Baldur’s Gate 3 Mod Cuts Turn-Based Combat and Makes Everything Real-Time

A Baldur’s Gate 3 mod removes the role-playing game’s traditional Dungeons & Dragons turn-based combat in favor of more action-orientated real-time battles.

PC Gamer spotted the work-in-progress mod from tinybike on YouTube, and described it as a “very very very rough draft.” It does what it says on the tin though, letting players run into Baldur’s Gate 3 combat and cast spells as quick as their fingers will allow, instead of having to wait their turn.

The video shows tinybike exploring the ruins found early in Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3 and immediately being rushed by the agitated enemy who awaits. But they, alongside the handful of other baddies exploring the ruins, are quickly taken down with a selection of speedy spells.

Baldur’s Gate 3 combat can be tricky even with 10 minutes between each move to think about things, of course, so it’s difficult to imagine how real-time combat would work proper, especially for some more strategically driven classes like the Rogue. Regardless, mods will seemingly make it a viable option in the future, so those looking to explore Faerûn without a pause button can seemingly soon do so.

Baldur’s Gate 3 mods have increased in prominence thanks to developer Larian Studios releasing an official toolkit for the game, and this was quickly broken to let players make fully custom maps and more.

The toolkit arrived alongside Patch 7, which added lots of other content including an “absolutely metal” ending for Karlach and a hidden evil ending. Players will also be relieved to hear that it’s not the final Baldur’s Gate 3 patch after all.

In our 10/10 review of the game, IGN said: “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.