Key Takeaways
- Honour Mode was added to Baldur’s Gate 3 just over a year ago in Patch 5.
- In that time, 2.1 percent of Steam players have managed to conquer the mode, with over 1.2 million attempts ending in defeat.
Just over a year ago on November 30, 2023, Larian Studios added the infamously difficult Honour Mode to Baldur’s Gate 3. With just one save file, you’re challenged to beat the entire game at a difficulty harder than Tactician without dying, all to earn the coveted golden dice.
The bragging rights are nice, too.
Larian Studios revealed earlier this year that 1.2 million Honour Mode playthroughs had ended in defeat. Clearly, a good chunk of the community is trying to beat the game on its highest difficulty. But only a fraction have the mettle to pull it off.
As of writing, 2.1 percent of Steam players have unlocked the Foehammer achievement for completing the game on Honour Mode. For comparison, 22.8 percent of players percent have completed the game, and five percent have braved Tactician.
There Have Been A Lot Of Honour Mode Horror Stories
With 1.2 million defeats, there are plenty of horror stories to share around the campfire about where Honour Mode runs went wrong.
One player got through the entire game, defeating the Absolute in a triumphant, well earned victory, only to die at the epilogue party. They decided in what would be their downfall to become a Mind Flayer just to see how it would change the ending, which meant they had to roll the die to stop themselves from eating their companions’ brains.
Since it’s Honour Mode, you can’t save scum, and so lo and behold, they failed their rolls and it all came crashing down.
Another player just managed to escape death by a hair’s breadth after three party members were killed in battle. They returned to camp and asked Withers to resurrect everyone, but in teleporting Gale’s corpse to safety, his Netherese Orb was triggered, killing everyone.
But worst of all was the Scratch-ending Honour Mode run. One player threw Scratch’s ball, and their co-operative friend picked it up to continue their round of fetch. But in doing so, the entire camp turned hostile — including the level 12 Oathbreaker Knight — and swiftly ended their game in a mere four rounds.
A lot can happen in Baldur’s Gate 3, some of it predictable, some of it an Oathbreaker Knight curbstomping you for playing fetch, so it’s no wonder that Honour Mode would be so difficult. 2.1 percent is a lot more impressive than it might seem at first glance, eh?
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.