Baldur’s Gate 3 offers many ways to approach the game. Whether good or evil, stealthy or straightforward: everyone has their own path. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus is currently trying a sneakily evil run and has to swallow hard quite often…
For well over 10 years, I have been playing pen & paper and for a few years almost exclusively evil characters. It simply fits better in a dirty, unfair world when you give in to the lack of laws and control.
A quick stab in the throat usually ends a quarrel faster and more pleasantly than a night in jail. At least for me. Accordingly, I told myself during my first playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 that I want to see the insane murderer, the “Dark Urge.”
Apart from a few pretty nasty scenes, which have a certain grotesque humor, I rarely encountered the “obligation” to be evil. It really got bad when I consciously let myself be tempted to commit dark deeds.
The game does not tire of reminding me that I am behaving morally absolutely unjustifiably. And to an extent that shows: Larian wants you to really be aware of how evil you are. The choice is not simply a conversation option; it is a commitment.
SPOILER WARNING! I will touch on events in Act 1 and Act 2 as well as the personal development of the Dark Urge and Shadowheart. If you don’t want to know anything about that, you should not continue reading. Instead, you can find out here how I am currently playing my rogue. And a bit of bear sex as a buffer:
Every misdeed is held against me – and harshly
The Dark Urge made me kick a squirrel so hard against a tree that it leaves a bloody mush and Gale ends up losing his hand. That cost me permanently a companion that I can no longer get.
Both are still situations in which I had to laugh despite the macabre circumstances. Brutal, but somehow also funny. But then I stood before an important decision: do I save the refugees in the Emerald Grove, or do I betray them and slaughter them all?
My plan was to recruit the Drow Minthara as a companion. Nevertheless, I did everything I could to save the refugees, with the result that it simply was not possible. I had to kill them all. Not even “non-lethal attacks” helped.
A difficult decision, especially since at the end of the slaughter a cave full of civilians awaits, who only flee and do not defend themselves. They also have to die to complete the quest. I know two of them: a loving couple that wanted to build a new life together.
At one point, I had to pause the game for a moment and take a breath. A gang of children is hiding underground. Thieves, whose guild I even sponsored. Here too, no one survived: the goblins killed them all. Even the nice bard was involved, whom I had fallen a bit in love with – apparently as a last line of defense against the killers.
Curiosity drove me to loot. The children all had toys with them. Just that caused a queasy feeling. It really got ugly when I found a letter from one of the children. I had saved the little guy just before from harpies. To him, I was a “lucky adventurer,” he wanted to be like me. I was his idol – and then his executioner.
“Hey, do you remember the child you killed?”
That alone was hard stuff. Really, really hard stuff. But Baldur’s Gate 3 is merciless. I have come to terms with my decision: it is an evil walkthrough, so I am evil.
Shortly thereafter, I found myself in the Underdark and near the River Styx, which transports the souls of the dead through various realms. Here I find a bottle message from a tiefling boy. His name happened to stick in my mind: he was also a victim at the slaughter fest.
The letter is addressed to his father. The boy hopes to reunite with him in Baldur’s Gate as soon as he arrives there, speaks of his wishes and dreams when he gets to the big city. Apparently, he tells all of this to his dead father.
None of these dreams will ever come true, I have taken them from him. Not directly with my blade, but still, I was the one who opened the gate for the goblins.
Maybe it’s better this way, Cortyn:
So much violence and death, and for what?
The decisions gnaw at me again and again, but the further I progress in the game, the better I cope with it. Because: it is what my character would do. He is power-hungry, seeks revenge, power at any cost.
I give in to the Dark Urge, have to kill bloodthirstily for it. One night, a bard visits my camp, which I gut. The reward comes a few hours later: a new combat form, a bestial demon that tears everything apart.
And my companions agree. Astarion, Minthara, Shadowheart and Lae’zel are still following me. All the others have fled. And they like my path so much that they even want to sleep with me. I’ve created an absolutely evil group.
I even help Shadowheart murder a defenseless angel to claim the power of her goddess for herself. A dark crusade against Selûne and the church of Shar begins, Shadowheart wants to “purify” her own community. A hard step, but one that fits perfectly into my story.
Whenever I have time off, I look forward to experiencing more of the world, want to know how it continues. At the same time, I struggle every second of the game with myself about how far I am really willing to go.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is rated 18 and for good reason. The game tells adult stories that go far beyond: “Haha, they have sex without censorship!” Rarely do I experience storytelling in a game that comes close to that of my favorite authors. Larian has succeeded. Hats off.
By the way, the Dark Urge is a role that has excited many people in our editorial team. What that says about us… I don’t know. At least Schuhmann likes it:
