Life doesn’t write the best stories. Baldur’s Gate 3 writes the best stories, at least according to MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus. He is currently playing as an absolutely insane killer… and somehow everyone is into him.
I have pondered over this title with my boss Leya for a long time, but we just can’t put it any other way: because I murder everything and everyone as cold-heartedly and brutally as possible, I was offered 3 hot nights. One was even kind of forced on me.
Like some people from the editorial team, I am currently playing as “Dark Urge”, a “hero” that is absolutely not suitable for beginners. The character is constantly compelled to kill people. Not even sweet animals are spared.
Really, if you can’t handle completely senseless violence, keep your hands off this character. The Dark Urge can be so evil, that even the most devious companions will eventually leave.
At the same time, the behavior of this character – or at least my Drow – forms the pinnacle of desire for most female companions in the game. At the moment, I still don’t know what to make of it and am… a bit disturbed.
Spoiler Alert: This text discusses companions, their behavior, and their future in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you want to explore this yourself, you should not read on. As a buffer, here’s a video with helpful tips for the game:
Slaughtering helpless children for a little fling
It all started because I desperately wanted to recruit Minthara. The companion is only available quite a bit after the start and you have to really work hard to get her to pledge her loyalty:
- shows loyalty to the Absolute, or at least pretends to
- ignores the pleas of the druid Halsin
- betrays some helpless refugees whom you promised to protect
The most important point for Minthara is an attack on the Emerald Grove, where everything and everyone inside is to be slaughtered: druids, tieflings, and even the children who have set up a little “thieves’ guild” there. Everything should swim in blood.
Minthara herself celebrates the slaughter in ecstasy, even as the last corpses are just bleeding out. I wrestled with it for a long time and was even tempted afterward to load an old save and choose differently.
In the end, however, Minthara promises to come to the camp in the evening. There’s a drinking party with the few companions that are still around. And finally, Minthara says that she will take me tonight. No ifs or buts, I belong to her, whether I want to or not.
And so it happens: the first sex scene that I have experienced myself in Baldur’s Gate 3. With the subsequent promise from Minthara that we will repeat this… before she wants to murder me in my sleep.
Minthara’s top priority is to please the Absolute. She sacrifices and kills everything – and enjoys it when you help her with this slaughter. Shockingly, she is not the only one.
If you don’t know this yet: the Absolute is a supposed goddess that you can either join or fight against. Everything revolves around her and her religion in the game. Through the parasite in your head, you are something like her chosen ones.
Shadowheart and Lae’zel like it
Only a short time later, I finally had a quiet moment to talk with Shadowheart, Astarion, and Lae’zel about the events. Of all the companions in Baldur’s Gate 3, these 3 are the only ones who still want to stay with me at the moment.
A small side note: pretty much all the guys in the game are absolute softies. Every male companion is super righteous, kind, and has a warm heart. The women, on the other hand, are almost all evil. I don’t know how that comes about either.
Shadowheart seems troubled – but not because of the killing. More because of everything around it. She even confesses to me: as tough and self-assured as I seem right now, she finds me quite sexy. When I request, she wants to take me somewhere for “a little time together” – just not directly, but sometime during the night. A clear offer.
Not even 2 nights later, Lae’zel approaches me and bluntly tells me that she likes being near me, breathing in my sweat, and trembling when she sees me fight. Honestly: the fighter gets turned on when I stab people, especially the weaker ones. That’s exactly her taste, only the strong are allowed to survive.
Lae’zel also explains to me that she wants to visit me at night, and is even glad that I ask her about it – otherwise she would have had to take the initiative herself. Until that happens, she wants to stay near me and continue inhaling my scent.
The relationship with companions is especially strengthened during a long rest. What that is, we explain here:
Larian, this is frightening… but grand
As I write here, I stare out the window and think about how I can finish the text.
But damn, Larian, what you’re doing is next level. Where other games would clearly draw the line – I mean: dead children! – the studio takes it a step further and says: this is legitimate. There are thoroughly evil people. If you are one of them, you are not alone.
In no role-playing game, and I have played many, have NPCs ever reacted so positively and yet rationally to an evil character. At best, those who were not completely disgusted were also insane murderers. But no creatures of sound mind.
While I still have to push aside my disturbance and sort my thoughts, I deeply bow to Larian and Baldur’s Gate 3. I have been gaming since I was 10, but I have never experienced anything like this. Thank you for that.
Why exactly the Dark Urge is so interesting for me and others is hard to describe. Our editor Gerd Schuhmann feels the same way:
