Update - September 21: Heading off what could well become a wild goose chase, Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian has clarified what Astarion actor Neil Newbon was referring to in a still-circulating Twitch clip about hidden content in the RPG.
Spoilers for Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3 ahead.
In an email sent to 12DOVE, Larian explains:
"Neil’s comments were from a signing he did closer to the launch of the game, and he was being secretive in order to avoid spoilers. Players have since found the quest and the lines of dialogue he was talking about. Spoilers ahead!
"There’s a quest off the beaten path at the Rosymorn Monastery that rewards you with a nice mace called the Blood of Lathander. If you’re not careful or you try to steal the mace, you may activate a terrifying solar weapon.
"If you (intentionally or unintentionally) kill Astarion with this solar weapon and then revive him once you’re back at camp, he… will have some choice words for you," the dev concludes, sharing a clip of Astarion's reaction.
There you have it. It turns out this particular mystery content has indeed been found, albeit only by a limited percentage of players judging by the Steam achievement stats for the related story beat. In fact, our own Ali Jones wrote about the Blood of Lathander subplot – calling it one of his all-time favorite quests – back in August. Yet even having unwittingly found it, even we weren't entirely sure what Newbon was referring to, especially with the Astarion dialogue adding another layer of easy-to-miss detail, so it's nice to have this mystery locked in.
In an RPG with such a dense interaction matrix and so many potential outcomes, there's always that allure of finding some permutation that someone hasn't seen yet, and there's sure to be truly unseen content lurking somewhere. It's also immensely amusing to me that a passing comment from Astarion himself was able to rile the community up, which is very much in character.
Original story:
A Baldur's Gate 3 actor says there's still about "two hours of content" that no one's uncovered yet, and it's apparently nearly impossible to find.
Astarion actor Neil Newbon hosts regular livestreams to sign prints and field questions from fans – and occasionally get killed by the very vampire he voices in the RPG in one legendary Twitch moment – and in the clip just below, from Newbon's Twitch stream back on August 31, he addresses something quite intriguing. The actor teases a sequence that he's sworn to secrecy about, and that no one's apparently uncovered yet.
"There's even something I know about that you can't get to unless you do something that I don't think anyone's going to work out," Newbon said with an effortless tease. "I was told this in confidence," he adds, standing firm that he can't reveal a single thing about this moment. Hell, he can't even reveal if it involves his own character.
"I think I'm one of the few people who know about this. It's quite fucking crazy," the actor continues. Newbon specifies that it's about "two hours of content," and he's not even allowed to give a "vague clue" about it, such is its secretive, closely guarded status.
Obviously this clip is now nearing three weeks old, so it's entirely possible a Baldur's Gate 3 player somewhere out there has uncovered the "secret" Newbon's on about. That said, I haven't seen any obvious reports or confirmation about it. But considering we're talking about an RPG with a vast number of choices spread over hundreds of hours and 17,000 different endings, who the hell knows where this two-hour sequence is in the sea that is Baldur's Gate 3.
YouTube viewers of the clip above have had a go at cracking Newbon's big secret. Some think it's the "Early Access Shadowheart romance scene," which was apparently "impossible" to get before the game launched in full last month. Others reckon it isn't related to the core Origin characters like Astarion, since Newbon mentions that he was "told this in confidence."
It could theoretically be years yet before someone uncovers this "crazy" two-hour sequence in Baldur's Gate 3. What weird choices will players have to make to find something brand-new?
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