Who doesn’t love permadeath? The increased stakes generated by a hardcore game mode creates memorable experiences — whether those memories are heart-wrenching deaths or triumphant victories is (mostly) in the hands of the player.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s patch five introduced Honour Mode, Baldur’s Gate 3’s take on the hardcore archetype. The bosses are stronger, the player’s turns are weaker and there’s one save file that auto-deletes after it’s loaded. This is all on top of the classic permadeath where your run ends after a full party wipe.
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Baldur’s Gate 3’s companions will approve or disapprove of your choices throughout the game. Here’s how to check where you stand with them.
I’ve been reading the Reddit threads — sharing in the despair of my fellow players. For your reading pleasure, I’ve compiled some of the funniest, heartbreaking and ludicrous endings to Honour Mode that people have shared.
PoliticalBudgieshared his harrowing tale of a dog and a bomb. Our hero had found the runepowder vial and was prepared to free Nere from captivity but hadn’t considered that the faithful Scratch was summoned as Lae’Zel’s familiar.
“When I tossed the runepowder, that damn dog went to fetch it. He fetched it while my arrow was heading towards it. My entire party, Scratch, and the gnomes were instantly obliterated.”
A tragic tale to be sure, and a cautionary one at that.Crabdoodleson the other hand, lost a good run to sheer forgetfulness. Our protagonist didn’t want to create a custom character so he settled on Wyll as his origin of choice. As we all know, Wyll has responsibilities of an infernal nature — responsibilities which Crabdoodle shirked.
“Balthazar and Ketheric went down pretty easily, so I felt confident in facing Myrkul. Completely forgot about Mizora. She told me she needed help the first time I went to Moonrise, but that was a while ago now. Instantly damned to hell, the save is deleted because he is my main character.”
For those who didn’t know (I didn’t), if Wyll doesn’t help Mizora escape Moonrise Towers then she perishes and Wyll is immediately banished. Unlucky break, but I suppose you do need to pay attention to your handler when you’re stuck in a mortal contract.
FairtexBluesgives us an illustration of just how many ways one can wipe during the game’s opening stages. In honour mode, a minor oopsie can quickly become your party’s final chapter.
“So far I have lost honour mode by messing with the tadpole pool, getting greedy trying to steal the Everburn Blade [Commander Zhalk’s drop], burned to death after fighting the intellect devourers, lost every saving roll to the dying mind flayer and got eaten, failed the disarm trap on the coffin in Withers’ crypt.”
I’m excited to see the many stories that are going to spawn from honour mode in the future — to my credit, I don’t think I’d manage to get out of the Nautiloid.
Baldur’s Gate 3
WHERE TO PLAY
23 years on from the release of the seminal RPG, Baldur’s Gate 2, the third game in the series has been developed by Larian Studios (of Divinity: Original Sin fame). Set over 120 years after the events of the last game, Baldur’s Gate 3 tasks you and your party of heroes to fight off a mind flayer invasion of Faerun, while seeking a way to remove the tadpole in your brain that’s slowly turning you into the enemy…
