Creators working on Path to Menzoberranzan, a custom adventure for Baldur’s Gate 3, have shared a development update after a period of relative silence. The team had previously shown a working build around June but then went quiet. The reason for the radio silence? A “busy” summer spent overhauling their development strategy to better manage the scope of the project.
The update also included teasers for three upcoming characters that will be involved in the adventure to the Drow city of Menzoberranzan, a locale familiar to players of previous games in the Baldur’s Gate series.
“We know it’s been a while since our last news,” stated Andrew Simone, Path to Menzoberranzan’s community manager, in the latest announcement on the project’s Discord. “We promise we were working hard in the shadows.”
“What began as a rework of an area from Baldur’s Gate II has evolved into a comprehensive campaign,” Simone clarified. “This expansion required rethinking many internal systems from teamwork to content design. The summer was dedicated to refining our production processes, the end goal being a standout release!”
Simone indicated that the team is now “returning to full speed, even faster than previously”, before unveiling the characters which included “a Drow cleric devoted to Eilistraee, a daring human adventurer, a being reminiscent of Frankenstein’s creation, and other unique individuals!”.
There was no mention of the demo that the modders were nearing completion of around June. A question and answer section of the mod’s Discord, which hasn’t been updated since June, mentions that “the team are focused on a playable demo.” But also states, “The timeline for the demo is currently under review”. So it seems the need to rework and restructure their development process has meant they have pushed back their initial plans to release the demo around the middle of 2025.
Any delays or adjustments can understandably spark concern regarding the long-term viability of such ambitious projects. However, many significant modifications have successfully launched despite facing their own sets of hurdles. For example, Fallout: London from Team FOLON, a project with a lengthy development timeline, only recently introduced their first downloadable content, which was first unveiled in December 2024. Addressing concerns about saved game compatibility was a factor in the extended development time.
Finally, the Path to Menzoberranzan update mentioned that the team are searching for new team members to fill six roles across their technical, user experience, and design departments. Positions available include systems programmer, integration programmer, UX designer, systems UX lead, emotional UX lead, and game designer. Further information is available in the recruiting channel on the mod’s Discord server.