Baldur's Gate 3 Act Two Expansion Mod Delayed, Still on Track for 2026

A second trailer for the Baldur's Gate 3 Act Two Expansion dropped on April 9, and the progress it represents came alongside an honest admission: the playable build SquallyDaBeanz had targeted for early 2026 will not arrive until the second half of the year. The reason is one most DMs will find hard to argue with.

SquallyDaBeanz, who previously created the well-received Forsaken custom campaign, originally conceived the Act Two Expansion as a combat-and-exploration region with storytelling handled largely through notes and environmental details. That approach collapsed under its own weight. "I previously stated there wouldn't be new NPCs, but I've since gone back on that stance," the modder wrote. "While the mod is still focused heavily on exploration and combat, it felt very lacking without character interactions and conversations." The overhaul of large sections to accommodate full questlines and new characters is the direct cause of the current delay. "My original vision for the mod fell short as things began to 'wrap up' so I've delayed the mod further while I work on these features," SquallyDaBeanz added. "This has added a massive amount of work onto the project as you can imagine, but I wouldn't have been happy with the original direction."

What players will eventually get is a new region built into the base game between Acts 2 and 3, scoped to rival the Act 1 Wilderness in size, designed for mid-to-high level parties, and featuring new areas, dungeons, encounters, items, and secrets. The narrative stakes are specific: "With the Army of the Absolute on the march, Tav and the gang must find a way to cross the Chionthar River before taking part in an epic battle against the Absolute's army at Rivington." The region slots directly into the existing campaign and supports multiplayer, meaning a full party can run it together on a single playthrough.

SquallyDaBeanz has logged hundreds of hours creating, testing, and balancing the new content, and a QA testing phase is planned before the public release. When a playable build is ready, the modder plans to open submissions for testers. The project's Patreon carries the most detailed development updates and is the clearest place to watch for that call. Bluesky and YouTube serve as secondary channels for those who want to follow without a Patreon account.

This mod has been in active development since before Larian confirmed there would be no official post-Patch 8 DLC for BG3, and it now stands as one of the most visible examples of the community extending the game on its own terms. The timeline has slipped twice, from late 2025 to early 2026 to now the back half of the year, but each slip was driven by additions rather than technical failure. For DMs running their own Forgotten Realms sessions, the mod's structural logic translates directly to tabletop: a river crossing as a campaign bottleneck, an advancing army as ambient dread, NPC encounters seeded into a new wilderness stretch, and a climactic pitched battle as an Act break. That framework works at any table right now, and the second trailer confirms there will be a finished version to play through before the year is out.