Baldur’s Gate 3 getting new subclasses, cross-play, and more next year

Larian would like you to know it’s still not done with Baldur’s Gate 3. The studio has now revealed what’s next for the multi-award-winning RPG, with cross-play, a photo mode, and 12 new subclasses all set to launch next year.

As detailed over on Steam, Larian currently has “one more major patch” in the works for Baldur’s Gate 3 – officially known as Patch 8 – and it’s set to introduce “some of the most eagerly awaited features”, starting with cross-play.

Baldur’s Gate 3 already supports cross-progression, of course, enabling players to pick up from where they left off regardless of the platform they move to. From next year, however, they’ll also be able to team up with players from other platforms, seamlessly adventuring their way across western Faerûn with pals on PlayStation, Xbox, Mac, and PC.

“Once the update is live,” Larian explains, “you’ll be able to invite your friends to join your cross-play lobby directly, regardless of platform and find available multiplayer lobbies with friends on other systems using the Larian Network.”

Patch 8 also introduces a new photo mode, featuring a “whole slew of options to let you customise and edit your in-game photography, with various levels of freedom depending on whether you’re using it while adventuring, or during combat, dialogue, and cinematic scenes.”

Players can, for instance, turn on a camera reticle and composition grid at the press of a button, while lens settings include adjustments for field of view, exposure, depth of field, and focus. It’s also possible to hide characters you don’t want to appear in shot – whether they be players, party members, NPCs, or enemies – and Larian is also including facial expressions and over 40 static and animated poses (each with their own variations!) that can be applied to characters prior to taking a shot. And that’s still not quite everything, with photo mode also featuring post-processing effects – including contrast, saturation, highlights, brightness, and vignette – plus a selection of stickers and frames to add those final flourishes.

Perhaps the biggest additions in Patch 8, though, are those new subclasses, with Larian introducing one for each of Baldur’s Gate 3’s existing classes – meaning the Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard are all represented. The new subclass names are listed below, but you’ll be wanting to read Larian’s full post for some detailed descriptions on each.

• Bard – College of Glamour
• Barbarian – Path of Giants
• Cleric – Death Domain
• Druid – Circle of Stars
• Paladin – Oath of the Crown
• Fighter – Arcane Archer
• Monk – Drunken Master
• Ranger – Swarmkeeper
• Rogue – Swashbuckler
• Sorcerer – Shadow Magic
• Warlock – Hexblade
• Wizard – Bladesinging

Larian says it’ll be stress-testing Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8 ahead of release in order to get player feedback. “The goal,” it explains, “is to go beyond our internal testing and help us catch things before they can become an issue once a patch has been released.” The stress test begins in “early January”, and those wanting to get involved – it’s open to players on Xbox and PlayStation, as well as PC – can register their interest beforehand, so expect further details soon.

So that’s a bunch of good news for Baldur’s Gate 3 players following this week’s good news for Larian – which reportedly posted a €249m (£207m) pre-tax profit for 2023, in no small part thanks to the runaway success of its smash-hit RPG.