Baldur’s Gate 3 Party Size Mod Lets You Double the Fun; Game Breaks 530K Steam Concurrent Peak

Baldur’s Gate 3 is creating a significant impact, surpassing the expectations of many. Just yesterday, the game reached a milestone of 450K concurrent players on Steam. Today, it has already surpassed that record, with an impressive 532K players according to SteamDB. It’s worth noting that Baldur’s Gate 3 is also available on GOG.com, which offers a DRM-free version of the game, but those figures are not included in these statistics.

With these impressive numbers, Baldur’s Gate 3 has secured its place as the 11th game in Steam’s all-time concurrent player peak chart. It follows behind popular titles like PUBG, CS: GO, Lost Ark, Dota 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, New World, Hogwarts Legacy, Goose Goose Duck, and Apex Legends. It’s important to mention that some of these games are free-to-play, which gives them an advantage when it comes to ranking in these charts. Moreover, when compared to other cRPGs, Baldur’s Gate 3 outshines Larian’s previous game Divinity: Original Sin 2, which only managed to reach 93.7K concurrent players on Steam, less than a sixth of BG3’s numbers.

Other cRPG contenders fall far behind in this category. Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity peaked at 41.9K, inXile’s Wasteland 3 reached 24.5K, and Shadowrun Returns from Harebrained Schemes managed 24.3K. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire barely surpasses Owlcat Games’ Pathfinder: Kingmaker (22.7K vs. 22.6K), while Divinity: Original Sin lags at a flat 22K. All other games registered below 20K concurrent players. Although it’s still too early to determine conclusively, it seems that Larian has found a significant market for a triple-A cRPG, possibly a first on this scale.

This exciting news bodes well for the future of the genre and Larian’s projects. However, current PC gamers are eagerly immersing themselves in dungeons and navigating interactions with various NPCs, enjoying the incredible story and characters crafted by the studio. Nonetheless, some users may find the party limitation imposed by Larian a bit constraining. Currently, players can only adventure with a party of four, while any additional companions must wait at the camp.

Fortunately, a Party Size mod has already emerged to address this issue, allowing Baldur’s Gate 3 players to increase the number of concurrent characters in their party to a maximum of eight. Additionally, this mod presents the opportunity to witness the reactions of multiple characters who would otherwise be confined to a separate playthrough if left at the camp.

It’s important to note that this party increase feature is currently only available in single-player mode, as multiplayer is still limited to four players. However, the mod’s author has promised to explore options for multiplayer functionality. In any case, it is recommended to experience the game solo before venturing into multiplayer.

As someone who has personally tested the Party Size mod (I captured the featured image from my session), I have a couple of installation tips. Although the mod’s description doesn’t mention it, it’s necessary to first add the Full Release Mod Fixer; otherwise, the Party Size mod won’t function properly. Once that is done, simply drop the Party Size mod in the Mods folder (inside Baldur’s Gate 3/Data), launch the game, and reach the camp. From there, ask one of your current companions to wait at the camp, and you should then have the option to add them back to your party, along with the additional characters. If you choose to expand your party’s size limit, consider increasing the difficulty to Tactician to maintain a balanced challenge.

More Baldur’s Gate 3 mods are constantly being updated and created. Stay tuned for a comprehensive list of the best mods.