Baldur’s Gate 3 has secret game over scene if you mess up beyond repair

A Baldur’s Gate 3 player has found a secret, previously unknown, game over screen by throwing away a crucial story item.

Baldur’s Gate 3 provides each player with a unique experience, owing to the numerous different outcomes available for each action. However, the story progresses along a mostly linear path, despite having multiple endings. To enforce this, Larian Studios have included many failsafes in the form of abrupt game over screens.

One such scene is triggered when you throw away one of the most important quest items in Act 3. While the item itself cannot be thrown or dropped, a player managed to find a loophole to do so. However, Larian have foreseen this possibility and have added a way to deter players from doing it.

This article contains Baldur’s Gate 3 SPOILERS, you’ve been warned!

Throwing away a Netherstone triggers instant game over in Baldur’s Gate 3

A YouTuber named BOB_BestOfBugs managed to throw away a Netherstone in Baldur’s Gate 3 by exploiting the game mechanics. The result was a game over screen which showed a short, incredibly dark cutscene.

If you don’t recall what the Netherstones are, they’re actually three essential gems needed in your fight against the Absolute near the end of the game. The game doesn’t let you throw them away, but you can put them in a container and then get rid of that.

BOB_BestOfBugs managed to do this by putting the Netherstone in a vase, and then throwing the vase into a bottomless chasm. A cutscene then shows The Emperor calling the player a fool, reminding them that all three stones are their only chance of defeating the Elder Brain.

The Elder Brain then appears and changes the player into a mind flayer. You then see a game over screen that says, “A Netherstone is lost. The only path now leads to her.” Unlike Bethesda’s Morrowind, however, you won’t be able to continue playing Baldur’s Gate 3 if you break the main story, so you’ll have to load an earlier save.

Thankfully, you can’t get this ending accidentally, as you have to exploit the game mechanics to lose a Netherstone. The fact that Larian decided to include this game over scene only goes to show the sheer amount of detail in Baldur’s Gate 3. They anticipated that players might try out stuff like this just to see what happens.

For more on Baldur’s Gate 3, check out where to find all Dribbles The Clown body parts, or How to break walls and doors in the game.