly crimped in a romantic scene with Gale.
• Fixed some clipping and stretching issues with the Emblazoned Plate of the Marshal.
• Fixed one of the tendrils of the jester hat vibrating ominously when worn by female dragonborn characters. Also fixed all the tendrils standing up stiffly when worn by dwarves.
• Fixed Popper's loincloth clipping into his thigh.
• Fixed Auntie Ethel's trousers clipping through her tunic when she bends forward.
• Fixed the Fireforge Tassels beard clipping and stretching in some cinematics with the Dream Visitor.
• Fixed Oliver's limbs sometimes getting all stretchy during Hide and Seek and looking a little too Slender Man for our liking.
• Fixed the cloth on the Half Plate Armour +2 clipping on female thighs.
• Fixed some clipping and stretching issues with the Cerebral Citadel Armour.
• The instrument on your back will no longer hover mid-air behind you when you change into your camp clothes if you had previously been wearing a cape.
• Fixed the missing animation when using Sneak Attack with pole-type weapons like The Dancing Breeze.
• Minthara will now correctly plot her plans on her map in her idle animation.
• Aligned Remira's bow with her hand.
• Fixed Tugelnhorn's shirt clipping through her waistcoat.
• Fixed an untextured gap in the Solemnity Outfit when worn by female humanoids.
• Fixed Bhaal Horriss' belt clipping into his trousers.
• Fixed some minor clipping on the halfplate Wulbren wears.
• Fixed clipping on the clothes of the Bhaalist cultists in Bloomridge Park.
• Fixed clipping on the clothes of cambions.
• Fixed one of the medallions on Duke Ravengard's belt clipping into the belt.
• Fixed Charl Baragezian's shirt clipping into him.
• Fixed Ramona Flintsplitter's shirt and hat clipping into her.
• Fixed Droona Shveitz's red shirt clipping into her.
• Fixed Otterdance Fenton's shirt clipping into him.
• Gelled down a few strands of Shadowheart's hair that were sticking out and stretched funny.
• Fixed Chain Mail +1 stretching into a dangerous-looking shard of fabric when combined with gloves.
• Fixed Nightsong's Armour clipping through thighs.
• Fixed the Linebreaker Boots and the barbarian Leather Boots looking all stretchy when worn by a character with Invisibility.
• Fixed the tentacles on the Netherbrain not playing their squirmy dance animation for Otto's Irresistible Dance.
• Fixed a bug where, upon attempting to attack a target with a Quarterstaff while Raging from a few paces away, the attack animation would swap to a different one mid-lunge.
• Reminded the Spectator that its rays should come out of its eyestalks, not its mouth.
• Fixed the Armour of Agility clipping into several gloves when worn by halflings.
• The belt buckle on the Mighty Cloth will no longer float mid-air when worn by male githyanki.
• Fixed some clipping on the Protecty Sparkswall on female body types.
• Fixed clipping on several Half Plate armours when worn by female gnomes.
• Fixed the shoulder of one of the skeletons in the Chapel crypt poking through his clothes.
• Fixed some clipping on the Society of Brilliance robe when worn by dwarves.
• Fixed some clipping on Pritt Yellowbreath's clothes.
• Fixed some clipping on Chef Roveer's clothes.
• Fixed some clipping on the Chain of Liberation and Slippery Chain Shirt.
• Fixed the starting armour for female half-orc rogues clipping while they move.
• Fixed some clipping on Blurg's robe.
• Fixed some clipping and stretching on the Dark Justiciar Half-Plate and Gloves of the Balanced Hands.
• Fixed some stretching on the Elven Chain armour when worn by male githyanki.
• Fixed a bug causing Ketheric to sport Mizora's hair.
• Fixed Marcus' thigh clipping through his tabard in the scene where he drops menacingly from the sky.
• You'll no longer be able to literally see through the hips of large female characters when they're wearing Shadowheart's camp clothes.

SOUND

• Fixed some missing SFX on Mama Owlbear when she's enraged after you kill her cub.
• Fixed some spells' preparation SFX not ending when you deselect the spell.
• Fixed an inappropriately dramatic music change in the endgame cinematic after Gale sacrifices himself and the githyanki depart.
• Fixed Raphael's combat music not triggering if you load a savegame made during a particular dialogue in the House of Hope.
• Fixed the combat music failing to trigger if you initiate the combat with the Entombed Scribes in the Dank Crypt by trying to pick them up, presumably to cradle them in your arms.
• Fixed the SFX missing when Sorn Orlith snaps his fingers.
• Fixed Valeria sometimes missing her flapping sounds.
• Fixed the music changing when it shouldn't on the ship docked on the Western Beach at Wyrm's Crossing.
• Added missing UI sounds on the Inventory filter lists.
• Fixed some missing music and SFX in the evil ending cinematics when playing on split screen.
• Fixed the SFX missing when Grasping Vines prepare to cast Grasping Pull.
• Added some music that was missing during Orin's transformation reveals.
• Fixed a split screen sound playing when loading a region or savegame and switching from keyboard and mouse to controller.
• Fixed some missing SFX when casting Speak with Dead on the mind flayer in the Shattered Sancrum.
• Fixed the music during the portal combat by Last Light being too quiet.
• Fixed the environmental music stopping abruptly when you leave the little chapel in the Lower City camp.
• Fixed the environmental music stopping abruptly when you leave the myconid colony.
• Fixed a rock in the Shadow-Cursed Lands camp that would make the environmental music stop playing if you walked on it and then off it again.
• Fixed the main menu music dropping in volume slightly when you open the Options menu on controller.

VFX

• Fixed some missing Detect Thoughts VFX in the dialogue with the Archivist.
• Fixed a big black rectangle appearing in the dialogue with Glut if you skip through the dialogue.
• Fixed Shadowheart's wound missing its SFX and VFX in the dialogue with Thulla.
• Fixed avatar genitals sometimes showing up during Astral lovemaking with Gale when they shouldn't.
• Added some missing Detect Thoughts VFX when probing Cordula Eltan's mind.
• Fixed Karlach's VFX momentarily disappearing in her scene on the pier at the end of the game.
• Fixed the explosions from traps in the Apothecary's Cellar appearing visually much smaller than their actual impact.
• Fixed the position of the VFX for Spiritual Weapons' Concussive Smash spell.
• Cleaned up some blue VFX that could lead to odd lighting in the dialogue after you confront Oliver.
• Fixed missing VFX on Shadowheart's wound when you ask her about her faith.
• Fixed the Countercharm VFX showing a spectral human playing a dying animation when casting a secondary instance of Countercharm in the area.
• Fixed a potential broken frame showing the bridge explosion in Act I before the cinematic begins.
• Fixed some VFX misalignment when the Restless Myconid is communicating telepathically.
• Fixed the flowing VFX from the ritual symbols on the ground in the House of Hope sometimes clipping through your character in a cinematic.
• Fixed some flickering on the Memory Shard in the scene that triggers when you interact with it.
• Fixed a bug causing Lae'zel's astral VFX in the epilogue to disappear mid-dialogue.
• Optimised the VFX in the scene where you sit on the throne atop the Netherbrain.
• Fixed the in-game Moonlight Glaive VFX appearing in cinematics even when the glaive itself isn't visible.
• Fixed some inconsistent lighting on a Justiciar Avenger when it rises up from the ground in a cinematic.
• Fixed the Warden of Vitality VFX flickering on Oathbreakers' hands.
• Fixed some white graphical artefacts on the outline of the Mountain Pass transition if you hover your cursor over it and then move the in-game camera.
• Fixed the Level Up VFX playing on both sides of a split screen game even if it's just one player levelling up.
• Fixed a bug causing Orin's dagger to turn solid red.
• Fixed a bug where body type 1 and 3 characters' chests would clip through their armour in the spectral preview that appears when preparing to cast certain spells.

WRITING

• Updated the spell and condition tooltips for Owlbear's Rage to account for the Constitution and Temporary Hit Points gained when using the ability.
• Made the description of Mage Hand Legerdemain more accurate, by removing the mention of carrying out 'additional tasks'.
• Updated the description for Bend Luck to make it clear that the spell only affects Ability Checks.
• Fixed an incorrect additional description showing up in the Oil Flask tooltip.
• Fixed a discrepancy in the damage type of Storm's Fury.
• Removed repeated text in the Warding Bond tooltip description.
• Fixed the Knock Unconscious tooltip displaying a developer's comment instead of the correct description.
• Fixed some technical text appearing in the Shield Steward Interrogation Log tooltip.
• Clarified the description of Phantasmal Force.
• Clarified that Unarmoured Defence doesn't stack with Mage Armour.
• Removed some superfluous information about the recharge time of the Quickspell Flinger feature to align with other tooltips.
• Updated the Mapped Terror tooltip descriptions to clarify that they affect followers.
• Clarified in the Animate Dead: Flying Ghoul tooltips that, although Flying Ghouls can fly, they specialise in melee combat.
• Updated the Owlbear Cub's Skittish tooltip to clarify that it becomes Frightened.
• Fixed the Dread Ambusher tooltip incorrectly indicating that the associated weapon attack is a Bonus Action.
• Removed repeated text in the Caution Before the Seelie item description.
• Corrected several misspellings of Oskar Fevras' name.
• Fixed an unfinished sentence in the description of the Delicately Constructed Outfit.
• The Temporary Hit Points mentioned in the Armour of Agathys condition tooltip will now scale appropriately when upcast.
• Fixed several minor mismatches between subtitles in cinematics and the voice over.
• Fixed several typos across the game.
• Updated the text on the Crash Reporter screen in Brazilian Portuguese.
• Removed the outdated 'and do nothing else' part of the description for Command: Drop when cast at higher levels.
• Removed the erroneous mention of Versatile weapons in the 'Duelling' Fighting Style tooltip.
• Updated the name of the catch-and-redirect portion of Deflect Missiles to 'Deflect Missiles: Redirect' to reduce ambiguity.
• Fixed the tooltips for Arsenist's Oil incorrectly saying that it replaces Fire Resistance with Fire Vulnerability, instead of just stripping Resistance.
• Fixed an error in the tooltip descriptions of toxins, and clarified that the damage is applied at the end of the target's turn.
• Fixed a mismatch in the name of the passive and the reaction granted by the Unflinching Protector Amulet to avoid ambiguity as they're referring to the same thing. They're now both called Unflinching Protection.
• Updated the tooltip description for Aura of Protection to clarify that it disappears if you fall Unconscious, like the other paladin auras.
• Clarified that Crusader's Mantle affects the caster as well as any nearby allies.

CINEMATICS

Across Acts

• Improved camera shots, mocap animations, character staging, and facial expressions in many dialogues across the game.
• Fixed pops, jitters, and clipping in many dialogues across the game.
• Improved camera angles for characters of different heights in cinematics across the game.
• Fixed some alignment issues when smooching Lae'zel as a male githyanki.
• Fixed several visual bugs, like odd camera shots and clipping, in the camp scene with Dark Urge characters if they spare Isobel.
• Fixed some small pops in Shadowheart's main dialogue.
• The camera now cuts to Gale in a timely manner when he responds after you dismiss him from your party.
• Fixed an issue where you wouldn't be looking at Wyll at the beginning of his main dialogue, as well as some animation pops.
• Fixed some pops on Shadowheart in her main dialogue.
• Adjusted some cameras to prevent dragonborn horns from obscuring Karlach's face when talking to her.
• Added some more camera angles to avoid pops between lines when talking to Halsin.
• Added an additional head animation for Scratch so he continues to hold his ball correctly in his mouth. Whosagoodboy!
• Fixed Karlach's hands clipping into her hips when she tells you she sees a bit of colour in your cheeks.
• Fixed the Sentient Amulet's chain looking stiff in cinematics.
• Asked Jaheira to kindly look at Lae'zel when she's talking to her.

Act I

• Fixed larger player characters briefly sliding slightly upwards in the dialogue with Wroot after freeing him from the windmill.
• Fixed some mocap pops on Voss at the Mountain Pass chokepoint.
• The owlbear no longer blips out of existence during the dialogue with Krolla about the chicken chase.
• Pooldripp no longer suddenly shifts position mid-cinematic.
• Improved camera angles for shorter races and facial expressions in Wyll's recruitment dialogue.
• Fezzerk's head no longer pops mid-sentence when he turns around.
• Fixed Karlach's body popping when Origin Wyll confronts her for the first time.
• Fixed your character popping out of place when the dragon spits fire onto the nautiloid at the start of the game. Also fixed your character's hand clipping into the transponder.
• Fixed a camera shot aimed at no one at all when you lean in to give the mind flayer on the beach a little kiss.
• Fixed one of Shadowheart's lines getting cut off before she'd finished speaking in her confrontation with Lae'zel.
• Fixed one of Rath's lines getting cut off prematurely.
• Barcus no longer clips into the ground and slides around from side to side in the dialogue by the windmill.
• Female gnomes who choose to slap Gale's hand away at the start of the game will now actually slap his hand instead of swiping confidently at the air.
• Fixed Gale looking in funny directions and popping when you're with him in the secluded grove at night.
• Fixed Crusher getting partially blocked off from view by taller player characters when he's grovelling on the floor.
• Fixed camera and mocap pops after healing the bird Nettie is tending to.
• Fixed Fezzerk popping out of place between two of his lines at the windmill.
• Fixed an animation pop when Chock recoils from being hit by Fank at the schoolhouse in the Blighted Village.
• The camera now correctly shows Karlach when she chimes in during the dialogue with Auntie Ethel at the teahouse.
• Fixed some character placements in the cinematic with one of the Sacrificed Cultists on the nautiloid to fix dragonborn characters clipping into the chair.
• Improved the camera shots and fade-ins and -outs in the dialogue with Sazza and Olak.
• Fixed Lae'zel popping between two lines when talking about the tadpoles at camp.
• Fixed the sails of the raft in the Underdark popping while unfurling.
• Fixed a shot in Gale's recruitment dialogue where, if you decided to draw your weapon, you'd act it out very threateningly but not actually be holding anything in your hands. Gale always took your game of make-believe very seriously, though.
• If you successfully pull Phalar Aluve out of its rock, your hands will now grip it more convincingly.
• Fixed a fallen statue obscuring a shot when talking to Yerle in the Shattered Sanctum while playing as a short race.
• Fixed Auntie Ethel's body animations sometimes stopping mid-line while talking to her in the Emerald Grove.
• Fixed Shadowheart twizzling her head from left to right when you try to recruit her in the Emerald Grove.
• Companions' heads will no longer violently snap towards you when you choose to sacrifice one of them to BOOOAL.
• Fixed a bug causing you to abruptly crouch down before approaching Minthara for the romantic night in Act I.
• Fixed Voss' sword clipping through your head as though slicing through soft butter in a scene at camp.
• Fixed Priestess Gut's hand clipping through her potion bottle.

Act II

• Fixed the Spear of the Night sometimes magically teleporting to Shadowheart's back after she throws it into the Shadowfell.
• Fixed a small animation pop and a line of dialogue getting cut short in the scene with Minthara at Moonrise Towers.
• Your hand will no longer clip into the wall when you're elbow-deep in the Cracked Wall at Moonrise.
• Fixed Gale's interjection getting cut off prematurely by your Dream Guardian when you go digging for gods-know-what in the Cracked Wall at Moonrise.
• Improved several animations and movements when you grab Karlach's hip in her Act II romance dialogue.
• Fixed your character dramatically whipping their head to the side at a dangerous speed in the dialogue with Astarion, Petras, and Dalyria in Wyrm's Crossing.
• Fixed the weapon covering Gale's face when he offers to sacrifice himself during the Chosen Three cinematic.
• Fixed a minor pop on your character when you first pick up the tankard Thisobald offers you.
• Barcus is no longer Mike Wazowski'd by various items like cauldrons and bottles, blocking him from view when you talk to him at Last Light.
• Fixed a bug where githyanki players who lose the duel against Lae'zel would later overlap with Lae'zel's body during a tender moment.
• Fixed the wrong animation sometimes playing when you're convincing Jaheira to let you through to Last Light.
• Fixed a couple of shots where Yurgir's crossbow was clipping into his hands.
• Fixed one of Minthara's lines at camp getting cut off prematurely.

Act III

• Fixed some mind flayer tentacles looking a little stiff and clipping into armour in an endgame cinematic after you choose to betray the Emperor.
• Adjusted some camera shots to better suit shorter races in Karlach's final scene on the pier.
• Fixed Astarion sometimes casually reappearing beside the party again after he flees from the sun on the docks.
• In the cinematic with Ansur, the smoke is no longer obscured by silhouettes of terrain in the background, and Ansur's eye no longer floats around his head.
• Fixed some camera shots (facing the wrong direction or blocked off by things in the environment) in the dialogue where you evolve with the Astral-Touched Tadpole.
• Fixed companions or multiplayer party members sometimes blocking the camera during the cutscene before arriving at the Morphic Pool.
• Fixed companions' lines getting cut off prematurely after Gale sacrifices himself alone at the end of the game.
• Fixed a pop on the Archivist at the House of Hope after selecting a particular dialogue option.
• Raphael will now fully complete his transformation during the cinematic before it transitions to gameplay at the House of Hope.
• Fixed one of Skittle's paws clipping into the ground.
• Fixed some clipping, awkward camera angles, and character placements in the dialogue with your allies at High Hall.
• An animation issue causing Halsin’s eyes to shift to the left during dialogue after choosing to embrace an illithid form has now been fixed.
• Wild-Shaped companions will no longer turn invisible during some endgame cinematics.
• Fixed a pop on mind flayer Karlach after the events at the end of the game.
• Fixed some visual bugs, like illithid tentacles flapping all over the place, in one of the evil ending cinematics.
• Scratch is now visible in the cage as intended if you choose to give him back to Mar'hyah.
• Minsc's armguards no longer magically disappear mid-dialogue.
• Improved some shots of betentacled Wyll if he takes the evil path at the end of the game.
• Fixed your character playing their crouching animation twice in a row in the dialogue with the Dying Stone Lord Thug if you choose to make him suffer.
• Popped Mirkon's shoulders back into their sockets when you talk to him in Rivington.
• Fixed Akabi's body popping out of place when he yells at you to drown him in coin.
• Fixed a moment in Wyrm's Crossing where Lae'zel would look at you when she should have been looking at Voss.
• Fixed one of Cheeky Nora's lines not having subtitles.
• Fixed some severe tentacle clipping in the dialogue immediately after the first confrontation with the Netherbrain.
• Fixed an issue so that Lae'zel's eyes no longer appear totally emotionless before stabbing Orpheus. She didn't even look her usual level of angwy.
• Fixed some awkward head angles and pops and hid the sword in the endgame cinematic with Lae'zel and the dragon.
• Fixed female halfling and dragonborn characters' eyes clipping through their eyelids in delight while getting jiggy with Mizora.
• Fixed shorter races sometimes being blocked by props in some of the cinematic shots when making your way to the Iron Throne.
• Fixed some camera angles on short characters in Karlach's scene after Gortash dies.
• Fixed some missing SFX when Astarion taps the bottom of Cazador's staff on the ground after the Black Mass.
• Cleaned up some mocap to fix Shadowheart jittering and popping when addressing Viconia in the Cloister.
• Fixed Shadowheart's mum's hand clipping into her neck when they hug.
• Fixed Wyll popping out of place when addressing the Dark Urge in the evil ending.
• Fixed Karlach's head popping and lip sync being slightly off when she addresses the Dark Urge in the evil ending.
• Fixed Astarion's forearms looking like they've detached from his body in the dialogue at High Hall.
• Fixed some characters not being lit up correctly in the dialogue with Beorn Wunterbrod at High Hall.
• Fixed the placement of characters when you skip through an endgame dialogue with Astarion if he was your romantic partner.
• Fixed some clipping in the dialogue with the Highberrys.
• Fixed some long pauses at the end of the lines in the Monk's Manifestation's overhead dialogue when you interact with Shirra's sarcophagus.
• Fixed your avatar party members possibly floating mid-air when you enter the Astral Portal after surviving the githyanki ambush at camp at the start of Act III.
• Fixed several pops and clips in the dialogue at High Hall where your allies commit to supporting you.
• Fixed several visual bugs, like your character floating above their bedroll, during the first night at the camp overlooking Wyrm's Crossing.
• Fixed one of Gortash's Speak with Dead lines getting cut off prematurely.
• Fixed Mizora snapping her head around like a bobblehead if you reject her when she's enticing you with the pleasures of the Hells.
• Fixed Shadowheart popping out of place in the dialogue with Nocturne.
• Fixed jittery mocap for the Inquirer of Grief (before her reveal).
• Fixed Shadowheart's father's hand clipping into her camp clothes during a family hug.
• Wulbren no longer suddenly pops onto the screen out of nowhere in the scene after you blow up the foundry, nor does he suddenly appear further away from his two Ironhand lackeys.
• Fixed one of Toobin's lines getting cut off prematurely.
• Fixed a bug where choosing to hug Minsc in the epilogue as a large-bodied character, like Karlach, would cause you to repeatedly attempt to hug him, even if you miss the mark.
• Fixed one of Karlach's lines getting cut off prematurely when discussing the Supreme Tadpole.
• Made sure Shadowheart won't be wearing a helmet when she asks you what you think of her new hair. Kinda makes it difficult to give an opinion.
• Fixed a bug causing Wyll to lose his horns when talking to Hope in the House of Hope.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Niantic Spatial, the tech company that remains of Niantic after it sold off its games business to Scopely last month, just laid off 68 people following the roughly $3.5 billion transaction.

This news was spotted by Game Developer via a California WARN Act report, shows that at least 68 individuals are losing their jobs effect May 20, 2025. CEO John Hanke confirmed the news by sharing an email distributed to employees today.

In it, he said that the layoffs came as a result of Niantic Spatial needing to "operate as a startup organization, focused on the road ahead", for which "some roles would not be required given our new focus." It's worth noting that Niantic was formed in 2010 under Google as Niantic Labs, and became independent in 2015.

"These decisions are never easy; they in no way reflect the individuals’ performance, and we understand their impact on people’s lives," he continued. "We deeply appreciate the talented individuals who helped us get here and for their many contributions, and will support them as they transition to new opportunities."

These layoffs impact Niantic Spatial, which is the portion of Niantic that was spun off following the sale of Niantic's games business – including Pokemon Go, Monopoly Go!, and other games – to Scopely last month for over $3.5 billion. Niantic Spatial's focus is on using geospatial artificial intelligence to develop new technology and products, something Niantic was already been doing for a while both outside of and with the help of its games.

Niantic Spatial was funded with $250 million of capital, $200 million from Niantic's balance sheet and a $50 million Scopely investment. Upon its announcement, the company said its intention was to "accelerate and scale even more rapidly".

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Two things that seem to have been eternally popular since their inception are The Lord of the Rings and cooperative card games. Now, Tolkein’s legions of fans can enjoy both at once by playing their way through the first book of his trilogy, working together, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game.

I noticed Pokémon 151 booster bundles are back on Amazon, and I’d love to say that means good news for collectors. But when the price is more than double the MSRP, it's more of a raised eyebrow than a celebration. Amazon is listing the bundle for over $60, despite its actual retail price being $26.94. I guess we're calling that a "deal" now. Still, given how fast this set sells out, I can't entirely write it off.

Pokémon TCG: 151 Booster Bundle Is Back In Stock For A Premium

Ubisoft is plotting a course to make Skull and Bones Year 2 the pirate multiplayer game’s biggest yet thanks to major content additions like new modes, ships, a Kraken, and something fans have begged for since launch: land combat.

Ubisoft opened its treasure chest of plans for the next year of updates during a special Year 2 showcase that premiered yesterday. Its presentation was packed with content to look forward to, but it’s Season 3: Guts and Glory that promises the land combat feature players have hoped to see included since Skull and Bones originally launched last February.

During Season 3 this fall, Ubisoft will finally allow players to take the action away from the sea, meaning you’ll be able to swordfight and even draw your firearms against others. It’s all part of Season 3’s Rogue Warlord additions, which will see players setting foot on sandy beaches and damp caves to rescue skilled crewmembers known as Officers. A video teasing the feature showed a bit of what players can expect, but it’s clear we’ll have to wait until later this year to see how it all works.

While land combat is by far the biggest addition coming with Skull and Bones Year 2, the presentation had plenty more to keep players digging throughout 2025. Season 1 sets sail today, April 15, with Ascent into Chaos, which adds a loot-enhancing item ascension feature, challenging World Tiers, a new Schooner medium ship, and the team-based Death Tides PvP mode. Season 2: Oaths of War, which launches summer 2025, includes highlights such as Megaforts and the gargantuan Frigate large ships, with Season 4: Eye of the Beast set to introduce the Kraken, Hunter’s Guild, and Corvette large ship this winter.

If everything you’ve heard sounds enticing enough to dive in, you’ll be happy to know Skull and Bones will launch a free weekend in just a few days. From April 17 – 21, players can raise sails to try out pirate PvP for themselves and also purchase the game at a reduced price (which has yet to be announced).

Skull and Bones launched February 16, 2024, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S (we gave it a 7/10 in our review). Although Ubisoft has been reluctant to share official sales stats for its latest pirate adventure game, it did tease that it managed to bring in “record player engagement” shortly after its release. Interestingly, the launch of Skull and Bones also coincided with a 200% increase in Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag players.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

After a small leak last week, EA has confirmed the title of its next Star Wars game, as well as who's making it. It's called Star Wars: Zero Company, and it's being developed by Bit Reactor with support from Lucasfilm Games and Respawn.

We don't know much more about Zero Company, except that it be a "single-player turn-based tactics game". We won't have to wait long for more information, though, as EA says it will be giving a first look at the game on April 19 at Star Wars Celebration in Japan.

Developer Bit Reactor is a newly-formed strategy game studio made up of veterans from games like XCOM, Civilization, Gears of War, and Elder Scrolls Online. The studio was founded in 2022, and we've known for a while now that it was working on a Star Wars game with Respawn, but this is the first time we've received any real details about the project.

As for Respawn's involvement, it's not 100% clear exactly how involved the studio is. Respawn has undergone a number of difficult challenges lately, including the cancelation of its own Star Wars FPS one year ago alongside mass layoffs at EA, and the cancelation of another multiplayer FPS incubation project just last month.

More about Star Wars: Zero Company will be revealed at a live panel on Saturday, April 19 at 4:30pm local time in Japan…which is unfortunately 12:30am PT and 3:30am ET over here in the U.S., so set your alarms accordingly.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The Nintendo Switch 2 versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are getting a few upgrades, and one of them looks to be a way to repair equipment.

As spotted in the recent Nintendo Treehouse Live stream by YouTuber Zeltik, the Zelda Notes app—a mobile companion app exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom—has a Daily Bonus feature. When the user opens this up, they can roll for a number of in-game bonuses, including helpful meal effects, health and stamina recovery, and one labeled Equipment Repairs.

Both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom use durability meters, where weapons, shields, and other items will break after enough uses. It's been a controversial mechanic, so having a workaround for keeping your favorite Flameblade intact certainly has its appeal.

For those worried about this completely changing the game though, there is at least one notable limitation: chance. The Daily Bonus uses a roulette wheel to randomly select which bonus the player gets, so it's not guaranteed to always hand you an Equipment Repair. The bonus is also daily, with a built-in timer you'll have to wait on until your next spin. While this may be extremely effective in a pinch, it's unlikely to become a massive game-changer.

The Zelda Notes app looks to have many other interesting features alongside some free Equipment Repairs. Both Zelda games are also getting their own form of achievements through the mobile companion program, and special audio memories will add new lore and background to different parts of Hyrule.

These additional upgrades certainly seem like they'll enhance the open-world Zelda experience, alongside the performance improvements, especially for people who really disliked breaking their favorite weapons.

For more, read up here on how the Nintendo Switch 2 is improving on certain Switch 1 games.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Long before Bethesda took the reins of the series and Walton Goggins smeared on the ghoul make-up for his spellbinding turn in its adapted TV show, Fallout was an isometric action RPG viewed from a bird’s eye perspective. It’s that classic style of wasteland-wandering that the upcoming Survive the Fall appears to be using as its reference point, at least if the first few hours of the game I got my hands on are anything to go by. This deadly post-apocalyptic tale of survival builds on the original Fallout’s template – quite literally in the case of its robust camp development system – and its squad-based combat and scavenging help it craft an experience that feels fresh, even if the somewhat static story presentation prevents its personality from totally shining through.

Unlike so many other post-apocalypses, Survive the Fall’s ruined world wasn’t caused by man’s own nuclear negligence. Instead, it seems that humanity got a dose of the sort of disaster that made the dinosaurs drop dead, when a comet collided with the earth and wiped out a significant slice of the world’s population. It also left a smoldering crater that leaks a toxic mist called Stasis, and those who survived either avoid it like the interplanetary plague it is or embrace it, absorbing its otherworldly power to mutate into stronger forms at the expense of their own humanity. Throughout Survive the Fall, your growing squad of scavengers must build bonds with the various factions found scattered around its three biomes in order to survive and thrive, from the Stasis-huffing Shroomers to the mysterious cult known only as the Sighted.

As I undertook each new task from Survive the Fall’s countless quest-givers, I took an instant liking to its squad-based setup. As you steer your party of up to three survivors around the sprawling national park area that serves as the setting for the beginning of the story, you can either manually search through abandoned chests for chemical compounds or chop down trees for lumber, or you can just tap a button to delegate the gruntwork to one of your cohorts allowing you to divert your attention elsewhere. It just feels more natural to divide each task up rather than forcing you to be hands-on with everything yourself while your AI companions stand around like bored children, and it speeds up the process of ransacking each settlement you come across. The only downside is that my view did become a little cluttered with button prompts anytime there were a number of interactive elements bunched together too closely in the environment, but thankfully those occasions were rare.

Combat is also team-based. I tended to approach each encounter with the various marauders and ghouls with stealth as my priority, given that rifle and shotgun ammunition seemed so scarce at least in this early part of Survive the Fall’s story. Thus I treated each infiltration of an enemy camp not unlike a careful stalk through the recent Commandos: Origins – hiding in long grass, throwing stones to create distractions, crouch-walking around the clearly marked enemy vision cones and finally slitting their throats before ordering one of my post-apocalyptic pals to hide the body for me. There are also some satisfying environmental hazards to take advantage of, from obligatory explosive barrels to dangling cargo pallets that can be dropped onto a patrolling guard with a well-timed rifle shot.

It felt good to carefully clear out each cluster of cultists, but during the instances that my cover was blown things did get a little bit fiddly once the firearms were drawn. I suspect there would have been a bit more precision offered with mouse and keyboard, but with a controller I found it overly fussy to get a bead on an enemy’s bonce using the lasersight, and more often than not resorted to hammering the melee attack and dodge move to chip away at their health bars in close quarters. Thankfully I was at least able to make good use of the ability to pause the action and direct my squadmates to focus on certain targets – reminiscent of similar systems in Wasteland or Mutant Year Zero – relying on them to wear down the beefier cult leaders while I mopped up the flamethrower-toting support crew.

After a hard day’s mutant-murdering and loot-harvesting out in its deadly badlands, Survive the Fall shifts gears into a base-building management sim back at your camp. Documents recovered out in the world can be researched in order to earn knowledge points, which can then be invested in a sizable technology tree to unlock the ability to craft everything from bunk beds and kitchen areas to water filtration systems or even an armoury. Resources like timber can be crafted into planks which are then assembled into frames for new structures like plant boxes or gates to block nighttime raiders, while foraged herbs or meat salvaged from wolves and deer can be prepared into meals and stuffed into the backpacks of whichever group of adventurers you choose to send out on your next expedition. There seems to be quite a lot of depth here, and I can definitely see myself spending a considerable amount of time transforming my settlement from rusty rubble to cozy bubble in the finished game.

Outside of my own base I found a number of intriguing areas to explore. From a crashed passenger plane that had been converted into an enemy fort to a farmstead that was crawling with Stasis-infected ghouls, Survive the Fall seemed to reward me with distinct locales in any direction I pointed my compass in. The impressive level of detail in some of these areas was also to its detriment, however, such as the swamplands of Mycorrhiza which dazzled with luminescent mushroom clusters but also dragged with a framerate that was more volatile than any of the toxic substances oozing from the earth. It was also plagued by the occasional game-breaking bug, and on a handful of occasions during my play session I was forced to quit and reload my save after getting stuck in an inventory screen or building menu. Thankfully there’s still another month or so before Survive the Fall’s release for developer Angry Bulls Studio to optimise the performance further.

That’s probably not quite enough time to draft in actors to record lines of dialogue, though, and that’s a slight shame because interacting with your squad or the various NPCs you meet along the way feels a little flat when it’s done exclusively via onscreen text. Although I did get a few laughs out of the odd character here and there – particularly from a quirky character named Blooper who referred to the Stasis smog as “fart wind” – much of my conversations just served to cue up the next fetch quest rather than really give me any lasting impressions of each faction member I met.

Perhaps the bonds will deepen over the course of the full journey, and we won’t have to wait long to find out. Survive the Fall is due for release on PC this May and it’s full of post-apocalyptic potential. Assuming that the existing rough edges found on its controls and performance can be polished up by then this could well be a survival-based action RPG worthy of your hard-earned bottlecaps.

Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor based in IGN's Sydney office. He can occassionally be found wandering the wasteland of social media here.

What a year for Nintendo to finally release the Switch 2. While the hardware itself looks to be what anyone could have hoped for in a Switch successor — a more powerful version of the console millions of owners already love — the economic uncertainty gripping the world has made the Switch 2 a much more complicated prospect.

And that’s before we even consider the trade war the United States is currently engaged with China in. The $450 USD console price point and $80 USD sticker on Mario Kart World has made the Switch 2 something of a flashpoint amid the rising cost of games and gaming hardware, both here in the US and abroad.

To get a better idea of how the world is reacting to the Switch 2, I spoke with editors from IGN brands across the world to get a sense of the Switch 2’s impending release.

How the Rest of the World Feels About the Switch 2

After consulting with editors from IGN sites abroad, including those based in Europe, South America, and Asia, the reception to the Switch 2 has been, well, mixed. The hardware improvements like 120hz refresh rate, HDR, and 4K output are praised, but missing features like not having an OLED screen are seen as serious drawbacks.

“As far as reception goes, IGN Italia’s readers are predominantly dissatisfied with the Nintendo Switch 2,” says IGN Italy editor-in-chief, Alessandro Digioia. “Among hundreds of comments across news articles and social media, the main concerns revolve around the price point, the lack of an OLED screen, the absence of a trophy/achievement system, and a modest launch line-up. While some third-party announcements were welcomed, many readers expected more from Nintendo’s first-party titles.”

IGN Portugal’s Pedro Pestana shared similar sentiments from their readers – sentiments they agreed with: “Personally, I'm not that impressed with Switch 2, as it is basically a souped up Switch 1 – better in every sense, but without the novelty factor of the original. That being said, I reckon it's gonna come down to the games, and Mario Kart World looked damn nice.”

Other regions are seemingly more receptive to the Switch 2’s hardware improvements. IGN Benelux’s Nick Nijiland says the site has been getting mostly positive feedback, despite the price of the console. “We have seen in our region that the console has been received very well. People complain about the price, but at the same time the console sold out within hours. We put up a post on our website stating that we would let our readers know through our Discord server when pre-orders went live and our Discord got so many new members that day, it was insane.”

IGN Turkey’s Ersin Kilic also shared positive views from the region’s readers. “When I look at the comments, it is seen as positive that Nintendo corrected the points criticized on [the first] Switch. Although the console is stylish and uses LCD, the fact that the screen is much better was received positively.” However, Kilic says “the most criticized point was that Hall Effect was not used in Joy-Con 2,” which some gamers hoped could minimize the risk of Joy-Con drift.

IGN China’s Kamui Ye gave both sides of reader reactions to the Switch 2. “The reveal event has been met with widespread disappointment due to its lackluster launch title lineup and perplexing regional pricing strategies,” they explained. Furthermore, Ye says the launch lineup that didn’t include a new Mario, Legend of Zelda, or Animal Crossing was another negative.

“However, optimism persists among core fans regarding Nintendo's long-term plans,” Ye adds. Along with the belief of a better software lineup down the line, any of the horsepower and battery concerns for the Switch 2 “appear secondary to loyalists prioritizing backward compatibility, hardware refinements like magnetic Joy-Cons, and Nintendo's legacy of iterative software support.”

“Ultimately, the brand's entrenched fanbase seems willing to tolerate short-term missteps, betting on Nintendo's historical ability to refine its platforms through compelling games over time,” Ye says.

Hardware Price and Tariff Fears

The Switch 2 is expected to launch at a $450 USD price point in the United States when it is made available to pre-order some time in the future. The reason pre-orders have yet to happen in the United States and Canada, despite the rest of the world already registering their purchases with retailers, is of course due to an ongoing tariff situation from President Trump. It’s a state of affairs that’s seemingly making Nintendo reconsider how to roll out the console properly in time for its June 5 release date.

Naturally, IGN editors from Europe aren’t particularly impacted by the tariffs in their regions, where pre-orders are already up and running.

“In Germany, nobody is really worrying about the tariff situation regarding the Switch 2,” says IGN Germany’s Antonia Dressler. However, the actual retail price of the Switch 2 is a separate matter.

“There are a lot of complaints about the pricing of the console… and [readers are making] direct comparisons with the pricing of the PS5 [which] is seen as the better console,” explains Dressler. Despite the complaints, though, pre-orders do seem to be coming in for the region.

The pricing of the Switch 2 firmly places it in direct competition with consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X in many regions, making the choice of which console to get even harder for global buyers. “At the moment, Nintendo's official website is taking pre-orders and the price is R12,499,” says IGN Africa’s Zaid Kriel. “It is not crazy pricing, but it's now in the same bracket as the PS5 and Xbox Series X. It's no longer a cheaper alternative, and that could be a problem, especially with the increase in game prices Nintendo has introduced.”

“The pricing problem pretty much overshadowed everything going on around the Switch 2 reveal, good or bad,” IGN France editor-in-chief, Erwan Lafleuriel, says. “The debate is raging mainly about prices, but I believe because it was kind of easy to overshadow a reveal lacking in many other aspects. Part of that is… we already knew most of what was revealed from the leaks. And there is no impressive 'one more thing' to add. Even in terms of games, it's good, but it feels like something is missing.”

Other regions outside of the United States, however, are contending with the fallout of the tariffs. IGN Brazil’s Matheus de Lucca says, “The current tariff war initiated by the United States makes the scenario even worse for Brazil, since the Real is a weak currency compared to the dollar and an increase in the price of the Switch 2 in the United States will most likely have a huge impact on the whole of Latin America. The scenario of uncertainty and a possible increase in the price of the console could make the Switch 2 accessible to only a very small group of players in the Brazilian market.”

There is also the unique situation in Japan where Nintendo is launching a region-locked version of the hardware at a lower pricepoint to protect its domestic market “I think Nintendo knew they couldn’t go over 50,000 yen in Japan – the weak yen means the relative pricing scale is very different here,” says IGN Japan’s executive producer, Daniel Robson. “But presumably they also realised that if the console was much cheaper here than anywhere else, people would try to import it or buy all the stock when they visit Japan. Hence the region lock – our cheaper Switch only plays Japanese games and supports only Japanese accounts. I’m sure this is a direct result of the global trade situation.”

Robson also says that, “The price is still high, and will be tough for many families here, but it's far more competitively priced than the 77,000 yen PS5. Not to mention that Japan is firmly a Nintendo country – the house of Mario dominates the console Top 10 week in, week out, so I doubt families here will be able to go without a Switch 2. That said, as a parent, I’m secretly relieved that my daughter hasn’t asked for a Switch 2, as the price puts it comfortably over the bounds of a birthday present.”

Software Price Remains the Biggest Pain Point

Despite the issues of hardware costs and tariffs, the biggest bugbear affecting the general feeling regarding the Switch 2 announcement has been the price of software. Some of that pain is to be expected: Nintendo games have always been expensive and held their price, and it’s only natural that Nintendo would join the trend of increasing game prices. But it seems the company may have jumped the gun by pricing Mario Kart World at $80 USD. While Nintendo says pricing will be determined on a game-by-game basis, with other Switch 2 launch window games priced at $70 USD or as low as $10 USD, the move has prompted fears that the gates are now fully open for even more expensive software.

“Game pricing is by far the biggest issue raised, not only by our readers but by the Italian gaming community at large,” says IGN Italy’s Digioia. “Many feel that Nintendo's new pricing structure is unjustifiable, especially in light of recent increases that came with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S era (when AAA titles moved from €70 to €80). Now, Nintendo is pricing some first-party games at €90, which has caused considerable concern – particularly given the company's historically conservative approach to discounts. The €9.99 price for Switch 2 Welcome Tour sparked additional backlash, and even the paid upgrade paths for existing Switch games are widely seen as another way to extract money from loyal customers.”

“People are pissed,” IGN Germany’s Dressler says plainly. “Especially with the 90 Euro for Mario Kart World, that is a record for a video game in Germany; not even titles like Assassin’s Creed cost as much (talking about the base version). It also seems ridiculous that the tutorial game will cost anything — Nintendo just looks absurdly greedy right now.”

Take a look in any Switch 2 comment thread on IGN.com and you’ll find similar sentiments; the high price of games is unwelcome, especially in a time of increased living costs. A more unusual perspective can be found in mainland China, however, where there are no current plans for an official release. As a result, Switch 2 shoppers there may have to look to the gray market, with stock coming from Japan and Hong Kong – places where prices for games look to be a bit cheaper.

“Regarding pricing, game prices in Hong Kong and Japanese editions are relatively lower compared to Western markets. Observations from social media comments under our content show most players find the official price acceptable,” IGN China’s Ye says. “While the console itself has seen some price hikes, users generally consider it more cost-effective than handheld PCs like Steam Deck, especially with backward compatibility support. Based on our data, Chinese mainland Nintendo Switch 1 players appear largely receptive to the official Nintendo Switch 2 price increase.”

Right now it seems sensible to bet that the Switch 2 will be a success – it’s a safe, recognizable upgrade to one of the most popular and beloved consoles of all time. But what kind of a success story Nintendo has on its hands remains to be seen. The threat of an era of $80 games during a time of economic hardship has clearly put a substantial amount of prospective buyers into a negative headspace. Plus there are still many unknowns surrounding the console, especially in the United States where tariffs stand to negatively impact the North American launch. Then there’s the question of how international politics may result in potential stock shortages and impact the system’s launch around the globe.

For all those unknowns, what is clear from chatting with IGN’s global staff is that Nintendo has whipped up excitement around the world. It’s just excitement with a few more caveats than you’d expect from Nintendo.

Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor.

[Note: All footage is from a work-in-progress alpha build.]

Having finally seen The Outer Worlds 2 for myself, it’s clear that leaning into deeper RPG elements was one of the priorities for developer Obsidian. Where the first game was more approachable with streamlined systems and progression for building out your character, the sequel is about avoiding homogeneity, and even egging you on to play in unorthodox fashion. But it’s not entirely about being complex for the sake of it. The Outer Worlds 2 wants players to get creative, become more specialized with the things they spec into, and embrace the oddball choices they may have to make.

“We're looking for ways to incentivize the player to experiment with different builds, either traditional or non-traditional,” design director Matt Singh told me in a conversation about how the team has revamped its RPG mechanics. When speaking to the broader approach, he said “We really wanted to lean into synergies, looking at how player Skills, Traits, and Perks can all infuse into interesting builds that play off of other systems.” You could see some of these ideas at work in our exclusive 11 minutes of The Outer Worlds 2 gameplay, where the new gunplay, stealth, gadgets, and dialogue were showcased. But for this part of our IGN First for exclusive coverage on The Outer Worlds 2, we’re focusing on the nitty gritty of how all these systems have been reworked and what you can expect from them.

Rethinking the Skill System

“We would often see characters good at everything, which by the end of the game, minimized your personal experience with your character,” lead systems designer Kyle Koenig told me when reflecting on the first game and considering changes for the sequel. Part of how Obsidian is doing that is by moving away from the Skill categories that grouped your stats together in the original and going with individual Skills that have more drastic differences between them. “We wanted to focus on making each individual level-up and investment really important. There's less confusion on when I should invest in one Skill or the other. If I want to be a player that's all about guns and using medical devices, I know which Skills I really need to care about. By having them separated and not in groupings, it lets characters be more specialized.”

Singh added, “There's more than just a traditional stealth-focused build, combat-focused build, or speech-focused build. There's a lot of blending of concepts, playing with other systems and incorporating those into a pretty broad, but unique range of different player profiles.” He alluded to having certain investments in Skills manifest in other ways such as Observation, which can highlight things in the environment that you wouldn’t be able to identify otherwise like secret doors or objects to interact with that can lead to alternate paths forward.

On the surface, that may seem expected for an RPG – if anything, The Outer Worlds was the outlier with the way it grouped Skills together. However, in the sequel, it’s about using the revised Skill system to create greater distinctions and open more possibilities in character builds, especially as it relates to the revamped Perks system.

The Perks of Getting Experimental

Obsidian seems focused on specificity and offering unique avenues for play. “We've significantly increased the number of Perks with over 90 of them – each of those requiring various Skills to unlock. As you invest in Skills, it changes how you can invest in Perks and leads you down many different paths,” Koenig explained. He gave an example with a Perk called Run and Gun for those who prefer using shotguns, SMGs, and rifles which allows you to fire while sprinting or sliding, and combined with Tactical Time Dilation (TTD), bullet-time action can very much be part of your repertoire in The Outer Worlds 2. He also teased Space Ranger, which is a Perk that gives you certain interactions in dialogue while granting you damage boosts based on your Speech stat. “The way we looked at them when designing them was to look at what are all the different modes of gameplay the player has, and what are all the actions they can take and how can we modify them,” he stated.

“We have a lot of Perks that are catered towards non-traditional play styles,” Singh mentioned, giving an example of carving out a build for players who essentially kill every NPC in sight. You can go down that route and lean into it with Perks such as Psychopath and then Serial Killer that’ll grant bonuses, like permanent health boosts, for playing this way. “Especially in an Obsidian game where we allow you to kill anybody – the game's going to respond, it's going to roll with it, and you're going to still be able to complete the game. It's actually a really fun way to play in a second or third playthrough just to see how far you can take it.”

As for more traditional playstyles, Koenig gave some insight on character builds that take advantage of the elemental aspects of combat by exploiting the different damage types. “Even if you want to mix and match them, you can be a character that's all about plasma and burning things alive while getting healing from it – or using shock damage to scramble automechs and have them fight for you temporarily while paralyzing creatures and humans – or using corrosive damage to take away all their armor and make it so all your attacks against them are critical hits that deal insane amounts of damage.”

Singh stressed that there are other avenues to get experimental, referencing opportunities to opt into detrimental effects that’ll buff another aspect of your character. He mentioned mechanics that can reward you for putting yourself in harm's way, positing the question, “How do I construct a build where I'm actually incentivized to get in there and take damage so that I can then do other things effectively? I really like those kinds of creative builds that allow you to play with that idea and convert something that might be negative into a positive aspect of your build.” That design philosophy was part of the original, but now that’s a driving force for The Outer Worlds 2, especially as it relates to Traits and Flaws.

The Positive and Negative Traits

“One of the things in The Outer Worlds that was a key off of Fallout was you could have negative attributes that would be actively detrimental to your character, but you get a few extra points to spend somewhere else,” Koenig mentioned. A way that manifested in the original was through the Flaws system, which gave you the option to take a permanent effect based on your in-game behavior in exchange for an extra Perk point. But from what I’ve seen thus far, this idea is expanding two-fold in The Outer Worlds 2.

The system of Positive Traits and Negative Traits is integral to that give-and-take where you can choose a negative one to be able to select an additional positive. For example, you can take Brilliant that grants you extra Skill points in character creation, or Brawny that lets you knock targets down by sprinting into them. And if you want more positives, you’d have to select a negative such as Dumb that locks you out of ever investing points into five Skills, or Sickly that permanently lowers your base health and tolerance for toxicity. Those are just a few of the options I was able to see in these early stages.

Although I will go into much more depth with the revamped Flaws in another article, I can say that The Outer Worlds 2 is getting much more creative in goofy and clever ways (and sometimes both). I found myself turning down most, if not all, Flaws in the original game since I didn’t have much use for extra Perk points and the compromise often wasn’t worth it. In this sequel, the game itself is still monitoring your behavior and habits, but Flaws are now built with specific conditions that are both positive and negative – it’s as if there’s another layer of the Traits system, but popping up unexpectedly based on how you’re playing. You’ll still have to opt into them, but they will be a permanent part of your character.

Guiding Players and Ditching Respec

There seem to be a lot more moving parts in The Outer Worlds 2, and another focus from Obsidian was to make these aspects digestible and clear, whether it be from in-game explanations or UI elements. “Right from the get-go, from character creation, we really wanted to put in the forefront what are the differences of these skills and what they do,” Koenig told me. It’s not just in the help text, but also in short videos in the menus that show examples of the gameplay impact. The thing that stood out to me was being able to mark Perks as favorites before unlocking them in order to help organize and plan out a certain progression path or build. Mapping them out seems intuitive as well since the requirements are shown off the bat and icons in the menu help signify a Perk’s general playstyle and Skill it applies to.

It’s apparent that Obsidian wants players to carefully consider these choices, however, especially since there is no respec past the introductory sequence – meaning, once you’ve invested in a Skill, Perk, or Trait, your character has to live with that choice throughout your playthrough. Koenig said, “By removing respec, we really incentivize it to be your experience. It is a part of your experience that no one else had, and I think that's really special about RPGs and something that respec tends to lessen.”

As for Singh, he told me “Philosophy-wise, we really feel all of your choices should matter. They should be meaningful changes to your gameplay experience. And he concluded, “This is just one of those ways where we're asking you to make a choice, stick to it, and see how that plays out in interesting and fun ways.”

We're covering so much more of The Outer Worlds 2 in this month's IGN First. Stay tuned for a breakdown of the new Flaws system, all the wild and wacky weapons, and how expansive its open regions and levels are going to be with our interviews from key developers at Obsidian.

Michael Higham is the tech reviews editor at IGN, but is one of the RPG sickos on staff who still talks about Fallout: New Vegas on a regular basis. You can find him at @brazyazn.bsky.social.