In "Baldur's Gate 3," the real game is the friends you meet along the way. In other words, it's all about the brainstorming, but really it's just about being there to spend more time with the delightful company of charming weirdos. Sven Vinke revealed at this year's GDC that BG3's Act 2 big bad, Keteric Thome, could be a party member, spoilers ahead for BG3's Act 2 and beyond.

In a chat with IGN, Vincke said that during the long development of BG3 there was "a whole list of companions that were not selected" and his favorite was Thorm. In previous builds, after Thorm was defeated at the end of the second act, he was able to bring him in as an ally.

"There's a moment when you can convince Thorm and see him snap," Vincke said, "and that moment usually led to recruitment. From that point on, it seems that Sohm was hanging out in your camp, imparting wisdom in that gravelly voice of JK Simmons about the villains who remain in the game, and even opening up the possibility of another alternate ending: "He could convince you to go to his side," Vincke said.

All of these seemed great, Vinke says, but the idea eventually fell through because Larian "rescoped" the project "when we got stuck on revising the second act, as part of that," Vinke says. Thus we ended up with the version we got: your party stays with Ketherick in the form of the bony Avatar of Mirkle (not in the form of Sorm) before heading alone to Baldur's Gate. No Simmons-voiced party member is present.

Vincke cites its pruned story branches as one of the many "darlings" Larian sacrificed in the development of BG3, but not the only one. Many additional areas were trimmed in the final version, including (and this is a closing statement) the candle-keep that "Baldur's Gate 1" started years earlier.

I would have loved to snoop around Candlekeep and discover the inevitable treasure trove of BG originals, but I guess Larian had to draw the line somewhere. Even if the studio pulls out of "Baldur's Gate," there may be a "Baldur's Gate" series released by some studio in the future. I don't envy Larian the job of taking over, but if a new studio wants to win me over, letting me experience Winthrop in 4K would be a good start.