I did not fully anticipate just how lonely and depressing an evil playthrough is.
I'm currently on my 3rd playthrough, and I'm playing as a dark urge character who gives into his urges. For spoiler prevention I'll describe what I just finished as vaguely as possible. I just completed the durge objective that gives you a powerful reward in act 2.
This is depressing. All of the good that I accomplished in my first two playthroughs is absent. My camp is nearly empty. Lae zel's lifeless body has been laying in my camp for 2 full acts. Karlach, Wyll, Zevlor, Damon, Jaheira, and many others are dead, either by my hand or because of my actions.
I didn't fully appreciate just how lonely and depressing, self-serving life would be. I have more gold and loot than either of my other playthroughs, and I'm more powerful, but to what end? My own lonely existence? I don't think that I will continue past this point. I've accomplished what I set out to do, which was experience the game as an evil character. I don't think I need another 50 hours of this to pound the point home.
Hats off to Larian for making such an emotional and realistic game, full of vibrant and exciting characters. I don't enjoy the world where I have betrayed them all.
If you can stomach/embrace the evil it opens up some fun/interesting Act 3 stuff. The Durge arc and the “full-send evil” endings for Astarion and Shadynasty specifically were neat to see given how not-evil they can turn out in a “good” playthrough.
I am also doing my Durge playthrough and it's so sad. I am making Shadowheart, Astarion, and Lae'zel the worst versions of themselves. They really did evil well.
I also got really sad about killing the cows after getting the act 2 reward for killing a certain someone. They didn't ask for this.
Maybe one can play the evil playthrough only before getting to know all the lovely characters a.k.a. on the first playthrough.
That probably helps with the evil.
Or you have to be borderline psychopath, I don't know.
Oh man. I picked The Dark Urge for my play through with my sister and I have been almost regretting it because god damn this guy is fucked up. It's been a long time since I've been genuinely shocked and upset by happenings in a video game. And we're not even that far! We just got past the Blighted Village in act 1. It's her first time, and though I've finished the game once already in another run it already feels like a completely different game.
I'm glad I'm not the only one this disturbed by a story. Hats off to Larian indeed; seems like this is gonna be one uncomfortable run.
They could have gone more evil and depressing in a specific part... Early on you can break the tiefling bard's lute that was a gift from her dead comrade and she then goes up to the nearby cliff to cry. She totally could have jumped, which is hella what I thought was going to happen after doing it the first time.
That definitely would have been very dark. I never encountered that scene, probably because I didn't spend much time talking to the random tieflings.
Edit: now I remember what you're talking about! The durge scene! Oh man, I only chose nice options for her because I was so stoked about having a bard companion in the party. I was very disappointed with the outcome.