Baldur’s Gate 3 players are disappointed in “extremely unrewarding” evil path
Larian StudiosBaldur’s Gate 3 gives players plenty of freedom in how they take on the game’s many quests, but many are expressing frustration that evil playthroughs aren’t as satisfying as good ones.
Like the tabletop game it’s based on, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives players near unlimited freedom to push its mechanics to create and roleplay the characters they want.
Players are free to help or hurt just about anyone, allying with the “good” guys or betraying them in favor of evil-aligned NPCs.
However, while there are some things players can only access when they choose to be bad, fans have expressed overall disappointment in evil runs of Baldur’s Gate 3, citing a lack of rewarding content to make up for what is lost.
Larian StudiosEvil Baldur’s Gate 3 runs miss out on a lot of content
While some popular companions like Astarion and Lae’zel will approve of players who make “evil” choices, several become inaccessible if the player veers too far to the dark side.
Evil players can recruit Minthara, but doing so will cause Wyll and others to leave and prevents Halsin (as of Patch 1), Jaheria, and Minsc from joining. On top of that, her character progression has been widely criticized, making Minthara a pretty disappointing trade-off.
In a Reddit thread started by Parasocial_Potato, players have been discussing their frustrations with Baldur’s Gate 3’s evil options and potential solutions that would make it more enjoyable.
As Parasocial_Potato points out, “None of the good NPCs carry around magical items… meanwhile pockets of evil NPCs are brimming with magical items, ripe to be looted.”
Sections of the game like the Druid’s Grove and Last Light Inn reward good-aligned players for their actions, while evil players miss out on a lot of content, including companions, tadpoles, vendors, and quests.
Adding more companions to a game as dense as Baldur’s Gate 3 is unrealistic outside of a major expansion – something Larian Studios has said isn’t coming anytime soon. However, Reddit user Thal-creates proposed an intriguing potential solution to losing so many companions on an evil run: “Give [an] option to brainwash them.”
Larian StudiosSuch a thing would make sense in game where illithids and tadpoles play such a crucial role, and it would be a fittingly evil thing to do. Some adjustments would certainly be necessary (the developers should definitely remove the ability to romance such companions to avoid disturbing implications there), but this would give evil players way more to work without needing to create and implement evil or neutral companions from scratch.
The fact that a game as open as Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t sufficiently reward evil players may be disappointing, but it’s still an important step.
As aoelag notes, player data has shown a vast majority choose to play as “good” characters, which has historically made it hard for developers to justify creating deep, branching content that most will never see.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s evil run may be imperfect, but the fact that the options are there in a game that’s being so widely praised for its openness could signal to other developers that such things are worth the investment.