The biggest Baldur’s Gate 3 fan project to date is aiming to give players a first hands-on taste in the first half of 2026. Path to Menzoberranzan, an expansive community-made campaign that would take players from Athkatla into the Underdark and the drow city of Menzoberranzan, is preparing a Nautiloid-sized prologue alpha while its creators build toward a full, multi-act release that they say remains years away.
A massive team and a clear first milestone
What began as a small fan initiative has ballooned into a coordinated effort. Organizers say more than 130 contributors are now working on the mod, supported by a Patreon community and a centralized production structure with project directors, leads and senior coordinators overseeing contributors across design, art, writing and engineering.
In a recent project summary and a monthly progress update shared by community manager Andrew Simone, the team confirmed they are developing a first playable alpha containing the game’s prologue — "similar in scope to the Nautiloid of BG3" — and that it is expected to arrive in the first half of 2026. Simone also noted that voice acting auditions have been paused until next year while the team focuses on completing that opening chunk.
What the mod promises
The Path to Menzoberranzan creators have outlined an ambitious feature list. Among the items they say they intend to deliver are:
- A full original campaign spanning three acts, revisiting locations from Baldur’s Gate II and travelling to Menzoberranzan
- A new protagonist, up to eight brand-new companions (some romanceable), and many interconnected personal quests
- Fully voiced companions and world NPCs (the team insists these will not be AI-generated)
- Custom concept art, 3D assets and a handcrafted visual style for Menzoberranzan
- New items, outfits, NPC models, side quests and an original musical theme
- Cinematics and larger maps enabled by upgraded backend infrastructure
Project leads have described those technical upgrades as building out AAA-style systems to handle the "MASSIVE" scope the mod is growing into — a phrase the team used to stress the scale of what they hope to produce.
A stepwise release plan — and realistic caveats
The team says the alpha is only the beginning: they plan periodic updates that add locations and advance the narrative, similar to how Baldur’s Gate 3 itself released content during its early access period. How large each update will be will depend on alpha and beta feedback and on what the developers can realistically implement between releases.
That cautious note is important. Volunteer mod projects frequently expand beyond their initial scope and then pare back when technical, legal or manpower limits appear. Commentators and experienced modders caution that big ambitions often mean long timelines; Path to Menzoberranzan’s own roadmap acknowledges the full release could be years away.
Context: a lively BG3 modscene
Path to Menzoberranzan is not the only large undertaking in the Baldur’s Gate 3 community. Other projects include restorations of cut Early Access content — a separate modder has been working to reintroduce dozens of dialogues and over 1,000 voiced lines removed before the game's 1.0 release — and community campaigns with similar scope ambitions. Those projects illustrate both the creativity of the BG3 mod scene and the technical challenges involved in shipping big, polished additions.
Why this matters to players
For fans of Forgotten Realms lore, Menzoberranzan has long been a coveted setting, offering political intrigue, drow culture and the Underdark’s dour spectacle. For players who want more single-player, narrative-driven RPG content in the BG3 engine, a successful Path to Menzoberranzan would be a substantial addition: new companions, handcrafted areas, fresh storylines and full voice work would effectively create an independent campaign built on Larian’s systems.
But players should temper expectations. The alpha will be a prologue-sized experience meant to demonstrate foundations: level design, core systems, art and voice direction. The complete three-act campaign remains an extended project that will require steady coordination, quality control and likely iterative scaling of features.
The outlook
Path to Menzoberranzan is one of the most visible demonstrations yet of how far player communities can push modern moddable engines. If the team meets its H1 2026 alpha target, players will finally get a concrete look at the project’s ambitions — and whether the mod can sustain the leap from ambitious fan project to a reliably finished, content-rich campaign.
For now, fans have a window into the modders’ plans and a reminder of the trade-offs they’ll face: more content and cinematic polish, but a longer roadmap and the usual volunteer-project uncertainties. Either way, the alpha’s release next year will be a major moment for BG3’s creative community and for anyone curious to see Menzoberranzan reimagined in Larian’s engine.