Larian Studios has released a substantial update for Baldur's Gate 3, known as Patch 5, which is pivotal for players looking for new content and gameplay improvements. The patch is significant, with a download size of 30GB and necessitates around 130GB of free space on the player's machine. Players facing space constraints might need to reinstall the game to incorporate the updated version.

The hefty update brings an epilogue setting the stage for a get-together organized by the character Withers six months after the game's main events have concluded. Boasting an impressive 3,589 lines of dialogue, players can experience heartfelt farewells with their party members.

Two new game modes, Custom and Honour Mode, are introduced in Patch 5. Custom Mode allows players to tweak gameplay to emulate a more traditional Dungeons & Dragons experience by hiding elements of the game's mechanics. Honour Mode presents a heightened difficulty level with a ‘permadeath’ feature, where save-scumming is disabled, increasing the stakes for every decision made.

This update is set to enhance gameplay fairness as unintentional powerful exploits have been addressed in Honour Mode, but are still available in other difficulty settings. When players perish in Honour Mode, they are presented with their journey's statistics and have the option to continue their adventure, albeit with the mode disabled. Successful completion of the game in Honour Mode without dying rewards players with the distinguished Golden D20.

Baldur's Gate 3's latest patch also improves performance issues that were present in the prior patch and rectifies Astarion's kisses glitch. A centralized inventory management system has been developed for an easier handling of companion's inventory, applicable even when they are not actively part of the party. Performance enhancements result from the development of the Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3, positively influencing all platforms.

For those interested in the full extent of adjustments, numerous tweaks, fixes, and additions, the full patch notes are available on the official website. However, players should be cautious of potential spoilers while browsing these details.

How does Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 5 impact the game's performance across different platforms?

Patch 5 improves the inventory system, fixes previous slowdown issues, and enhances the overall gaming experience due to performance optimizations initially designed for the Xbox version, which benefit all platforms where the game is available.