Achievements are often seen as the final word on a game’s most difficult feats. They are meant to test mastery, patience, and sometimes sheer stubbornness. Yet in Baldur’s Gate 3, where freedom of choice reigns above all else, achievements can be as much about creativity as they are about challenge.
The Fancy Footwork achievement is a perfect example; one that has sparked debate over whether it represents a tough trial or a simply impossible accomplishment. Most players will likely assume it’s closer to the latter, since only 5% of players on Steam have accomplished it. In truth, it is neither. Instead, it embodies what makes Baldur’s Gate 3 such a distinctive RPG: difficulty here is never just about execution, but about imagination.
At first glance, the Fancy Footwork achievement sounds intimidating. Players earn it by making their way through Gortash’s audience hall without setting off a single trap. But anyone who has attempted this knows the hall is deliberately hostile—even with the Steel Watch disarmed. Littered with lethal mechanisms and designed to punish missteps or simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time, traps will bombard the field with explosives. It demands careful movement and attention to detail. In a more traditional RPG, this would be exactly the kind of precision test that separates the meticulous from the careless.
Many players assumed that the only way forward was to test their luck when taking on Gortash. To walk the length of the hall unscathed is to prove mastery over the game’s stealth mechanics, positioning, and awareness of environmental hazards. For those who love classic dungeon-crawling challenges, Fancy Footwork appeared to offer just that.
Thinking that the game enforces one solution is a Baldur’s Gate 3 cardinal sin. Instead, the game thrives on player creativity, even when that creativity bends the apparent rules. For Fancy Footwork, the supposed trial can be bypassed almost entirely. If Gortash is eliminated before the traps activate, the hall never becomes the deathtrap it’s meant to be. The achievement still unlocks, despite the player having skipped the intended challenge. Here are some ways to deal with Gortash:
|
Method |
Description |
Risk/Reward |
|---|---|---|
|
Classic Throne Room Fight |
After dropping a save before getting too deep into Wyrm’s Crossing, antagonize Gortash and begin the fight. |
Traps can ruin the achievement hunting route, but this is the most traditional route. |
|
Barrel Drop Ambush |
Sneak an invisible character into the throne room and avoid vision cones when dropping Smoke Powder Barrels near Gortash. Reapply invisibility, rejoin the party, then ignite the barrels to start the fight. |
Precarious setup where a reload may come in handy. The high burst of damage may kill Gortash instantly, though. Likely not a route to take if attempting to beat Honour Mode unless a player is comfortable losing their run in a misstep. |
|
Line Dancing |
Apparently, keeping characters lined up on the red carpet avoids them being targeted by traps. |
It’s incredibly risky to have the party huddled together during a tough fight. However, it helps accomplish the achievement in a more traditional manner. |
|
Cheese: Smackdown |
Lure Gortash to a secluded area; whichever is most convenient. In isolation, attack. |
While this trivializes the encounter, it’s relatively safe. Players should ensure that the line of sight for other enemies is clear. |
|
Cheese: Shove to Victory |
Using a strength-heavy character (ideally Karlach, for technical and narrative reasons), literally shove Gortash off a ledge, cliff, or balcony for an insta-kill. |
This method requires careful setup. However, it is instantaneous, mess-free, and hilarious. |
To some, this feels like an exploit. The careful decision not to side with Gortash may have already set up some players to fight him. Yet this approach is entirely in keeping with Baldur’s Gate 3’s ethos. The game’s systems encourage experimentation, rewarding players not just for what they endure but for what they imagine. Outsmarting the encounter is just as valid as surviving it, and the game’s willingness to validate both reflects its broader design philosophy.
Some players may feel that their BG3 achievements are cheapened through shortcuts. But the existence of this shortcut doesn’t cheapen the achievement; it reframes it. Where other RPGs might enforce rigid pathways to prove difficulty, Baldur’s Gate 3 consistently asks what a player can accomplish with the game’s tools.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, combat can be avoided with dialogue, and barrels of water can turn the tide of a fire trap. And this is also a game where tossing a boss off a cliff can be just as effective as an epic duel. In this context, Fancy Footwork doesn’t simply test the ability to tiptoe through a hall of traps. It tests a player’s ability to think laterally. The fact that one can unlock it through raw cleverness or brute force is the point. Difficulty here is not measured by how much suffering the game can impose, but by how well players can adapt the systems to their own advantage.
Critically, this design choice says something about Baldur’s Gate 3’s place in the realm of must-play RPGs. Many games lean on achievements as fixed challenges, encouraging repetition and narrow mastery. Larian Studios instead treats achievements as extensions of the game’s sandbox. They are less about linear progression and more about exploration: of mechanics, of tactics, and of the sheer absurdity that arises when players try things the developers may not have even anticipated.
Fancy Footwork becomes less a trap gauntlet and more a case study in freedom. It demonstrates that the game is not concerned with telling players how to succeed, only that they find success in their own way. In the end, Fancy Footwork isn’t really about traps or even Gortash himself. It’s about what kind of player Baldur’s Gate 3 allows one to be. Either way, the game celebrates your approach rather than punishing it.
9/10
August 3, 2023
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
