As players continue to dig up all of Baldur's Gate 3's secrets, someone has found a hidden Karlach interaction where she looks at and talks to the player directly. It's pretty cool – and only a little bit unsettling.
As found by YouTuber Chubblot (h/t GameRant), the interaction involves fan-favorite Karlach, who's become so popular that Larian Studios included an ending with "better closure" for her romance in Patch 2. In the recently discovered clip, everyone’s favorite Tiefling Barbarian asks the player a series of questions before having what appears to be a bit of an existential crisis as she realizes she's locked in a video game, only to repeat the same hundred or so hours over and over again.
Just Karlach randomly becoming aware of her status as a video game character nbd. pic.twitter.com/9Vzq2n8AfW
— Chubblot (@chubblot) September 16, 2023
At first, things start off pretty tame, with Karlach asking the player character if she can try a magic trick she learned in Avernus that involves discerning whether or not the person she's talking to is telling the truth. And, instead of facing the player character, she faces the screen and stares right at it. First she asks you what your name is, then about her name.
Things take a bit of a turn after this, as she starts to become seemingly self-aware and asks the player, "What's happening here?" Then she goes deeper still, asking questions about grand design, destiny, and the bounds of her reality. She even asks if they've played the game before. Finally, her spiral ends with asking the player if they're having fun. Chubblot says yes, and she's clearly relieved. Then things just snap back to normal, ending on, thankfully, something of a pleasant note.
If you're deep in your Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough and wondering why you haven't encountered this existential interaction yet, well, it's kind of difficult to trigger. Chubblot apparently used a back-end tool to dig it up, originally assuming it was cut content. But Karlach's voice actress herself, Samantha Beart, confirmed on X/Twitter that that's actually not the case.
"Perhaps I'll talk about it when someone triggers this organically," Beart wrote, setting the record straight that the interaction is possible to trigger organically, if just very difficult. Chubblot added that he's on his fourth playthrough and has never seen it trigger organically.
SPOILERS in the video - Karlach easter egg - you've been warned!
— Samantha Béart is Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3 ❤️? (@SamanthaBeart) September 16, 2023
Congrats on finding this, perhaps I'll talk about it when someone triggers this organically (rather than yanking the file and then getting confused about context)... https://t.co/0tpXsSpDFu
As far as we know, no player has found out how to trigger this scene, but we'd like to see the context for when someone does. But if you want to discover the scenes that we have found, our Karlach romance guide should be of help.
If you're still trying to figure out all the Baldur's Gate 3 has to offer, check out all of IGN's guides, essential tips and tricks for getting started, and our full romance walkthroughs.
