This New Baldur’s Gate 3 Mod Makes a Great Tweak, But Also Ruins the Whole Experience

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a revolutionary hit for the modern gaming industry, with the game still racking up plenty of player attention and engagement three years after it debuted. It’s a truly sprawling RPG in every sense of the world. The terrific writing and expansive game design allows players to really create their ideal adventure and witness the world from either afar or up close.

Some players would have preferred more of the latter, it seems, as new mods adjusting the camera (and subsequently the gameplay experience) have become available online. This includes a genuinely impressive one by Relysia that does a lot of work to remake the game’s underlying camera work differently. For a certain kind of player, this change might be an ideal shift for the experience — but I think it takes away one of the key elements of what makes Baldur’s Gate 3 so good.

This Baldur’s Gate 3 Mod Turns It Into An Entirely Different Game

The “True Third Person Camera” mod by Relysia completely inverts the way that it feels to play Baldur’s Gate 3. The new mod retains all the gameplay depth and narrative strength of the base game but moves the camera to a spot almost permanently at a fixed distance behind the player, which adjusts naturally to character movement and actions. It’s a subtle mod, to the point where some players had trouble spotting the change at first glance. However, seeing the videos posted by Relysia changes it from a top-down experience to a more focused experience, akin to something like Dragon Age or The Witcher 3. The thing is, that shift is a completely different shift in terms of experience.

For some players, that more focused approach will be exactly what they wanted, giving them a tighter focus on their character and their player in the larger world. If you’re looking for something with a more immersive experience, then this mod is ideal. It really reinforces the depth of the worldbuilding, especially as the player walks around. If you’re a fan of third-person franchises like Assassin’s Creed, it’s a good way to ground the larger RPG into that style of presentation. The thing is, though, that wasn’t the experience that a lot of players (including this writer) wanted out of Baldur’s Gate 3.

This Mod Is Great, But It Ruins The Intended Experience Of The Original

None of the criticism I have for the “True Third Person Camera” mod is meant to decry what Relysia has accomplished. It’s a subtle but effective tweak on the game, and they should be commended for finding that right balance to effectively create a different experience altogether. However, some players were enticed by the larger design and broader execution of Baldur’s Gate 3. While the player character is important, a big part of the experience is the narrative arcs of the other characters. Having a top-down view of the world lent itself to connecting with everyone and their narratives in tandem, instead of being rooted through the player character and their experiences with characters.

Playing from the top-down pulled-back view allowed me to approach combat with a greater sense of world awareness and strategy, making each side character’s agency feel all the more important as they moved across the map. The “True Third Person Camera” approach keeps the attention entirely on the character the player is controlling, instead of giving you that larger, broader party focus. What makes that frustrating is that part of what I (and plenty of other gamers) loved about Baldur’s Gate 3 was that bigger scope. It felt like a real massive world every time you stepped into a new dungeon or a new setting. It was giant, with your character and their allies just smaller figures in a grander space. You could scroll over to see larger arenas and plan out attacks. You could see entire scenes, plan around character movements, or appreciate the intricate worldbuilding all at once.

You still have the ability to get up close and personal with the camera in the base game, but it’s up to you when to shift to that view instead of having it as default. The game often lent itself well to going for a broader view, especially when it came to setting up certain decisions or showcasing specific locations. It was one of the most effective attempts I’ve ever seen at replicating the joys of tabletop gaming — both RPGs and strategy games — in the digital space. The characters have real life to them, even while effectively being pieces on a massive board. It was the ultimate fusion of both RPG and strategy games that I loved. This new mod takes that away and trades it in for a more standard third-person POV, similar to plenty of other fantasy games from across the 21st century. This mod is ideal for players who might have preferred that kind of experience, but it undeniably shifts the game into a very different space than the one that I fell in love with.