MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BALDUR'S GATE 3 AHEADThe beauty of any RPG is the inherent freedom that comes with making a character "yours," letting player choice dictate the direction of a game. That perhaps goes doubly so for tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons. Players can choose their race, their class, their backstory, do things for flavor, do things for stats, and make choices they feel align with their characters the most. However, this freedom also comes with restrictions which, when done right, are just as beautiful. No RPG player enjoys being told they can't do something for no reason, but it also means that a Lawful Good Paladin isn't going to happily rob a bank for no reason alongside the Chaotic Neutral Rogue. There's a reason that's a common meme, after all, but these limitations can be just as beautiful as the freedom of a game. In particular, this is something that a lot of video game RPGs get wrong, but Baldur's Gate 3 does it right.
Baldur's Gate 3's character creation is as wonderfully complex as any tabletop game, though there are three inherent choices: playing an Origin character with a predefined background, for those who hate having too much choice; creating a custom character, for those who truly want to make this playthrough their own; or choosing the Dark Urge, a customizable Origin character with evil tendencies. One could argue that The Dark Urge is Larian Studios' way of making a singular murder hobo or Chaotic Evil character viable, as those often disrupt tabletop games more than they add to it, but it's much more than that. Just like any other character players can choose and play, The Dark Urge is complex and can be taken in a number of unknown directions, but the best playthroughs utilizing these characters embrace 3 overarching roleplaying methods.
It is worth reiterating that there are much, much, much more than 3 ways to play a Dark Urge character, as that comes with the territory of BG3's genuine player freedom. However, playing with these "limitations" only adds to the beauty of the character and highlights its complexity as more than a Chaotic Evil monster.
BG3: The Heart of a Saviour
As any player of Game of the Year winner Baldur's Gate 3 can attest, Larian Studios genuinely had no right to go as hard as it did in some cases. If someone chooses to play a Dark Urge who resists their primal instincts, they are rewarded with a storyline best summed up by Withers' incredibly badass summation of the situation: "The Heart of a Saviour has Overcome the Mind of a Murderer." This is the "good" playthrough of a Durge, and while the story dictates that they fall to their urge a time or two, it adds that much-needed complexity to a good character. They are not the "neutral good, walk the old lady across the street"-style of character, but they are inherently good.
This playthrough style sees players resist the Urge at every step, and these moments are incredibly compelling. Knowing what a Durge wants to do to Gale when first meeting him and knowing that that urge must be resisted is incredible roleplay. This playthrough style is like someone struggling with intrusive thoughts because they genuinely want to be good. And this desire to be good is evident throughout the game. Durge, and the player, will feel horrible for what happens to Alfira; they will fight against Scleritas Fel and who he dictates the player kill; and fighting the urge to kill whoever the player is romancing in Baldur's Gate 3 creates roleplaying tension not often unheard of at the table, yet rarely replicated in video games.
Then, slowly but surely, the player learns their role in the entire plot of Baldur's Gate 3. The realization dawns on Durge in increments, as it too unfolds on the player. Through Ketheric, through Gortash, and through Orin, players realize the worst parts of the Dark Urge and must consciously decide to do better. This is one of those moments in video games players wish they could forget; not because it is bad by any means, but because it would be worth experiencing again and again through fresh eyes. Players will spend a lot of time thinking the plot is going in one direction, just for it to be usurped at the midway point, and the realization comes later that the midway point was directly the result of the Dark Urge. And it's a beautiful playstyle—tense, engaging, and so entirely defined by the player through the ups and downs of the urge that, really, all RPGs need a Dark Urge-style character.
It's worth a mention that it's entirely possible to find a Dark Urge character in a standard Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough, really showing how interwoven this entire story is.
BG3: The Mind of a Murderer
Embracing the good and evil dichotomy of Dungeons and Dragons, everything mentioned above plays into an "evil" playthrough of The Dark Urge. Yet, it's not just satisfying for evil's sake. Whereas a good playthrough sees someone seeking redemption for their past life, it is about reclaiming a throne for an evil Durge. In fact, even an evil Durge still has a couple of options for the ending of Baldur's Gate 3, depending on how they see their father, Bhaal.
Players can revel in killing Alfira, choosing to either hide their actions or to boast them proudly. Players can walk a lonely road, dooming every possible Baldur's Gate 3 companion to death should they so choose. Playing an evil Durge completely changes the context of the battle at Last Light Inn, and if so done, can directly influence the paths of companions like Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and more. Romance becomes more complicated, though not possible, as companions become what the player dictates via roleplay: arrogant, evil, selfish, and incapable of genuine love.
But, better yet, all of this is done within a believable context. All too often, evil playthroughs of video games and evil characters in tabletop RPGs are often done for novelty. They are fun because most players do not take the evil road. It is fun to stab someone (in roleplay, of course) for the sheer chaos of it, but because The Dark Urge in BG3 (and thus the first-time player) does not understand WHY they have these evil tendencies, it adds tension, mystery, and more to the evil revelry. It's not purely evil for evil's sake; it's evil for roleplay's sake, for the entire betterment of the game.
BG3: A Truly Chaotic Playthrough of Durge
A good or evil playthrough of a Durge is truly chaotic in the best sense of the term, but perhaps where a Durge shines through is a neutral-style, pure chaos-driven playthrough. As aforementioned, tabletops work best when player freedom is uniquely combined with limitations. Perhaps the Paladin wouldn't rob a bank for no reason, but upon learning that the bank steals funds from the impoverished, a Paladin can justify it via their oath. At the same time, it can be something as simple as the limitations of choosing a Gnome or Halfling race, while facing massive threats and having to deal with limitations. Limitations, and working around them, bring out the best roleplay options, but these limitations are important in defining a character. It would make no sense, for example, for a good Shepard to choose a bad ending in Mass Effect or for a good-aligned Revan to turn evil at the last second in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. But it absolutely can for a Durge character.
Roleplay at a table relies on consistency, and some form of chaotic player who does things out of character can be hard to deal with. For a Durge, that's just a viable pure chaos playthrough. Perhaps the player kills Gale just to see how the option works out, not knowing what would happen, to later resist slaughtering another companion. Perhaps they rescue The Emerald Grove instead of allying with Minthara and the Absolute, just to turn around and slaughter The Last Light Inn. Perhaps some of this is player choice, perhaps some of these are bad rolls in Baldur's Gate 3. But the beauty of it is players can embrace the chaos of their evil within, because they are not evil and they are not good but have a monster within them, and it all makes perfect sense within the context of BG3's setting.
The fact is, each of these are fun ways to play a Durge, but they are not the only way. Baldur's Gate 3 takes the most defining aspects of tabletop roleplay—player freedom and inherent limitation—and works them into a story where each can be entirely justified, via just about any means. Truly, it's known that Baldur's Gate 3's story has an incredible number of permutations, and this is because of all the power it gives players. The Durge has many options, alongside perhaps these three key playstyles, and that's without even touching standard custom characters or Origin characters.
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 is a Dungeons and Dragons inspired RPG developed and published by Larian Studios. Featuring both a single player and cooperative element, players create their character by selecting a starting class, take on quests, level up, and engage in turn-based combat using the D&D 5th edition rule set.
- Franchise
- Baldur's Gate
- Platform(s)
- PC , Stadia , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X
- Released
- August 3, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- How Long To Beat
- 30 Hours
- Metascore
- 96
