2 Years Later, Baldur's Gate 3: The Chionthar Wilds Finally Releases

Published Sep 17, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT

Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond. 

Larian Studios may have called it quits on official Baldur's Gate 3 content updates, but thanks to the community, the game will be alive for years to come, with a massive amount of mod expansions and community-created content constantly being released. Patch 7 brought curated mods to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, opening the scene to console players, giving fans an excuse to play the game on a new platform.

Aside from unskippable mods that improve gameplay, bigger expansion projects are starting to take shape as well on the scale of unofficial DLC, including the in-development Cosmic Vessel mod, which plans a new Origin character, class, subclasses, quests, locations, and fully voiced content.

However, one of the most anticipated mods for Baldur's Gate 3 just finally launched on Nexus, taking players to The Chionthar Wilds in a massive Act Two expansion that introduces new quests, items, NPCs, encounters, and much more.

Baldur's Gate 3's Act Two Expansion mod is one of the community's most ambitious attempts yet to add something resembling a full piece of unofficial DLC to Larian's RPG. Created by modder SquallyDaBeanz, its newly released Version 0.8 beta inserts an entirely new Act 2 adventure between the Shadow-Cursed Lands and the start of Act 3, centered around a region called The Chionthar Wilds.

The expansion is accessible directly during a normal playthrough, and after leaving Reithwin, the road that would usually take the party toward Baldur's Gate instead leads into the new region. With the Army of the Absolute advancing, Tav and their companions must find a way across the Chionthar River before continuing toward Rivington and Act 3. Existing saves are supported provided the mod is installed before leaving Act 2, while a separate QuickStart version lets players jump directly into the new content. Multiplayer is also supported.

The scale is particularly impressive, and SquallyDaBeanz intends the Chionthar Wilds to feel comparable to Act 1's Wilderness, with an emphasis on open-ended exploration and combat for Level 8–10 parties. The current build contains 30+ combat encounters and 70+ new items, alongside original quests, dungeons, NPCs, cutscenes, puzzles, secrets, lore, custom creatures, and new stat blocks.

Experience gains have deliberately been reduced to avoid making players overpowered heading into Act 3, with a complete run awarding roughly 30,000 XP. The project has been in development for almost two years, and fans have been waiting patiently for an update for a while.

SquallyDaBeanz publicly revealed the mod with a teaser in April 2025 after already spending around six months on development, initially targeting a late-2025 release. That window slipped into 2026 as the project expanded dramatically, and while it originally focused primarily on combat and exploration, the creator ultimately overhauled large portions to add NPCs, conversations, and proper quests after deciding the earlier version lacked enough character interaction.

The public beta finally launched today on September 17, 2026, though SquallyDaBeanz warns that bugs and potential softlocks are likely. Version 1.0 is planned to further improve writing, dialogue, cutscenes, class/race-specific responses, combat balance, bosses, items, and general polish, though no specific timeframe has been provided yet. You can check out the new Act 2 expansion and The Chionthar Wilds via NexusMods now, and whether you needed it or not, you have a great excuse to start another Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough.

Baldur's Gate 3

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