Everything you do in your playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 affects the course of your journey. And it starts at the character creation screen.
Each class, race, background, and Origin character has rippling effects on the world around you, triggering subtle permutations that change the Forgotten Realms in big, small, good, bad, exciting, and sometimes very bad ways.
What is an Origin character? They’re essentially playable heroes, each with their own stories, desires, and attitudes toward the world around you. If you don’t play as them, they each become companions, who you may (or may not) recruit throughout your journey.
You may have already met Shadowheart, Wyll, Gale, Astarion, Lae’zel, and Karlach – heroes with their own tales to tell, driven by your choices as the player. Of course, you can also customize your character and create an entirely new avatar, weaving their story through your actions with the same amount of depth & reactivity.
Today, however, we’re looking at an entirely new way to play Baldur’s Gate 3. The Dark Urge. A completely new customizable Origin, The Dark Urge can be created as any of the 11 races you’d like, but with their own Origin-like Dark Urge story as the backbone of your adventure.
Bringing forth a trove of malevolent reactivity to Baldur’s Gate, let’s talk about The Dark Urge.
Become The Dark Urge
The Dark Urge embodies the darkest recesses of the moral spectrum. With alabaster skin and a hulking dragonborn frame, The Dark Urge’s preset design is an imposing one, glaring back with the piercing gaze of a predator. However, this is also a fully customizable character. Its class, appearance, species, and gender are completely up to you. After all, evil can reside within anyone, irrespective of how they appear.
If you’ve been following our community-driven murder mystery Blood in Baldur’s Gate, you’ll be familiar with the Dark Urge’s simple but effective modus operandi: to murder brutally and indiscriminately. The Dark Urge is driven to commit some of the most lurid acts of violence that you’ll encounter in the game, and playing as this character, you’ll either indulge your most depraved impulses or resist them. We hope this character will whet the appetite of horror fans and those who seek a more sinister character to inhabit during their playthrough.
Stepping into the role of the Dark Urge, you begin Baldur’s Gate 3 with your memory lost after an unfortunate encounter between a parasitic tadpole and your brain. Now all that’s left is an insatiable urge. An urge that makes itself known in your subconscious, through your deepest thoughts, and in your dialogue options. Dark Urge gives players the opportunity to explore their dark side and let their subconscious urges bubble to the surface in the form of sinister responses and permutations.
The Dark Urge customizable Origin holds many secrets, but it’s for you to discover what they are and where this brutal new darkness hails from.
Last week, we asked you to share epic moments exploring the epic world of Final Fantasy XVI using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s eikonic highlights:
AlexGustyII shares Ifrit rushing forward with an attack.
crisg_art shares a portrait of Joshua.
whitememories_8 shares Torgal chasing a butterfly through a flower field.
KenKenVega1 shares Clive shrouded in fire, yelling.
Dario_OtherEyes shares Garuda screeching with a grin.
marka_game shares Jill in a graceful attack stance.
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Heroes
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on July 12, 2023
Next week, heroes take the spotlight. Share epic moments highlighting your favorite gaming hero using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
MLB The Show 23’s Season 3 Rewards Program starts today* and brings brand-new content and amazing rewards, including All-Star Game and Home Run Derby player items. With the 2023 MLB All-Star Game (ASG) and Home Run Derby (HRD) kicking off in just a few days, right now is the prime time to get your mitts on some great rewards for use in MLB The Show 23.
Earn Retro ASG and HRD rewards available in Team Affinity Season 3 featuring some of the greatest players from past games, such as ASG Series Vida Blue, Joey Gallo, and Trea Turner, as well as HRD Series Troy Glaus, Paul Konerko, and Jesus Aguilar. In addition to these fantastic player items, add ASG and HRD players from the 2023 season to your Diamond Dynasty squad. There’s no better time to get in on the action in MLB The Show 23.
New Legend Mike Cameron
Speaking of All-Stars, New Legend Mike Cameron makes his debut today in MLB The Show 23. One of only 18 players to complete “baseball’s greatest single-game accomplishment” by hitting four home runs in a single game, New Legend Mike Cameron is a must-have for any Diamond Dynasty squad in Season 3. New Legend Mike Cameron can be earned by progressing through the Season 3 XP Rewards Path.
New Mini Seasons Challenge – Righty Tighty
Build a squad of right-handed batters and pitchers, or common players, then win the championship to earn All-Star Game Series Starling Marter in the all-new Mini Seasons Challenge – Righty Tighty coming to MLB The Show 23 July 21.
Bring the All-Star Game action home and batter up in MLB The Show 23. See you on the field!
*Internet connection required for Season 3 update and rewards.
The Essential Picks promotion is now live on PlayStation Store, bringing with it discounts off up to 75% on a wide variety of titles for a limited time*. That includes 75% off Resident Evil 3, 50% off God of War Digital Deluxe Edition and 67% off Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
Many more games are included in the promotion. Head to PlayStation Store to find out your discount.
*The Essential Picks promotion is live on PlayStation Store from Wednesday July 5 until Wednesday July 19.
Buckle up time travelers, as we’re ready to share further exciting details on Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate, coming to PlayStation VR2 in 2024.
The technology that PlayStation VR2 offers, along with the power of PS5, has allowed us to explore some bold and exciting new ideas to truly elevate player presence, create more lifelike interactions and build richer worlds to explore. Let’s dive into these features a bit further.
Stunning new visuals
Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate has had a stunning art makeover. Completely overhauled visuals for PlayStation VR2 creates worlds that are richer and more beautiful, elevating our visuals to new heights. This includes an all-new lighting system and a complete overhaul on all our NPCs, which have been lovingly recreated and crafted to offer more realism and look better than ever.
Full body avatars
World-class full-body avatars allow you to embody characters through time – seeing yourself as these characters for the very first time. We’ve created a state-of-the-art player avatar system that doesn’t just accurately portray hand and head movement, eyes, and eyelids thanks to PS VR2’s new eye-tracking function. We’ve also created an AI system in which your legs respond to the context the player is in and portray the relevant required movement (climbing, hanging, falling, leaning, crouching etc). Player avatars can now have ‘strength’ based on being physics-driven. This is bound to our new ‘physics interaction framework’ and means player avatars can vary in regards to how strong they are when interacting with the virtual world around them.
Not only are we creating more immersion and better-functioning characters, but they’re also visually stunning as we’ve created a bespoke system that leverages the beauty of Epic’s Meta-humans.
Adventure platforming
Our brand new physics-driven platforming takes action adventure to a whole new level, giving players the ability to explore and interact with our worlds in new and creative ways. Swim, jump, crouch, climb, zipline, and swing your way through a variety of rich worlds in true adventure
Greetings, future Helldivers. It’s Katherine, Arrowhead’s social media and community manager, back again to bring you new Helldivers 2 gameplay details: a more in-depth look at our cooperative play* and combat.
Gearing up
After your Helldiver defrosts on your ship, you and your squadmates must prepare for a mission by customizing your armor, your weapons, and your stratagems together.
Creating your loadout feels like part of the mission prep: changing your weapon to suit not only your appetite for destruction but the mission and enemy types you might encounter. Your greatest aids as a Helldiver are stratagems: powerful tools that can be summoned with short button combinations. Everything from airstrikes to Hellpods containing bigger, badder weapons to defensive gear and extra supplies are at your fingertips.
When selecting stratagems, it’ll be essential to coordinate with your team to select the best possible load-outs for the enemies and mission type. If you’re going up against armored enemies, like the Terminid Charger, you or a squadmate can equip armor-piercing weapons, like the AT-48 Recoilless Rifle or the AC-8 Autocannon, which feature a teammate-assisted reload to keep battles even more chaotic.
But don’t sleep on those defensive stratagems either. While one Helldiver is handling the heavy fire, another Helldiver can call down a shield generator to protect teammates as the enemies push back. In a four-person team, you’ll be able to select a mix of stratagems and weapons that will lead to a unique victory every time.
Ready for action
Once your Hellpod lands on a planet, you can start calling in support stratagems, which include more powerful weapons, shield generators, and supply backpacks.
Each member of your squad can play according to their own style: some of you will charge into the fight, others will call down a sniper rifle stratagem and maintain a safe distance while picking off the enemies. You can even sneak past encounters if your team moves carefully. You’re all free to decide how you want to spread Managed Democracy: up close and personal, or with tactical o
Hello! My name is Yongcheng, the Lead Producer of Naraka: Bladepoint PS5 version. We have been working hard on what we feel is the best version of Naraka: Bladepoint so far, and we’re really excited to finally bring our mythical, melee-focused martial arts battle royale game to PlayStation 5.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with Naraka: Bladepoint, it’s the ultimate up-to-60-player PVP action combat experience, where players will engage in a unique battle royale experience that focuses on mastering fast-paced melee action in order to survive.
In the world of Naraka, everything begins with the endless war between 2 ancient gods: Sunwing and Moonbane. The Immortal Mask, created as a result of their battle, will grant mighty power to those who possess it. The game focuses on the subsequent war among mortals, including the blind blademaster of Yushan, Viper Ning, the great monk from another land, Tianhai, the Grey Wolf of the grassland, Temulch, and many more. In total, we now have 16 playable heroes, and the roaster keeps expanding. These heroes are all equipped with powerful skills and, as far as we’re concerned, are also some of the best-looking character designs we’ve made. Not only can you destroy your foes with master skills, but also do it in the coolest way.
We also created a vivid and multi-functional battlefield. There are ancient Eastern architectures you can climb and grapple around. Temples and cities, mines, waterfalls, wildflowers, butterflies…all these details in the environment work together and build a world you can literally immerse yourself into.
The core mechanism that makes Naraka so unique is the ‘rock-scissor-paper’ combat system. When you click L2/R2, you will initiate normal attacks. And when you long-press L2/R2, you will charge a Focus attack which is unable to be disrupted by normal attacks and will cause higher damage. Finally, we added a special gesture called Counter, which can beat Focus attacks and send your enemy’s weapon flying. But Counter does nothing
Prepare for the incoming storm, World Warriors. Rashid of the Turbulent Wind makes his Street Fighter 6 debut in Fighting Ground and the single-player World Tour mode starting on July 24. With a whirlwind of moves that will send him flying through each fight, Rashid leaves all opponents in the dust – unless they decide to Like and Subscribe.
First appearing in Street Fighter V, the charming Rashid returns to the series, searching for a new outlook on life. Having an epiphany, he realizes he wants to find the strongest warriors around the world and record what their meaning of strength looks like. So starts his journey to becoming a vlogger, always carrying around his trusty camera to livestream and capture the spirit of strength.
Meet Rashid in World Tour where your avatar can learn his moves, speak to him about his life, and increase your bond with him through presents and missions. Max out your bond with Rashid to obtain his Outfit 2, which should look familiar to his fans and followers. Take your avatar with Rashid’s new moves to the Battle Hub and see what havoc you can wreak in Avatar Battles.
According to Game Director Takayuki Nakayama, Rashid’s “hair and bangs were a challenge and involved a lot of trial and error to get right. We wanted to emphasize his use of wind and parkour, so we ended up using cloth materials that were thin and fluttering. Since he’s a Footuber, he has a camera attached to the belt that crosses over his chest, and a smartwatch is embedded in his bracelet since he’s a gadget-loving character. Air is added to his sandals to emphasize his lightness and bouncing and running parkour movements. His gloves, sandals, and other parts that are used to attack are decorated with a motif of a hawk’s beak.”
Rashid retains much of his previous move set from Street Fighter V, but the winds of change have blown in a fresh gust of inspiration to play with. Rashid’s trademark ability to soar throughout the stage from all angles is intact, but with even more options to bring about the hurricane.
Nakayama-san provided insight into how Rashid plays in Street Fight
The Essential Picks promotion is now live on PlayStation Store, bringing with it discounts off up to 70% on a wide variety of titles for a limited time*. That includes 50% off PGA Tour – Deluxe Edition, 45% off Dying Light 2 Stay Human and 60% off Subnautica for PS4 & PS5.
Many more games are included in the promotion. Check out the full list below, then head to PlayStation Store to find out your discount.
Many more games are included in the promotion. Check out the full list below, then head to PlayStation Store to find out your regional discount.
- ★The Sinking City
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
- 16-Bit Soccer
- 1993 Shenandoah
- 20XX
- 3D Air Hockey
- 3D Billiards – Pool & Snooker
- 3D Billiards – Pool & Snooker – Remastered
- 3D Table Soccer Foosball
- 4K Abstract Dubstep Music Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Chill Hammock Beach Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Chill Sunset Beach Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Cyber City 2 with Music Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Cyber City with 80s Music Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Dubstep Equalizer Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Floating Planets Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Independence Day Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Japanese Sakura Garden Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Las Vegas Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Maldives Beach Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Manhattan View Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Meditation Mandala Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Milky Way Galaxy Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Milky Way with Moon Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Mount View Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Neon Tunnel Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Night Cityscape Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Northern Aurora Lights Christmas Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Planets in Space Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Reggae Beach Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Snowy Forest Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Space Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Space Dynamic Theme with Music
- 4K Amazing Space Travel Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Synthwave Retro Road Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Tropical Underwater with Coral Reef Dynamic Theme
- 4K Amazing Yosemite Valley at Sunset Dynamic Theme
- 4K Autumn Forest Dynamic Theme
- 4K Backpack Hiking Dynamic Theme
- 4K Beach Summer Sea Sand with Relaxing Music Dynamic Theme
- 4K Brain Breaker Amazing Lion Gold and Blue Head
- 4K Brain Breaker Amazing Mountain River Dynamic Theme
- 4K Brain Breaker Angry Psyco Clown Gamer Avatar
- 4K Brain Breaker Aurora Space Nature Mountain Dynamic Theme
- 4K Brain Breaker Beautiful Blonde Woman Cihan Avatar
- 4K Brain Breaker Beautiful Cute Blonde Alper Avatar
- 4K Brain Breaker Beautiful Cute Neon Woman Erik Gibi Avatar
- 4K Brain Breaker Binary Code Hacker Ho
The streets were hot with combat, others fought to escape hell, and some received the blessing of fire. Which game had the most heat for you in June?
How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation.Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. Soon thereafter, we’ll close the polls, tally your votes, and announce the winner at PlayStation.Blog. PlayStation Store will also showcase some top Players’ Choice winners throughout the year.
What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? In keeping with our long tradition in the Game of the Year Awards, remastered or re-released games won’t qualify. Ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds and remakes like Shadow of the Colossus and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will.
How are nominees decided? The PlayStation.Blog and PlayStation Store editorial teams will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll. Write-in votes will be accepted.