Baldur's Gate 3 gets a whopping Steam Early Access update today in the shape of Patch 6. The headline goodies are a new Dungeons & Dragons class to play as - the Sorcerer - plus a whole new area to explore: Grymforge.

I'll explore a few of the additions here, as I had a chance to play them at EGX recently, and then lead into an interview with Larian headmaster Swen Vincke, who I interviewed after the show.

Grymforge is a sprawling city in the Underdark, beyond where the current Early Access build ends, and is home to the really rather unpleasant Duergar dwarves. Repeat: they are not friendly, and will fight you without a moment's hesitation.

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Baldur's Gate 3's next big patch comes out Tuesday 13th July, developer Larian has announced.

During a Panel From Hell live show, below, Larian detailed Patch 5 for the early access Dungeons & Dragons PC role-playing game.

Patch 5 has combat and AI improvements, visual upgrades to weapons and cinematics and a bigger focus on roleplaying, Larian said.

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Baldur's Gate 3 will skip 2021, Larian has confirmed.

In a video interview with Gamespot, below, Larian boss Swen Vincke said the developer is currently "aiming" for a 2022 launch.

The role-playing game based on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop launched in early access form in October 2020, and last saw an update in February.

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UPDATE 26TH FEB: Rejoice, for Patch 4: Nature's Power has landed! Cow about that? A full and detailed patch breakdown can be found on Steam.

ORIGINAL STORY 17TH FEB: The most important thing to understand is that you will be able to turn into a badger. Yes, the David Attenborough of Dungeons & Dragons classes, the druid, is on its way to the early access release of Baldur's Gate 3. When? "Very soon," according to a press release. There's no specific date yet.

Besides a badger, the druid will be able to become a polar bear, a spider (probably bigger than a house spider), a raven, a cat, a dire wolf, and a curious-sounding "aberrant shape". This is something triggered by embracing the Mindflayer tadpole you have shoved into your eye at the beginning of the game, apparently.

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In the run-up to its early access launch next week, developer Larian has been on a Baldur's Gate 3 info-splurge, this time detailing the various races, sub-races, and classes available to those signing up to role-play their way through the first of three acts on 6th October.

Initially, players will be able to select from 16 races and sub-races when creating characters - variations of humans, githyanki, elves, drow, half-elves, dwarves, halflings, and tieflings - before assigning them one of six classes, further divided into sub-classes.

Humans, the most populace race in Faerûn, are said to be tenacious and creative "with an endless capacity for growth", making them particularly suited to adventuring, while the githyanki are described as "peerless warriors from the Astral Plane" seeking the total destruction of the mind flayers.

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After a bit of an unscheduled pitstop on the road to release, Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3 will be getting the Steam and Stadia early access treatment on 30th September.

That date comes via today's Geoff-Keighley-hosted Panel From Hell livestream, in which Larian shared more details on what players can expect when the highly anticipated RPG arrives next month, including a little bit of narrative scene-setting.

According to Larian, players begin their Baldur's Gate 3 journey in Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells. "Captive aboard a nautiloid," an accompanying press release reveals, "they take part in a daring escape as the ship jumps between planes of existence, and is caught up in the fury of the eternal, apocalyptic Blood War that rages across the hellscape".

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If you've been struggling to suppress your understandable excitement as Baldur's Gate 3's previously announced August early access release approaches, you might want to take a seat - or, at the very least, prop yourself firmly against a wall; developer Larian Studios has revealed the enormously anticipated RPG won't be launching this month after all.

Larian initially announced an August early access launch for Baldur's Gate 3 back in June, noting that while the coronavirus pandemic had impacted development, it still believed August was a realistic release window. Unfortunately, the developer has now revised its schedule, confirming on Twitter that the game will no longer arrive this month as originally planned.

The good news is that Larian says Baldur's Gate 3 is still "just around the corner", and that a revised early access release date will be revealed - alongside other "big news" - during its Panel From Hell livestream event, set to be held on 18th August.

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Larian livestreamed over an hour of new Baldur's Gate 3 gameplay last night - and it looked great.

Larian boss Swen Vincke played the hotly-anticipated fantasy role-playing game live, showing off new narration, the tweaked user interface and player choice. During the presentation, the viewers could decide which path to take: venture into the underdark or kill the hobgoblin Dror Ragzlin. I won't spoil the result!

What I will spoil, however, are some of the improvements that have been made to the game during development this year. For example, the narrator that leads players through the game has changed to present tense/second person narration from past tense.

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Baldur's Gate 3 developer, Larian Studios, says it will be "revealing more" about the highly-anticipated sequel, starting 6th June.

The announcements will come via Guerrilla Collective, a three-day indie showcase from a number of developers including the likes of 11 Bit Studios (Frostpunk), Coffee Stain Studios (Satisfactory), Larian Studios (Baldur's Gate 3), Raw Fury, Rebellion, Versus Evil (The Banner Saga) and many more.

"Throughout June, we'll be revealing more about #BaldursGate3 starting June 6, on the #GuerrillaCollective Showcase," Larian Studios tweeted recently. "It's almost time to venture forth."

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Divinity: Fallen Heroes, the upcoming XCOM-style Divinity game from Larian Studios, has been put on hold for an unspecified amount of time.

While it was originally meant for release this November, an announcement on the Larian Forums states Logic Artists (the developer handling Fallen Heroes) will be focusing on its own IPs while Larian moves focus to Baldur's Gate 3.

"It has become clear to everyone involved that the game will need far greater development time and resources than are available now to bring it to fruition, in a fun and sustainable way," Larian writes.

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