Being evil in games excites me. I cannot resist the temptation of pressing a big red button. I do it because I want to see what a game dares let me do, and I do it because it’s naughty. For months, I’ve been daring Baldur’s Gate 3 to see how far it will let me go in my evil adventure, and so far, it’s never backed down. I’ve pushed every red button I’ve found and the results have been extraordinary.
It’s not common. Being a villain in a game is anathema to being a hero. How can you be one and also the other? This question has fascinated me for a long time, and it’s why, when I first saw the Dark Urge option in Baldur’s Gate 3, I was captivated. Here was a background option I could apply to my character that would implant some kind of unrestrainable evil in me – a murderous desire that could race forward and take control at the merest provocation. It could mean the death of companions and majorly upended story events. Was I ready to cede so much control to something in a role-playing game?
Yes. And as my Dark Urge story finishes, many months later, I can tell you it’s been everything I hoped for and more. I’ve meddled with gods and become a literal, rampaging monster. The game has welcomed me. More than that, the game has rewarded me with a story stitched into the game’s most foundational components. I am one of its major baddies, and to say it has slaked my desire for evildoing would be an understatement. I have revelled in it. The Dark Urge might have been revealed late in development, yet it’s anything but an afterthought.
But the story of the Dark Urge began a long before Baldur’s Gate 3, I discover. It began long ago with BioWare’s original pair of Baldur’s Gate games from the late 90s. There, the story of the Bhaalspawn was told. In the first game, you played as Gorion’s Ward, a character beset by dreams of foul murder – sound familiar? They were dreams sent by the god of murder, Bhaal, who invaded your mind in an attempt to turn you to him. And he did it because you were his child, a Bhaalspawn.