Larian scrambles to find out who exactly put Patch 8 on the PS5 early, meanwhile I, a PC unfortunate, rattle the bars of my enclosure

The Dark Urge, from Baldur's Gate 3, looks towards his accursed claws with self-disdain.
(Image credit: Larian Studios)
Recent updates

1/27/25: Scuttlebutt on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit is that the unintended early update to Patch 8 has already been yoinked and cannot be downloaded if you haven't grabbed it already. Meanwhile, Larian has released a guide to rolling back to Patch 7 if you were affected by the bug—saves on this version of Patch 8 are incompatible with Patch 7, and the build is "unsupported" according to Larian. Users on the subreddit who made it in describe it as unstable and prone to crashing.

Original story: As PC Gamer is wont to do, we've been posting a lot about how our device of choice has won the console war. I would like to unilaterally, with authority that I do not have (and have not asked for), state that we've lost. Catastrophically, because the PlayStation 5 has randomly received Patch 8 of Baldur's Gate 3 early and I'm volcanic with jealousy.

The only saving grace is that it's not, er, actually supposed to be this way. In an announcement made to the Baldur's Gate 3 Discord, a senior community manager by the name of Salo writes:

"No, the Patch 8 stress test hasn’t yet begun. Yes, PS5 players do currently have access to Patch 8."

This seems corroborated by, well, the internet—here's one player who's downloading it, here's another. Here's a PS5 player on the Discord server realising that they had, in fact, downloaded Patch 8 of the game with a: "Hexblade is new, right? Because that means that update 8 is in fact, out right now."

(Image credit: Baldur's Gate 3 Discord)

This has Larian, broadly-speaking, on high alert—Larian's Tumblr account (yes, it's official, no, I don't know why it's called John Larian and why the header image is like that) also shared what appears to be a Slack message titled: "Hello! Welcome to the patch-8-is-on-ps5-for-some-reason-help-help-ahhh task group."

(Image credit: @johnlarian on Tumblr.)

I should note that, if you do happen to be on PS5, you probably shouldn't go gung ho on your saves just yet.

While Patch 8 might be out, it hasn't been stress tested yet, which means it's probably not exactly ready. Your saves might not be compatible when the full patch does finally arrive, and they certainly won't be compatible after you revert to Patch 7 given, well, the game'll be looking for a bunch of subclasses that aren't there. This is a warning that Larian itself echoes:

baldur's gate 3 wizard

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

"While we work with our partners to understand what’s going on, please note that any new saves made while on Patch 8 will not be compatible with Patch 7," before asking: "How's your Monday going?"

It's going okay, Larian, thanks. I'm just thinking about where I'd put my hexblade in my party comp—if I had one. I'm not seething or coping, honest.

In all truth, I'm not convinced this state of affairs will last too long—it might, however, be a solid hint that Patch 8 is soaring through the pipeline and may very well be in our laps soon.

Alternatively, PS5 players are presently downloading a glitchy, horrifying mess. Either way, I'll update this article when Larian's done putting out its fires and has an explanation.

Baldur's Gate 3 romanceBaldur's Gate 3 multiplayerBaldur's Gate 3 endingsBaldur's Gate 3 multiclass buildsBest RPGs

Baldur's Gate 3 romance: Who to pursue
Baldur's Gate 3 multiplayer: How co-op works
Baldur's Gate 3 endings: For better or worse
Baldur's Gate 3 multiclass builds: Coolest combos
Best RPGs: The greatest you can play now

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.

Read more
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 stress test is now live for real
Baldur's Gate 3 Gale romance - Gale sacrificing himself
Baldur's Gate 3's accidental PS5 release of Patch 8 has the theorycrafters in a flurry—though I'm just glad D&D's blade cantrips are officially here
An Oathbreaker Paladin restoring their Oath in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 is so big, it needed its own patch before it even released, and we're one step closer to a Permanent Booming Blade Economy
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3's shows off its upcoming photo mode by going haywire with memes
Baldur's Gate 3
Larian is looking for Baldur's Gate 3 fans who 'like trying to break things' to help it do some crossplay testing
An elf using magic
Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 testers are whispering that a previously mediocre subclass is now an S-tier war god of infinite thunder smites, but there's no way it can last
Latest in Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate 3 player character made to resemble Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher.
Wait a minute, Geralt of Rivia actor Doug Cockle was in Baldur's Gate 3 this whole time
Half Orc wearing rare Bhaalist Armor in Baldur's Gate 3 standing in front of Astarion and Karlach
It turns out you can get Baldur's Gate 3's best assassin armor without killing a baby angel elephant and joining a cult, all you have to do is pickpocket a ghost
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
Withers Big Naturals mod image - Withers with big naturals
Sure, why not, here's a guy beating Baldur's Gate 3 without a race or class at all
Baldur's Gate 3 - Lae'Zel looks disaproving
Lae'zel's voice actor Devora Wilde also auditioned for Shadowheart, Karlach, 'And probably Astarion?'
An Oathbreaker Paladin restoring their Oath in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 is so big, it needed its own patch before it even released, and we're one step closer to a Permanent Booming Blade Economy
Latest in News
A screenshot of Helldivers 2, depicting a Helldiver saluting while wearing an anthropomorphic facemask
The United Nations asked Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead if it'd give a talk on psychological manipulation: ‘Could we brainwash an entire community to fight for a fascist state? … Would we be okay with that? Turns out, yeah’
A photo of a monitor displaying the output screen of Razer's AI QA Copilot system
It's not for PC gamers but Razer's new AI QA Copilot could ultimately benefit every PC gamer out there, and it's looking like it could be a killer app that AI needs right now
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 barbers change hairstyle - Henry sitting on a horse wearing armour.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 sold 5 times more than the original in its first month
A photo of a gaming laptop's screen, displaying the control panel for Razer's Sensa HD Haptics system
I honestly thought Razer's Sensa haptics stuff was just a gimmick until I tried it with a sim racing setup, and now I'm absolutely sold
Future Games Show Spring Showcase 2025 logo
Here's how to watch the Future Games Show 2025 Spring Showcase
MSI RTX 5090 Suprim SOC graphics card on a grey background with a gradient
Nvidia has cut the MSRP of RTX 50-series FE cards in the UK and Europe and that means... not a whole lot right now