Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a wide array of player choices and branching paths that can create any number of different playthroughs, but some players are feeling the guilt of their evil actions.
Over on the game’s subreddit, players are discussing their experiences of taking on the role of the bad guy in Larian Studios’ RPG, and considering the number of comments and the 6,000+ upvotes on the post, it seems that there are plenty who are having the same morality problems.
“I just wanted to do a run where I mainly make the evil decisions, like raiding the grove with the goblins,” said user LucioRoyal. “But everything sucks. Killing Zevlor and Wyll alongside all the other Tieflings was so gruesome. After that, I met Karlach and she just told me to fuck off. Then in camp seeing how Gale was about to leave and how Shadowheart was mindlessly drinking made me feel even worse.”
LucioRoyal added that they eventually quit their evil playthrough in favor of another normal save file, saying that they never thought they’d feel so bad for characters in a video game.
The user isn’t alone, too. The thread contains myriad responses from players echoing the same sentiment, with one player saying that even while playing as Origin character Astarion – the rogue vampire who usually approves of the players’ bloody choices – their playthrough is tough.
“I’m doing a solo Astarion run atm and seeing all my former companions die horribly or disappear and presumably get ceremorphose’d really feels like a time travel ‘worst timeline’ plot to Star Trek or something,” user gilradthegreat said. “Like, if my paragon Tav never made it off the nautiloid, this is the shitty world that we end up with in this alternate timeline.”
Another user said, “In my worst timeline Durge playthrough, Astarion and I are the Sword Coast’s newest nightmarish power couple. Everyone else is dead or has abandoned us due to my actions. It feels horrible, but somehow less worse than Astarion alone.”
“I tried to start one yesterday but immediately failed because it made me feel sad,” said a different player.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has over 17,000 alternate endings, according to Larian, it’s amazing that it’s able to boast such an incredible number of player choices. But for some, making those evil decisions just isn’t for them.
Elsewhere, patch 3 is now live and finally allows players to change their character’s appearance thanks to the addition of the Magic Mirror.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the best games of 2023 and might be one of the best RPGs of all time, but if you’re looking for something different to play, here’s our list of the best single-player games to play solo.
