I have a complicated relationship with treasure chests. Back in 2022, Elden Ring taught me that a perfectly innocent box in Limgrave could be a one-way ticket to Caelid, the video game equivalent of a sinus infection that also has a boss. Four years later, in 2026, I am still flinching every time I see a chest in a fantasy RPG. So imagine my delight when I learned that Baldur's Gate 3 modders have decided to drag that specific trauma into the Hells. Thanks, team. Really. My therapist will be thrilled.

The mod in question is a fan-made take on Avernus, the hellscape Karlach returns to at the end of BG3, and its opening biome is openly inspired by Caelid. Not 'vaguely red.' Not 'a little crispy.' I mean dead trees, rancid red rivers, enormous mushrooms, and the general feeling that the ground is judging you. Astarion is shown wandering through it like a man who has just realized his skincare routine is about to become irrelevant. Same, buddy. Same.

Now, before anyone panics: the mod is a work-in-progress, not a public release. As of my 2026 check-in, it remains one of those glorious community projects that lives in screenshots, developer notes, and the collective imagination of people who should probably go outside. The creator, katszenBurger, has shared plans over on Reddit, and the good news is that the entire Avernus mod will not be Caelid-flavored all the way down. The Caelid-style wasteland is just the introduction to the Hells. Deeper in, we are promised more familiar infernal landscapes, including a lava section. Finally, a biome where my problem is not 'red poison swamp' but 'orange fire floor.' Progress.

And instead of Malenia's Cleanrot Knights wandering around with no clear sense of direction, or the sad remnants of mortal dragons, we can apparently look forward to devils littering the underworld. Which feels correct. If I am going to suffer in a hell dimension, I want it to be professionally staffed. I want a devil to look me in the eye while I walk into a trap I clearly saw five seconds earlier. That is the Avernus experience.

What excites me most is not just the Caelid crossover, although yes, my heart rate did spike when I typed that sentence. It is what this says about the BG3 modding tools. The toolkit has only been out for a while, relatively speaking, and modders are already building detailed interpretations of highly requested areas like Avernus. That is absurdly impressive. It also suggests a future where custom campaigns and larger fan-made projects become normal rather than miraculous. Maybe someone will try to bring all of Elden Ring into Baldur's Gate 3. Maybe someone already is, quietly, in a basement, surrounded by energy drinks and spreadsheets. If the last decade of Skyrim modding has taught me anything, it is that fans are ambitious, unhinged, and occasionally capable of shipping things that make official studios look like they are moving in slow motion.

Here is my emotional itinerary for this mod, presented as a table because I am a gamer and I love unnecessary organization:

I love this idea, and I also fear it. That is the correct response to Caelid. The original zone remains the most notorious area in Elden Ring for a reason: it is a place where the landscape itself feels like it is trying to kill you, and the poison is somehow the least of your problems. Porting that energy into Avernus makes a weird kind of sense. Both are hellscapes. Both are red. Both make me say 'I will come back later' and then never come back until I am twenty levels overleveled. The difference is that now Karlach might have to deal with giant mushrooms, and honestly, she deserves better.

So yes, I will be watching this mod. If it releases, I will install it immediately. I will die to something stupid, complain loudly, and then reinstall it after a patch. That is the cycle. Caelid may have broken my trust in chests, but Avernus is about to break my trust in red rivers all over again. And somehow, I cannot wait. 🍄🔥