Decapitated Bodies and the 'Speak with Dead' Spell in Baldur's Gate 3
Swen Vincke on Unique Game Design Choices
In a recent interview, Swen Vincke, director of Baldur’s Gate 3, shed light on an intriguing aspect of the game's design—namely, the prevalence of decapitated bodies. This design element reportedly ties in with one of the game's most beneficial spells.
The 'Speak with Dead' Spell and Game Exploration
Baldur’s Gate 3 plunges players into a dark world teeming with danger across the entire map. In the course of their exploration, players frequently come across dead bodies. If part of the player's party possesses the spell 'Speak with Dead,' they can then engage in conversation with these departed souls. While not every corpse may have important information, some can provide valuable clues and insights.
Balancing the Complexity and the Adventure
Swen Vincke recently revealed the game developers' creative strategy for balancing the use of the 'Speak with Dead' spell. This trick contributes to the abundance of headless bodies that players encounter throughout the game's world, notably the Sword Coast.
Baldur’s Gate 3 allows players to converse with any dead body, albeit on one condition: the body must still possess its mouth. During the interview with Todd Kenreck of Wizards of the Coast, Vincke disclosed that while players can ask a maximum of five questions while using the spell, the developers implemented an additional feature to ensure that not every corpse could engage in dialogue. According to Vincke, this 'cheat' involved only allowing dialogues with corpses that still had their heads intact.
Considering the multitude of dead bodies that players can discover in Baldur’s Gate 3, this tweak seems practical. Given the vast amount of dialogue already present in the game, it would seem unrealistic to require even more dialogue for each of the bodies scattered throughout the game world.
Decapitated Bodies: A Tactical Gameplay Decision
This game design decision explains the unusually high number of decapitated bodies encountered in the game. It might be expected to encounter some decapitations in a war-torn world; however, the surprisingly large number of headless corpses now seems to be a tactical gameplay decision.
Further Insights into the World of Baldur's Gate
In addition to this revelation, the interview with Vincke provides more intriguing insight into the popular title, including game development decisions, upcoming content, and more. For those interested in keeping up with the happenings of Baldur’s Gate 3, it's well worth giving the interview a watch.