Baldur’s Gate 3 excels in several aspects, with one of its standout features being the narrator, Amelia Tyler. She serves as both your guide and a quasi-dungeon master, articulating your thoughts, emotions, and actions as you navigate the world of Faerûn. However, now Tyler is introducing a darker twist to her involvement in the Larian Studios RPG by live-streaming her own playthrough of the “Dark Urge” origin alongside her partner and fellow voice actor, Jay Britton, known for his work in Larian’s Divinity Original Sin 2.
The Dark Urge origin playthrough in Baldur’s Gate 3 represents a unique and distinctive approach to starting the game. By selecting it, you commit to your character having a distinct set of dialogue and action options influenced by sinister urges. While you can sometimes choose whether or not to heed these urges, in certain situations, the game compels your character to commit unspeakably terrible acts, leaving you to deal with the consequences.
Tyler embarks on her adventure by creating her character, Violet Alabaster, with Britton joining as her character’s brother, Lucius, or “Lulu.” Interestingly, their characters are far from the typical heroes; they describe them as either well-intentioned individuals seeking to help others or elitist socialites from Victorian London, depending on the perspective.
Violet, played by Tyler, is depicted as someone who may not fully grasp the gravity of some of her unsettling remarks due to her upbringing, whereas Lucius, played by Britton, is more knowingly unkind. To navigate the dark thoughts tempting Violet, Tyler employs a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired solution: she rolls a twenty-sided dice in real life. If she rolls a ten or higher, Violet succumbs to the dark urges.
Tyler and Britton display an excellent rapport as they ad-lib dialogue and engage with the game’s bizarre, macabre, serious, and humorous scenarios. Their storytelling adds depth and entertainment to Baldur’s Gate 3’s rich narrative, including some romance elements.
For those interested in more adventures with the voices behind Baldur’s Gate 3 characters, Neil Newbon, the actor for Astarion, plays as Half-Elf Druid Bow’ee, while Devora Wilde, who portrays Lae’zel, embarks on her own adventure as a unique Githyanki Fighter named Dev’zel.
Additionally, the full cast of Baldur’s Gate 3’s origin characters has come together for a unique experience, teaming up with the DnD show High Rollers to participate in a Baldur’s Gate 3 DnD game, embodying their respective in-game avatars. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a must-watch, if only to discover what happens to Shadowheart’s cherished pet, Bing-Bong.
Lastly, if you’re looking for advice on how to build your character in Baldur’s Gate 3 or want to understand the game’s crafting mechanics, there are resources available to help you make informed decisions and maximize your gameplay experience.