Key Takeaways
- Baldur's Gate 3 is hailed as one of the best modern RPGs due to its immersive gameplay and interactive storytelling prowess.
- The addition of Honour Mode in a major patch offers a challenging experience, emphasizing permanent consequences and eliminating save scumming.
- Honour Mode may not appeal to all players, but its inclusion in Baldur's Gate 4 from day one can enrich the gameplay experience for those seeking a pure and risky adventure.
Baldur's Gate 3, released less than a year ago, has already been considered one of the best western RPGs of the modern age, if not of all time. The reasons behind Baldur's Gate 3's creative and critical success are legion, but its best elements can be boiled down into a few broad-strokes concepts, such as immersion, player expression, and interactive storytelling prowess.
These strengths have been buttressed by Larian Studios' ongoing support of Baldur's Gate 3, polishing the game with quality of life features and expanding it with occasional new content drops. Generally speaking, this new content isn't transformative, but it can meaningfully build on the foundations set by the base game, fleshing out NPC interactions and smaller role-playing components. Falling under this description is Honour Mode, an alternate difficulty option added in Baldur's Gate 3's fifth major patch, introducing a number of compelling twists to the game that ought to return in future entries.
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Baldur's Gate 4 Needs to Have Honour Mode Out of the Gate
Honour Mode is best known as a brutally difficult way to experience Baldur's Gate 3, and while this is certainly a good way to describe it, it only captures part of what makes it interesting. Yes, Honour Mode gives enemies more power while underpowering the player, but its greatest adjustment to difficulty has a bifurcated benefit.
In Honour Mode, players can only save once—something that has massive implications in a game as large and complex as Baldur's Gate 3. As is to be expected, this makes the RPG considerably more tense and threatening, as death can mean the loss of dozens of hours of progress, and mistakes can no longer be solved by a quick reload. This forces Baldur 's Gate 3 players to be more deliberate both in and out of combat situations: every line of dialog spoken, every object swiped off a shop's table, and every bridge burned is final, unable to be walked back.
Honour Mode Is the 'Purest' Way to Play Games Like Baldur's Gate 3
Save-scumming is the practice of deliberately saving a choice-based RPG ahead of major battles or pivotal decisions, essentially creating an exit strategy in case the player changes their mind. It's something that a lot of RPG fans engage with, but it can have a harmful effect on immersion and the flow of gameplay; RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 rely on the notion that players' decisions have weight, and if virtually any consequence can be walked back thanks to custom save points, then this weight is fundamentally alleviated.
This is why Honour Mode disabling save scumming can improve Baldur's Gate 3. It can often be just too tempting to avoid saving every few minutes, playing things too safe and thus removing the game's sense of tension. In other words, even if players don't plan to engage in save scumming, knowing that the option is there can remove some of the inherent risk of the game, undermining immersion.
Needless to say, Honour Mode isn't for everyone: it's hard, risky, and carries the threat of permadeath, which are elements that will only appeal to a specific subset of players. But its essence is remarkably in-tune with the core strengths of the CRPG genre, making it a smart and enriching addition to Baldur's Gate 3—one that shouldn't be missing from any sequels or spin-offs it inspires. If an Honour Mode equivalent is part of Baldur's Gate 4 from day one, then more players will be able to experience this unique way of playing the game, with day-one adopters able to start their first playthrough in Honour Mode, if they so choose.
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Baldur's Gate 3
Abducted, infected, lost. You are turning into a monster, but as the corruption inside you grows, so does your power. Forge a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Caught in a conflict between devils, deities, and sinister otherworldly forces, you and your party will determine the fate of the Forgotten Realms.
THE ULTIMATE D&D EXPERIENCE
Choose from a wide selection of D&D races and classes, or play as an origin character with a hand-crafted background. Adventure, loot, battle, and romance as you journey through the Forgotten Realms and beyond. Play alone or as a party of up to four in multiplayer – and select your companions carefully.
A CINEMATIC STORYTELLING EPIC
Forged with the new Divinity 4.0 engine, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a world that reacts to your choices. A grand, cinematic narrative brings you closer to your characters than ever before, as you venture through our biggest world yet. Romance, deceive, aid, obstruct, and grow alongside your friends thanks to Larian's next-generation RPG engine.
RPG
Systems
- Top Critic Rating:96/100 Critics Recommend:98%
- Franchise
- Baldur's Gate
- Platform(s)
- PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X
- Released
- August 3, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Engine
- Divinity 4.0
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- How Long To Beat
- 100+ Hours
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- X|S Enhanced
- yes
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical Only
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
- Cross Save
- yes
- Cross-Platform Play
- Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't support crossplay
