Finishing a single playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 is an accomplishment on its own. Earning every achievement across the game's three acts is a different kind of challenge entirely, one that demands planning, patience, and at least a few dedicated runs. Whether you're chasing the platinum on PS5 or hunting Steam achievements after 800 hours, this guide breaks down what actually matters, what you can miss, and how to approach the grind efficiently.
Are achievements working on PS5 Honor Mode?
One of the most common questions that surfaces on the BG3 subreddit is why achievements stop tracking on PS5, particularly in Honor Mode. The short answer: achievements on PS5 are tied to the base game's trophy system, and certain conditions, including some mod configurations or save state issues, can interrupt tracking silently.
If you're playing on PS5 without mods and still not getting achievements, check that your game is fully updated to the latest patch. Patch 8 introduced 12 new subclasses and made several backend changes that affected achievement logic, including a fix ensuring the armed version of Stunning Strike no longer counts toward unintended achievement conditions. You can review the full change history on the BG3 patch notes wiki.
warning
If you started a save before a major patch and continued it afterward, some achievement flags may not retroactively trigger. Starting a fresh run after updating is the safest approach for clean trophy tracking.
Full PS5 trophy list view
How many achievements does BG3 have?
Baldur's Gate 3 has 54 achievements on Steam and an equivalent trophy list on PS5, including a Platinum trophy. The list spans all three acts and covers everything from story milestones to highly specific challenge runs. A meaningful portion of them are missable, which is why most players who go for 100% completion end up doing at least three to five full runs.
Here's a rough breakdown of achievement categories:
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Use a checklist on your second or third run specifically targeting missable achievements. Trying to catch everything on a single playthrough adds a lot of pressure and often means reloading saves constantly.
What are the hardest achievements to unlock?
Honor Mode completion
The Honor Mode achievement is the most demanding in the game. It requires completing a full run on the hardest difficulty setting, where you get a single save slot and permadeath applies to your entire party. Dying ends the run. Most players who have earned this achievement report it taking multiple failed attempts before success.
A few things that genuinely help:
- Play a class you know well rather than experimenting
- Stock Scrolls of Revivify obsessively from Act 1 onward
- Avoid the Raphael fight unless you're prepared for a long, punishing encounter
- The Ansur dragon fight in Act 3 catches a lot of Honor Mode runs off guard; bring lightning resistance
Honor Mode selection screen
Missable story achievements
Several achievements lock you out permanently if you make the wrong choice at key story junctions. The most commonly missed ones involve Karlach, Shadowheart, and the Nightsong in Act 2. Completing certain companion questlines requires you to have built approval with them consistently across the entire run, not just at the final decision point.
danger
The Karlach questline has a hard stop in Act 3 if you haven't progressed her story far enough before triggering certain main quest events. Check her quest status before moving on to Baldur's Gate city content.Class-specific and build achievements
Some achievements require you to use specific class abilities or mechanics to defeat enemies. The Monk class has several of these, including unarmed kill requirements. After the Patch 8 changes, confirm current achievement conditions against the Steam community achievement guide, which tracks post-patch accuracy and notes any changed conditions in the comments.
Monk unarmed combat achievement
How to plan your achievement runs efficiently
Most players who reach 100% completion do it across three to five playthroughs with intentional planning rather than trying to mop up everything in a single marathon run.
Run 1: Blind playthrough Play however you want. Make choices naturally. This gives you a baseline for the story and lets you discover which achievements you'll need to target deliberately.
Run 2: Opposite choices + missable targets Flip your major story decisions. Romance different companions. Target the achievement list directly with a checklist open.
Run 3: Honor Mode Do this once you know the game well. Rushing Honor Mode before understanding fight mechanics is the fastest way to lose a run in Act 1.
Run 4-5 (if needed): Class-specific cleanup If you still need class achievements, short runs focused on specific builds can knock these out faster than full playthroughs.
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The Steam version allows you to use the console to check achievement progress mid-game. PS5 players need to check the PlayStation trophy app or the in-game menu, which doesn't always update in real time.
Steam achievement progress tracker
Common reasons achievements aren't unlocking
Beyond the PS5 Honor Mode issue mentioned earlier, a few other situations cause achievement failures:
- Mods: Even cosmetic mods can disable achievement tracking on PC. Disable all mods and reload a clean save if tracking has stopped.
- Multiplayer sessions: Some achievements only trigger for the host player, not clients. If you're playing co-op, confirm which achievements are host-only before relying on a friend's session.
- Save file corruption: Rare but documented. If an achievement triggers in-game but doesn't register on the platform, reloading the save and re-triggering the condition sometimes resolves it.
- Patch timing: Achievements added or modified by patches (like the Patch 8 subclass-related ones) may require a save started after that patch to track correctly.
For the most up-to-date list of known achievement bugs and workarounds, the community-maintained guide on Steam is the most reliable resource, as it's updated with patch-specific notes.
Final tips for trophy hunters
Going for all achievements in BG3 is a long commitment. The Reddit community regularly reports 800 hours and five full runs as a realistic benchmark for 100% completion, which tells you something about the scope. That's not a discouragement, it's context. The game has enough variety across classes, companions, and story paths that most of those hours feel genuinely different rather than repetitive.
Plan your runs, keep a checklist open, and do Honor Mode when you're ready rather than when you think you should be. For more strategy guides across RPGs and other genres, browse the full guides library at GAMES.GG.