James Ohlen just dropped the kind of lore bomb that makes every Baldur's Gate completionist reach for their old CD-ROMs: Baldur's Gate 2 almost sent the Bhaalspawn through a time portal straight into a dystopia where Sarevok had already won.

The co-lead designer's revelation paints a picture of a plot that would have let players step into an alternate Sword Coast where the iron-fisted tyrant from BG1 got his happy ending, complete with the region bent to his murderous will. It was the ultimate 'what if' detour—Sarevok as dictator, the player witnessing the full horror of his victory—before the whole thing got axed during development when the team decided enough was enough. The existing detours in Shadows of Amn already stretch credulity in the best way, from circus tent transformations to Underdark infiltrations, so this time-travel caper might have been the one twist too far for a game already juggling epic scope.

What makes it sting is how perfectly it fits the series' DNA: BG1 ends with you toppling Sarevok, and here was the chance to see exactly what the Sword Coast would look like if you had failed. Ohlen's comment that 'every big RPG has unfinished ideas like this' lands like a quiet admission that the cutting room floor holds entire alternate campaigns. The Sword Coast dodged a bullet, but the thought of stepping through that portal still lingers like an unresolved Bhaalspawn dream.