Alex Stedman
Guest
Warning: The below story contains full spoilers for the end of Baldur's Gate 3.
As Baldur's Gate 3 fans scramble to find all the secrets in the RPG's absolutely massive Patch 7, released on PC this week, one player has found a scrapped evil ending that's, well, a little anticlimatic.
YouTuber SlimXG (h/t GamesRadar) found the ending still in the game's files, accessing it by merely blocking the "impossible" tag. By doing this, he discovered a fully animated new cinematic, which shows the player character leaving all this tadpole nonsense behind after an evil run.
As SlimXG explains, the character in his footage is Lae'zel, but the ending isn't limited to her. It shows Lae'zel after taking control of the Netherbrain, leaving all of Baldur's Gate at her mercy. As she grapples with what to do next, the removal of the "impossible" tag reveals two new options: "remove the tadpole at last and depart with your companions," and "rid yourself of the tadpole at last and walk away from all of this — alone."
With either option, Lae'zel then removes the tadpole from her head as onlookers, somewhat hilariously, look on in confusion, and then heads out. Basically, peace out alone, or peace out with friends.
It's pretty easy to see why the ending was cut — it's hardly even that evil, just apathetic — and, with each option coming in at under a minute, it's a jarringly abrupt way to end the game. Still, it's pretty funny to see the befuddled looks on the companions' faces when the player goes through all that trouble to conquer the Netherbrain only to just... walk away.
It's only one of many discoveries players have been making since the release of Patch 7, which also includes the highly anticipated addition of official mod support. The new evil endings are certainly a highlight, with Karlach's causing her to trend on X/Twitter yesterday.
And the good news is, that may not be the last we see of new Baldur's Gate 3 content. While Patch 7 was previously expected to likely be Larian's last major patch, the studio's head of publishing tweeted that "it's not the final update" after all, though declined to reveal specifics of what's on the horizon. Console players, meanwhile, will get to dig into Patch 7 sometime in October, Larian said with the PC release.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
As Baldur's Gate 3 fans scramble to find all the secrets in the RPG's absolutely massive Patch 7, released on PC this week, one player has found a scrapped evil ending that's, well, a little anticlimatic.
YouTuber SlimXG (h/t GamesRadar) found the ending still in the game's files, accessing it by merely blocking the "impossible" tag. By doing this, he discovered a fully animated new cinematic, which shows the player character leaving all this tadpole nonsense behind after an evil run.
As SlimXG explains, the character in his footage is Lae'zel, but the ending isn't limited to her. It shows Lae'zel after taking control of the Netherbrain, leaving all of Baldur's Gate at her mercy. As she grapples with what to do next, the removal of the "impossible" tag reveals two new options: "remove the tadpole at last and depart with your companions," and "rid yourself of the tadpole at last and walk away from all of this — alone."
With either option, Lae'zel then removes the tadpole from her head as onlookers, somewhat hilariously, look on in confusion, and then heads out. Basically, peace out alone, or peace out with friends.
It's pretty easy to see why the ending was cut — it's hardly even that evil, just apathetic — and, with each option coming in at under a minute, it's a jarringly abrupt way to end the game. Still, it's pretty funny to see the befuddled looks on the companions' faces when the player goes through all that trouble to conquer the Netherbrain only to just... walk away.
It's only one of many discoveries players have been making since the release of Patch 7, which also includes the highly anticipated addition of official mod support. The new evil endings are certainly a highlight, with Karlach's causing her to trend on X/Twitter yesterday.
And the good news is, that may not be the last we see of new Baldur's Gate 3 content. While Patch 7 was previously expected to likely be Larian's last major patch, the studio's head of publishing tweeted that "it's not the final update" after all, though declined to reveal specifics of what's on the horizon. Console players, meanwhile, will get to dig into Patch 7 sometime in October, Larian said with the PC release.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.