Baldur’s Gate 3 players defend save scumming at all costs: “This is why I love single player!”

Stephanie Zucarelli
Baldur's Gate 3 Shadowheart

Larian Studios fans debated why save-scumming shouldn’t be considered cheating and how necessary it is to “avoid gatekeeping.” Here’s what the Baldur’s Gate 3 community has been talking about.

Baldur’s Gate 3 offers players plenty of choices both in dialogue scenes and combat. Since role-playing is a key aspect of Larian Studios’ game, decisions not only alter the destiny of the adventure, but also wage on what will happen to Faerun and its characters at the end.

Ever since its Early Access days, Baldur’s Gate 3 players know that save scumming is a great way to redo mistakes and prevent not-so-ideal outcomes. In a Reddit post called “I’m a save scummer,” fans gathered to defend why they think that this method is more than necessary for single-player playthroughs.

Most fans agreed that save-scumming is a great “accessibility” option, and prevents difficulty options from gatekeeping experiences from those who just want to enjoy a calm playthrough. “This is why I love single-player. Who cares? I try to limit save scumming, but man sometimes I do it and I do not care…,” explained user ‘drekiaa.’

Baldur's Gate 3 Lae'zel
Some Baldur’s Gate 3 players stated that “save-scumming” could be compared to cheating.

“Love interest didn’t like that dialogue option? Didn’t happen. Wanted to kill Ethel without dealing with her lair but she broke Gale’s concentration and the lock failed? Never happened. Accidentally alienated the tiefling children? Nope.” commented Reddit user ‘Hmosqueda.’

However, some users stated that save scumming in Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the way players’ are intended to play the game. “I have been told many times that it was cheating and that at this point I should use mod or cheat engine. Because in « real » DnD you could not do it…,” described user ‘muribundi.’

However, fans were quick to dismiss these opinions: “All the gatekeeping around single-player games is stupid. Save scumming? Sure dude. Don’t play games that well? Story mode. Wanna run OP min/max builds? There you go. Wanna not open your inventory and barely care about game mechanics? Who cares. Playing solo char? Go for it. There is no wrong way to play,” stated Redditor ‘SolitaryVictor.’

And that’s everything you need to know about why players are defending “save scumming” in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you want to know more about Larian Studios’ RPG, you can check why fans deeply regret saving Minthara in Honor Mode and why players had enough of Astarion’s disapproval while traveling through Faerun.

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About The Author

Stephanie is a Games Writer at CharlieIntel. After graduating as a journalist, she started working as a tech writer for Infobae, Channel 9, and Rolling Stone. She's currently focused on covering Diablo 4, Baldur's Gate 3 and Fortnite, but can't resist anything related to The Sims 4 and Stardew Valley. You can contact her at [email protected].