The final panel from hell showcase for Baldur’s Gate 3 was held yesterday where Larian discussed all sorts of interesting things such as a customizable serial killer protagonist, the importance of character identity and sexing a druid.
One of the more interesting insights was the reveal of the last playable Origin hero. Dark urge. This imposing Dragonborn has been teased over the past three weeks by a series of leads from the community-driven crime thriller Blood in Baldur’s Gate.
The Dark Urge is a fully customizable character, meaning his class, appearance, species, and gender are entirely up to you. As the Dark Urge, you begin Baldur’s Gate 3 with amnesia after an unfortunate encounter between a parasitic tadpole and your brain. Because of this terrifying encounter, only an insatiable urge remains in your subconscious, which is expressed in your dialogue options.
This character has a special way or method of dealing with others. His modus operandi, if you will, is brutal and indiscriminate murder, through some of the more vivid acts of violence you’ll encounter in the game. However, you can play the character your way: are you trying to resist your murderous impulses? Or indulge in such depravity? It’s your decision.
Led by Sceleritas Fel, voiced by Brian Bowles (Narrator in Divinity: Original Sin 2), Fel is a loyal but rather vile minion who only wants you, the Dark Drang, to stay on a bloodstained path, and his poisonous words of encouragement can fuel your murderous impulses.
Despite being a brutal and murderous fiend with a very nasty modus operandi, you are still a member of an adventuring party. This group of people will do their best to be there for you despite your urging, and regardless of your apparent personality, you can still develop relationships and romances.
Speaking of romance, in Baldur’s Gate 3 there are no problems with love and lust. Did you take a liking to the toothy druid you slaughtered goblins with? Do you long for complete sexual knowledge of your desires? Don’t worry dear as copulation might ensue if your relationship with the intended person turns into mutual physical desire. And if that’s something you’re into, he’s more than willing to turn into a grizzly bear at a love convention if that turns you on. Druids are so accommodating.
But it’s not just druids to romance, as there are numerous ways to romance the characters you most closely bond with, and no two relationships follow the same formula. There are more romantic possibilities, there’s no shortage of relationships to explore, and plenty of allies to kiss or smash. So start advertising early and your corn will be milled soon enough.
Another nemesis was announced in the last stream.
Following earlier revelations of Lord Enver Gortash (Jason Isaacs) and General Ketheric Thorm (JK Simmons) as two of Baldur’s Gate 3’s central antagonists, Orin the Red is the third and final foe. Spoken by Maggie Robertson (RE: Village’s Lady Dimitrescu), the shapeshifting murderess, has a single goal: to paint the town of Baldur’s Gate in blood. How and when you meet Orin is up to her.
In addition, Larian’s team revealed even more character customization Options were added as the game developed.
With character identity at the heart of Baldur’s Gate 3, the character creator lets you customize everything from your protagonist’s appearance to their stats and background, and there’s plenty of room for expression.
This led to the development offering even more varied and personalized design options, which means that you can now add freckles, vitiligo and scars to your skin. Added various new tattoo designs; Your character may have heterochromia; You can choose from a range of lipsticks; have all kinds of piercings; Present numerous accessories. and Tieflings can now choose a horn color.
Added an age slider and you can choose taller or slimmer body type for all genders.
We feel like we’re going to spend an inordinate amount of time on the character creator, which can be one of the best parts of any game.
You won’t have to wait much longer for Baldur’s Gate 3, at least on PC, as it’s coming out on August 3rd. PlayStation 5 players will have to wait a little longer for its September 6 release, and sadly it’s even longer for Xbox. Hopefully the problems with the Xbox Series X/S version will be a thing of the past soon.