Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 5 adds a new epilogue with ‘some of the most complex writing in the game so far’

Baldur's Gate 3 keyart with Astarion, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Baldur’s Gate 3 patch five is live now, and it’s a big one, to say the least. Not only have a load of performance improvements been rolled out, but players can now experience a brand-new epilogue, which developer Larian Studios says features “some of the most complex writing in the game so far.”

In the patch notes, which have been shared on Steam, Larian described the epilogue as a “new playable chapter [that] takes place six months after the events of Baldur’s Gate 3’s story.” Players can access it by loading up the game prior to the final fight. 

“Your epilogue is defined by you,” Larian wrote. “This is the culmination of every choice and consequence that you’ve made since the very start of your adventure, a gigantic tree of permutations that leads to an opportunity to reflect on that journey before you say goodbye. For the writers of Larian, this ‘final goodbye’ has resulted in some of the most complex writing in the game thus far, as it takes advantage of Baldur's Gate 3’s reactivity across the entire adventure.”

Otherwise, new game modes - Honor Mode and Custom Mode - have also been added, providing new ways to play. Honor Mode is the most difficult mode yet, with things in and out of combat made more challenging than ever before. Over 30 tweaks have been made to boss fights and you can expect your toughest foes to pull out new actions during your battles. As a treat, those who manage to survive the entire game without dying in Honor Mode will be rewarded with a Golden D20 to use in-game. 

Custom Mode allows you to make loads of tweaks to your experience, such as being able to turn off Death Saving Throws and make Short Rests fully heal the party. Therefore, you can approach the role-playing game in a way that suits you. 

Crucially, patch five has also added the ability to manage the inventory of all companions without them being in your active party - a change that is certain to be well received. Beyond that, players can also get new outfits for origin characters, so be sure to check those out.

For more games like Baldur’s Gate 3, be sure to check out our recommendations for the best story games, as well as the best RPGs.

Catherine Lewis
News Writer, TechRadar Gaming

Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.