10 Hauntingly Dark Secrets In RPGs

3. Durlag’s Tower - Baldur's Gate: Tales Of The Sword Coast

Durlag’s Tower is a location that you’ll only get to explore if you picked up the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion for Baldur’s Gate.

It’s replete with traps, monsters, a tonne of great loot, and a seriously dark secret. As you explore the sprawling building you’ll learn a lot about its creator, Durlag Trollkiller. Durlag was, as you’d expect, a fan of killing trolls, and an especially powerful dwarf. He eventually put his adventuring days behind him and settled down to marry a powerful magician, build an enormous fortress in the mountains, and have a couple of kids.

You know, just regular middle-aged stuff.

Unfortunately, the fortress attracted evil forces who wanted to take it for themselves. Though the building could withstand a siege, the fiends who were after it took a more nefarious route. They systematically assassinated the family, replacing each of them with doppelgangers until Durlag discovered something was amiss and was forced to kill his wife and sons to protect himself. He lost his family and his sanity, filled his tower with traps, and retreated to the building’s innermost sanctum.

Fortunately, if you make it far enough, you can take out the Greater Doppelgangers still in the guise of the dead family members, so that’s something.