Baldur's Gate 3 Console Version Adds Shadow Of Mordor-Style Nemesis System — Gaming

Last week's content drop for Baldur's Gate 3 console players was the best we've had in months. It added the ability for players to reach level 40, Aylin and Isobel as full, playable party members, and a bunch of new Druid Wildshapes, including a Raptor, Spider, Boar, Owlcat, Wolf, Rabbit, and Rat.

Despite a minor slowdown midway through this year, Larian has been excellent at finding, approving, vetting, and uploading new content for console players, and the latest batch has just arrived. This time around, there are 18 new pieces, with new classes, subclasses, and a new origin character, but the headline is the Shadow of Mordor-style Nemesis System.

You Can Now Live Your Shadow Of Mordor Dreams In Baldur's Gate 3 Console Version

Lae'zel holding her sword ready in Baldur's Gate 3, with a red dragon flying in the background.

I will never stop singing Larian's praises for the efforts it is making to continue delivering a fresh experience for Baldur's Gate 3 console players. While it could have easily brushed the game aside to focus on its next title, Divinity, members of the studio are hunting for the best mods for PC and bringing them to consoles.

The variety isn't quite the same as the PC modding scene, with over 18,000 on Nexus Mods alone, but Larian is making sure that console players get the best of the best. This year, we've received a custom combat creator, a god mode, and werewolf Shadowheart, among others.

The most recent drop has just arrived, and we've broken it all down for you below:

College of Cacophony: Bard Subclass - Adds a new subclass for Bards. It is intended to support a Thunder-focused offensive archetype for Bards, combining AoE spells with a variety of debuffs.
Lesson Learned: Animation Fix for Gale's Magic Lesson - Adds better spellcasting animations for Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards, and Clerics of Mystra during Gale's magic lesson.
Ravenloft Subclasses 2024 - Adds a range of subclasses from Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
Forsaken Shard: Forgotten Armory Part I - Adds the Forsaken Shard Longsword, complete with custom animations.
Vampire Spawn Transformation - Adds red eyes and fangs to characters if they are turned into a Vampire Spawn.
Vampire Bite Scars - Adds vampire bite scars to character creation and applies them automatically if character allows Astarion to turn them into Vampire Spawn.
Vanitas: Armor And Camp Clothing Set - Adds new armor and camp clothing.
Losiir Origin - Adds Githyanki fighter Losiir as a true Origin choice. Stops him from dying in the Nautiloid crash.
Kurenai Kage: Crimson Shadow Katana - Adds a new katana weapon that has the ability to frighten enemies.
Requiem For The Absolute: Dynamic Encounters - Adds a Shadow of Mordor-style nemesis system. When you take a Long Rest outside a sanctuary, the Absolute may send a warband to your location. Killing commanders raises a permanent meter. As it grows, hunts become more frequent, and officers begin appearing with names, fighting styles, and abilities that you can inspect in-game.
Poesielibre's Dark Urge Scale Collection - Adds 98 new options to the scale color selection.
Killer Queen: Head Preset - New head for BT1 (+ a version with vampire fangs).
Arcadia: Clothing And Light Armor - Adds a new DEX and INT-based armor set.
Draco's Fantasy Gunslinger - Adds a new class featuring 5 Subclasses and 3 Gun Types: Revolvers, Hand Mortars, and Arcane Rifles. There are 16 unique lootable weapons across Faerun.
Crimson Hair Catalog Part 3 - Adds 15 new hairstyles.
Ancient Mega Pack Plus - Adds a patch for Ancient Mega Pack.
Sweet Little Hair Pack - Adds 9 new hairstyles.
Seductress Set - Adds a new armor/camp clothing set.

The Nemesis System is one of the biggest shames in all of gaming. Monolith created this fantastic system, trademarked it, and then the studio was shuttered. This means that no studio will be able to implement or iterate on it for their own games, despite how good it is. To see it replicated by a fan and added to Baldur's Gate 3 is a fascinating premise, and it adds an extra layer of danger to an already thrilling game. If last week's set of additions had me debating a return to Baldur's Gate, this week's has me fully back in.

These can all be downloaded through Larian's mod menu in BG3.