One specific character receives a new, happier ending as a result of the fifth major patch for Baldur’s Gate 3 introducing an entirely new epilogue to the game. Baldur’s Gate 3 has been receiving major and minor upgrades for some months now, including bug patches, performance enhancements, and quality-of-life additions like the opportunity to customize a custom character’s appearance. With the addition of a brand-new epilogue that wraps up the stories of numerous prominent characters and perhaps even suggests future developments for the franchise, Patch 5 has brought perhaps the biggest update to the game to far. When Baldur’s Gate 3 was released, some players were disappointed by the finale since it provided potentially disappointing resolutions for some character arcs and showed very little of the story’s long-term effects. As one of the few real flaws in the game, the developers at Larian eventually promised to make changes and updates to the ending. As of the fifth major update, the studio has done just that, releasing a fully voiced and playable epilogue that significantly stretches the game’s ending. It takes place six months after the final battle and exhibits an impressive level of player choice reactivity.
However, the enlarged epilogue endings added in Patch 5 present Karlach returning to Avernus with a buddy or two as the most hopeful outcome for her, while her original endings lacked a clear-cut “good” alternative. To get Wyll to agree, players must also complete his quest, which involves either having him sign the contract with Mizora or having him break it but still save his father and then guide him away from staying in Baldur’s Gate. This ending can be achieved by using a character with a high approval rating from Karlach to persuade her to return to Avernus and decide to go with her after the final battle. Speaking to Karlach in this version of the epilogue will have her reveal that the characters who traveled to Avernus have found a blueprint that might be able to fix her engine, allowing her to leave Avernus permanently, and they’re going to use a forge that is guarded by Zariel’s forces to fix it. The epilogue concludes her journey on a positive note, even though the engine hasn’t been patched yet. She says that she’ll have the opportunity to return home from Avernus permanently sooner than she had anticipated, which is the main focus of her character quest for the most of the game. Karlach was one of the more well-liked party members in Baldur’s Gate 3, so her new, happier ending will most doubt delight gamers who loved her as a character—especially considering that some players may have felt that her death was somewhat of a plot hole in the original release.
As some players have noted, by the time of the third act of the game, there appear to be several viable fixes for Karlach’s engine, including the Gondians, Divine Intervention, and the various ways of resurrection. For this reason, some players may feel that the game’s flaws have been addressed by the game’s conclusion, which offers a definitive fix for Karlach’s engine.
