Baldur's Gate 3 modders have added WASD controls, letting you jog around the Sword Coast like it's an MMO

A tiefling child from Baldur's Gate 3 smiles.

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Look, I like isometric games as much as the next RPG nerd. It's fun to sweep over the battlefield and shuffle my adventurers with pinpoint precision. Especially in a game like Baldur's Gate 3, which sees you grappling with terrain, line of sight, friendly fire, ground effects, Astarion's luscious hair—the bird's eye view is basically required.

I can't help but feel a twinge of envy, however, for the steam deck adopters and controller players. I would never dream of using the game's radial menus for combat, since I have so many skills to on my bar to contend with (this is totally the game's fault, and not mine for making a bunch of fiddly multiclass builds).

For the purposes of running around and chatting to people, though? The near-seamless analog movement and immersive camera angle's enough to make me go green as a Gith with envy. It's also left me slightly confused as to why this perspective on the Sword Coast is barred from PC players without a controller.

Thankfully, modders are here to save the day. A mod by Nexus user Ch4nKyy has added WASD movement to the game—and, combined with Ershin's "Native Camera Tweaks", the Forgotten Realms can now be explored on foot from the comfort of your four favourite letters. You can see a video example, provided courtesy of the Youtube channel dimetequiero, below:

It all seems to work flawlessly, letting you navigate third-person action style with your keyboard, but still interact with your mouse—then, whenever you want, you can simply zoom back out to the isometric view and assume direct control over your pawns. The best of both worlds, and an obvious quality of life improvement over the game's current sky-locked control scheme.

I'm excited to take it for a whirl myself soon, as a later portion of the game—the titular Baldur's Gate—is rammed with lovely environmental details I'm completely missing with my god's-eye view.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.