Next Baldur’s Gate 3 patch is bad news for your saved games

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the third installment of one of the most iconic RPG series of all time. These in-depth ventures in the world of the Forgotten Realms will absorb you for countless hours as you explore dungeons, battle monsters, and make decisions that will determine the fate of your party and countless others. Needless to say, one playthrough will take you tens – if not hundreds – of hours. So, it’s concerning when a new Baldur’s Gate 3 patch comes along that is incompatible with saved games from the previous version.

The latest Baldur’s Gate 3 patch (Patch 3) is just around the corner. It will include the first changes to impact the game’s story. However, it will also include the first instance of save incompatibility. Put simply, the new version of the game will be unable to load save files from older versions.

Branching paths

That’s not to say that you will be unable to continue your current games. Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 3 and future patches that cause save incompatibility will have two branches. The primary branch will be the default and latest version of the game with all of the updates. However, if you would like to continue with your old Baldur’s Gate 3 saved games, you can follow the simple instructions below:

• Right-click on Baldur’s Gate 3 in your Steam library.
• Select Properties.
• Click the BETA tab.
• Under “Select the beta you would like to opt into,” you can select Patch 2.

If you know you want to continue with your current game for a while, Larian Studios recommends disabling automatic updates. Things like save incompatibility are the price of Early Access. It’s not ideal, but each update makes the game better. The developer did forewarn players that save incompatibility would be an issue as the game progresses through Early Access. Besides, there are so many awesome races and classes to try out. Re-rolling a character could be even more fun.

If you’d like some more information about Baldur’s Gate 3, you can check out our Early Access impressions. We’ve also got a ton of guides to help you in your adventures, new and old.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is available for PC through Steam and Stadia. However, Stadia won’t be able to take advantage of the branching patches.