There’s One Way To Avoid The Most Annoying Aspect Of BG3 Honour Mode

Alongside a new epilogue and other features added by the fifth major update for Baldur’s Gate 3, the game has also introduced a new hardest difficulty, Honour Mode, which adds a level of challenge that significantly exceeds any preexisting way of playing the game. However, aside from just increasing in-game difficulty, Honour Mode also introduces an extremely limiting, automatically updating single save slot for the entire playthrough, meaning that player decisions, bad rolls, and other potential mishaps can’t be walked back once they happen.

Difficulty settings in Baldur’s Gate 3 cater to a wide range of skill and experience levels – even prior to the patch, the game’s three initial difficulty modes, Explorer, Balanced, and Tactician, meant that players could freely change the game’s difficulty to suit their own needs. With the introduction of Honour Mode, however, Baldur’s Gate 3 cuts out save scumming, while also giving enemies higher stats, better tactics, and, for bosses, even going as far as to introduce Legendary Actions – free, unique, limited-use abilities that add significantly to the action economy of bosses. However, while the added in-game difficulty and tweaked enemies will appeal to many players, some might not want to deal with the harsh save restrictions set by the new difficulty.

How To Play BG3’s Honour Mode Without Save Restrictions

For those who want to experience Baldur’s Gate 3‘s new Honour Mode, but might not want to deal with being limited to a single save, a mod from AnaAurora on Nexus Mods, Save In Honour Mode, will allow players to save and load files as normal for Honour Mode playthroughs. The mod’s description notes that the golden dice, the unique cosmetic reward for successfully completing Honour Mode without a total party kill, should be obtainable through the use of the mod, but that it hasn’t been tested, and clearly denotes that the mod should be considered a cheat.

Pros & Cons Of Removing Honour Mode’s Single Save

While the single save slot is one of Honour Mode’s defining features, there are legitimate reasons to want it gone. Although players can still continue to play with the Honour Mode ruleset after a TPK, even the continued “dishonour” mode keeps the single save slot, which can be frustrating to deal with once the prospect of a perfect run is already out of the question. Moreover, although Baldur’s Gate 3 has been heavily patched since it’s release, the game can still be fairly buggy for some players – meaning that playthroughs of a game that can exceed 100 hours could hinge on not experiencing unintended interactions or glitches.

It’s also important to note, however, that Honour Mode’s single save slot does add a significant sense of tension that greatly sets it apart from any of BG3‘s other difficulties. Normally, unwanted choices, bad rolls, or nasty surprises are something that can simply be avoided by loading a save – Honour Mode, in contrast, challenges players to more carefully consider each decision and turn, demanding mastery over the game’s systems in a way that it might not with multiple saves available. Whereas a player might just reload out of a bad situation in a normal playthrough, Honour Mode would force them to get themselves out of that situation through gameplay, which can lead to interesting and unique experiences.

While Honour Mode is likely to be a welcome addition to the game for many, along with the other changes brought by Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Patch 5 update, its single save nature might put off players who would otherwise want to try out the added level of challenge and new mechanics. For those players, AnaAurora’s mod offers a simple solution, allowing them to experience Honour Mode’s added in-game difficulty while circumventing the single save. As Baldur’s Gate 3 continues to receive support from its developers, the Custom difficulty option might see more options added to the base game as well.