Baldur’s Gate 3 launched at the top and never stopped rising—after saying it wouldn’t make a sequel, Larian instead delivered an expansion’s worth of substantial free updates well into 2025.

Two years later, it still feels like we’re living in Baldur’s Gate 3’s shadow. Every major RPG released since has been measured against it, and anticipation for Larian’s next project remains sky-high—even as the studio draws criticism for publicly acknowledging its experiments with generative AI.

Until Larian formally revealed Divinity, we didn’t even know what the studio was working on next—only that it wouldn’t be Baldur’s Gate 4. Then, at GDC 2024, roughly nine months after BG3’s launch, studio head Swen Vincke delivered a surprise announcement: Larian would not be making an expansion or sequel to its biggest hit, and was stepping away from Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons & Dragons altogether.

Despite that, Larian took its time saying goodbye. Outside of Cyberpunk 2077—whose post-launch support was driven largely by necessity—it’s hard to think of another singleplayer game that’s received as many free updates after release. Baldur’s Gate 3 launched strong and somehow kept getting better.

Before Vincke’s early-2024 farewell message, the game had already received Honour Mode, a brutally difficult permadeath option, alongside a fully playable epilogue that gave players proper closure. After that point, the additions just kept coming.

Some of the standout post-launch additions included:

• New cinematic endings for evil-aligned playthroughs
• Official modding tools and an in-game mod browser
• Cross-play support between console platforms
• A dedicated photo mode
• Twelve new subclasses, one for each base class

Taken together, Baldur’s Gate 3’s ongoing support feels less like routine patching and more like a lightweight expansion, echoing the “Definitive Edition” updates Larian delivered for its Original Sin games. It’s been a rare pleasure to repeatedly return to a favorite game and find it meaningfully improved.

The epilogue is a wonderful send-off, but for someone deeply invested in buildcrafting, Honour Mode and the new subclasses have been the most impactful additions. Honour Mode, in particular, calls to mind hardcore and survival modes from games like Skyrim and Fallout—not because it makes enemies tougher, but because it makes every decision matter more.

The difficulty doesn’t come from inflated health bars or twitch-based combat. Instead, it comes from consequence. Small choices carry weight. Risk-taking becomes genuinely risky. You’re encouraged to slow down, think carefully, and engage with the game’s systems more deliberately.

In a game that rewards replaying and mastery, that shift is deeply immersive. You can’t rely on muscle memory alone anymore. The game asks more of you, but in doing so, it gives more back. The new subclasses fit perfectly into this framework. The College of Swords Bard remains my personal favorite, but additions like Hexblade, Bladesinger, and Arcane Archer come close—and they’re simply fun to play.

The arrival of those subclasses earlier this year feels like a quiet signal that Larian’s major additions are now complete. But that doesn’t mean the party’s over. Modding continues at a rapid pace, and even without user-made content, Baldur’s Gate 3 remains endlessly replayable.

If you’ve been considering another run, there’s no better time. And if you’re one of the many players who bounced off after 20 or 30 hours back in 2023 with every intention of returning, now’s the moment to start fresh.

Just make a new character. Trust me.