Every game that comes out, whether it’s a rushed mess or an exceptionally polished masterpiece, usually has a bunch of content that never made it into the final version. That can be for a number of reasons, usually time or budget restraints, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is no exception to this rule. It is a little tricky to pin down what was actually cut content though, especially when it comes to Act 3 and Karlach in particular.
Due to how Karlach’s personal story ends and how little time players spend with her in the Upper City, many had assumed that a portion of her quest had been cut to get Baldur’s Gate 3 out of the door in time. Her new ending, released in a post-launch patch, was all the proof that fans needed that this was the case, but Larian has now actually denied the claims that Karlach’s ending was cut.
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In a recent interview with IGN, Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke and lead writer Adam Smith explain that Karlach was simply a character that was worked on later in development and was a little more rushed as a result. You couldn’t even recruit Karlach in the Early Access version of the game, and the whole story surrounding her pesky Infernal Engine was another very late addition to the character.
Well, the big thing for Karlach was when she first showed up in early access, she didn’t have the infernal engine. It didn’t exist yet because we haven’t made it up yet. – Adam Smith
Originally, Karlach’s involved her escaping from Hell and the player helping her avoid devils trying to take her back. Her Infernal Engine was added late as Larian felt like she needed “something for her to be actively doing”, suggesting that her ending just wasn’t finished in time, rather than something the team decided to cut.
Backing up Smith’s story is Karlach actor Samantha Béart, who explains in a recent tweet that while they had the same amount of time in the mocap studio as the rest of the game’s actors, the work she put in was a lot more intense as it had to be done under a shorter amount of time. Béart explains that Karlach was already written when she started, but the increased work over a shorter period of time implies development on Karlach was further along than other characters.
So there you go, a Baldur’s Gate 3 myth busted. There are other interesting little tidbits in the interview, including the fact that Larian had planned to make Jaheira a romance option, but that the studio ran out of time before they could make it happen. For all you Jaheira enjoyers out there, I have my finger crossed for you that we get another patch.
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