Not just that questline, but adjacent ones, too (you’ll need to put in the work through entirely different quests and locations to be in the position to become a part of the goblins’ plans). For example, the aforementioned army of goblins will certainly not be your allies should you opt to be a more heroic personality, and thus the entire goal of that questline is completely changed. This means that your choices tend not to dictate the outcome of a quest, but the structure of the quest itself. “In Baldur’s Gate 3, being evil is less of a choice made at a pivotal moment, and more of a lifestyle.
So what exactly does an evil playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3’s first act look like? It’s an experiment that not only revealed the depths of the game’s branching narratives, but also some of the most interesting quirks of its simulation-driven world – some that will undoubtedly come in handy during my ‘proper’ playthrough of its fully-released version. Even during BioWare’s peak years, “evil” routes often boil down to playing identical missions but electing to shoot someone in the face rather than setting them free. This sparked my curiosity, as I typically find the evil side of RPGs to be rather underbaked. "Some of my favorite situations and characters in this game you may not even speak to if you don't try those evil routes,” he said. But Smith encouraged players to take an evil path through the game. This perspective is also supported by a study revealed back at GDC 2015, where Microsoft’s Amanda Lange said that her research showed that 60% of players opt for good routes, with just 5% exclusively making evil choices. Chances are the same applies to you: in a promotional livestream back in August, Baldur’s Gate 3’s Senior Writer, Adam Smith, noted that statistics show that most players opt for good, heroic choices. Had I played this character how I usually play my RPGs, I would never have seen any of this, or the consequences of these actions. And, in undeniably my worst crime, I killed a dog. I helped an army of goblins besiege and attack some people who definitely didn’t deserve it. I catapulted an innocent gnome over the horizon using a windmill. I forced a monster to kill its friends and then eat itself. With zero context (as to preserve the game’s story), here are a few things that I’ve done thanks to my decision to throw all caution to the wind: I underwent an ametuer lobotomy. Typically, I’m a Lawful Good (albeit sassy) adventurer, but for this outing everything changed.