What is Honour Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3?

❘ Updated: 2023-12-18T08:49:53

A screenshot from the game Baldur's Gate 3

Larian Studios

“Honour Mode” raises the stakes in Baldur’s Gate 3 by ending your whole playthrough if you die once. So, here’s everything you need to know about it.

Players first learnt about Honour Mode thanks to a leaked achievement on the GOG launcher. The achievement, otherwise known as “Foehammer” states that players can only earn the achievement after completing the game in “Honour Mode”.

But what is Honour Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3, and how does it work? Here’s all the information that you need to know about this highly-anticipated change.

Honor Mode would add an extra layer of risk and strategy to every Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough

What is Honour Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Honour Mode draws inspiration from similar modes implemented in other Larian Studios games, such as Divinity: Original Sin.

Honour Mode was notorious for its uncompromising difficulty in the Divinity: Original Sin series. It paired the game’s hardest difficulty, “Tactical Mode,” with the brutal twist of permanent death.

In Baldur’s Gate 3, the situation is the same: if your entire party is wiped out, your save file will also be deleted, making each decision and battle much more significant.

The game will also maintain just one save file for your playthrough, meaning that you can’t reload an earlier save to avoid mistakes or undesirable outcomes.

Honor Mode adds permadeath and hardcore playthroughs to Baldur’s Gate 3

As it stands, Baldur’s Gate 3 has three other different difficulty settings: Explorer, Normal, and Tactician.

Tactician is the hardest of the options and requires players to be extremely careful with their turns and decisions in the game. However, players who are finding Tactician mode too easy or those who simply want a different experience when playing through the game will be able to get that in the form of Honour Mode.

Honour Mode restricts players to just one save file that deletes itself upon every party member’s death. This is equivalent to a permadeath or hardcore playthrough in other games.

The introduction of Honour Mode provides a fresh challenge for veterans and also adds significant replay value to the game, which is already praised as one of the best RPGs ever.