Larian’s work on Baldur’s Gate 3 has resulted in the most alive-feeling world I’ve ever seen in a top-down CRPG, but one modder dares to go further. If you ever thought the game’s lovable cast of companions were too static and robotic, a brand-new Ambient AI mod aims to inject a new sense of sentience into the game’s party.
Created by modder Excelsior One, the Baldur’s Gate 3 “Ambient AI” mod aims to simply bring “your party to life”, giving every character their own sense of discovery and wonder outside of your control.
In BG3, characters simply follow your Tav or interact with objects you command them to. If you look at games that are designed to feel “alive”, such as The Elder Scrolls or Fallout, NPCs typically wander at their leisure, look into chests and interact with objects. With Ambient AI, that kind of behaviour can now be instilled into your party while you play.
“This mod injects a dynamic behaviour system into your party members,” the modder explained. “When idle, they will naturally interact with the world around them—lighting dark rooms, investigating strange objects, sitting on benches, and scavenging for loose items. It makes the party feel like a group of living adventurers, not just game pawns.”
With the mod installed, party members will sit down on nearby benches or even take naps to regain their health; they’ll automatically light lamps, sconces and other light sources; they’ll check themselves out in mirrors and examine objects; they’ll break down walls; and they may take a walk around to stretch their legs.
With the mod installed, party members will look inside chests or check the pockets of corpses, although they won’t actually pick up anything to make sure you get first dibs on the loot. Additionally, if there’s something interesting on the floor, such as a weapon, a party member may run up to it and take it, although they’ll do so without messing up their loadout.
Following the mod’s release, Excelsior One teased future improvements to the mod such as allowing you to pick what random loot the party picks up from the floor. For example, it’s very helpful for Shadowheart to sprint to some lost gold in the corner of an arena, but less useful when Gale is nabbing fistfuls of rotting food.
The modder explains that “immersion is everything”, and that the mod helps to make it feel like you’re adventuring with a group of friends instead of a group of robots. It’s cute, and it does inject a new sense of life into the game, even if it does feel like you’re playing with a group of ADHD toddlers who can’t leave anything alone.
No matter the case, it’s heartwarming to see incredible mods still coming to Baldur’s Gate 3 years after release. With the game’s recent post-Divinity sales ramping its player numbers up again, the game is still actively played by hundreds of thousands of gamers every day.
While Larian works hard on Divinity, BG3 modders are actively working on their own game-sized custom campaigns for the released CRPG. Path to Menzoberranzan, a custom campaign that returns to the city of Athkatla from Baldur’s Gate 2, currently has hundreds of fans working on it. Additionally, Mad Mage’s Domain, another custom campaign, aims to bring a new story to the game with 10 custom companions.
Even though Larian has left Baldur’s Gate 3 behind to focus on new games, the game is far from over if fans have anything to say about it. Sure, Hasbro is looking to make an official sequel at some point, but the community will make sure that BG3 lives forever.
