Baldur's Gate 3's third patch has a release date, will bring the RPG to PC gaming's black sheep—the humble Mac

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That's three patches in under a month.

Baldur's Gate 3 companions - Jaheira standing in the sunlight
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Update: Larian Studios has delayed the patch until September 22.

Continuing its rapid pace of updates, Baldur's Gate 3 will be getting its third patch in less than a month. As revealed by Larian Studios on Twitter/X yesterday, Patch 3 will be dropping September 21.

The post reads: "Thank you from the fiery infernal engine we keep in place of our heart. ❤️‍🔥 We couldn't have asked for a better response to Baldur's Gate 3. Patch 3 is coming September 21 with full support for BG3 on Mac."

https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/1702023251478667279 (Image credit: Larian Studios)

While they're light on the details—we only really know the date and the Mac thing—the last two numbered patches have been meaty, so I'd be shocked if this one doesn't follow suit. The first patch was so big that the full notes didn't even fit on the Steam page.  

That update brought a whole heap of bug fixes, crucially letting shorter races kiss PC Gamer's statistically-confirmed fave Karlach. The second patch came just under a week later, serving up justice for the barbarian while also bringing further performance updates and glitch-squashes.

It's likely we'll be seeing more updates of that kind. Keenly spotted by our friends at Gamesradar, Larian Studios' founder and CEO Swen Vincke has been talking a big game about tune-ups in the works: "They had some setbacks but our code team is getting closer and closer to achieving the performance they originally aimed for—I think they'll manage to surprise everyone still. They're very motivated."

Motivated sure is the word. While the game's third act did unfortunately trip over the occasional animation bug or story fumble, it's still one of the best RPGs in years—and the studio's come out swinging with these patches. I normally wouldn't assume an announced patch is going to be substantial, but Larian's track record has given me confidence so far.

While bug fixes and story rejigging are a given, I'm curious to see if we'll be getting further epilogue tweaks like the ones given to Karlach—which left a good impression on me, as someone who felt let down by the way her story ended.

Granted, that was a major effort that Larian worked around the clock to turn out—a whole new scene to write, animate and voice after the game's release, with Larian asking her voice actor to record new lines within a week. Further scenes like that would be a complete surprise, but the size of these patches has caught me off guard before.

Harvey Randall
Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

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.