Baldur’s Gate 3’s anticipated kissing patch is finally out

Larian Studios has its priorities clear. The newly released patch improves a fan favorite activity in Baldur’s Gate 3: to kiss. Baldur’s Gate 3 already had a bevy of potential lovers – like everyone’s favorite, Shadowheart – and offered plenty of opportunities to kiss. It is important! But the studio has been promoting improved plush toys for days, and on Friday players got to see what that actually means.

In short: no more generic pillows! All characters have their own unique kissing animations, Larian said in his published patch notes. “These kisses are random and range from incredibly romantic to… uh, a little more intense,” Larian wrote. “Kisses have also been improved for shorter and taller body types, so hug them right away.”

Larian published two examples of the kisses: one passionate and one tender and sweet.

In addition to kissing, Larian said the improved endgame cinematics “better reflect the connection between players and their partners.”

But look, there’s more to the patch than just love. Baldur’s Gate 3‘s patch 6 is absolutely huge. (You may even have to uninstall and reinstall the game to save space – it costs about 20 GB and requires about 150 GB of free space.) Even the patch notes come in at new length. Breaking down the highlights, Larian has improved and added camp animations for companions so people aren’t just standing around. (The notes also warn against interrupting Shadowheart’s spear-polishing sessions.) Elsewhere in camp, the studios have added the ability to replace companions more quickly: “You can now dismiss a party member while speaking to the party member you want to replace them with – so no more going back and forth like a Machiavellian party planner!”

The list of improvements and fixes is where things get busy. There’s a lot to get through! Larian said it has resolved a “tidal wave” of issues reported by players. These include things like Shield Bash fixes, new legendary boss actions in Honor Mode, and making sure your avatar is the main character when you talk to party members.

You want to go to the Baldur’s Gate 3 website for the full patch notesbut here are the highlights from Larian (who also warned about spoilers, if you’re sensitive to that).

• You can now dismiss a recruited companion from your party while talking to the companion you want to replace him with.
• When dialogue is automatically triggered, the game will now try to prioritize your avatar character as the main speaker.
• Your partner now has a few different kisses! They’re brand new, unique and random – and we’ve also made improvements to how kisses look across the board, especially for taller and shorter body types.
• The cinematic scenes in the Elfsong Tavern have been improved to make you feel more intimate as you and your romantic partner decide your future together after defeating the Netherbrain.
• The reflection scenes that take place after completing the defeat of the Netherbrain have been reworked for characters without romantic partners, to better match the scenes for those who do have romantic partners, and to bridge the gap with the epilogue.
• Added a new cinematic scene to support the combat encounter that occurs after you choose whether to side with Nightsong at Sorcerous Sundries or not.
• If you sit on the stool in Shadowheart’s camp corner, she will now respond to you with a phrase based on your relationship with her.
• Added new idle animations for some companions at camp, including:

Lae’zel: Studying a githyanki drive.

Minthara: contemplating a skull, tending mushrooms, expressing violence, adjusting her armor, planning her future, and being bothered by the sun.

Jaheira: Sitting, kneeling and whispering to a rat messenger, and whistling.

Minsc: Cooking and shaving his head. (These are two separate animations. While we wouldn’t put it past him, he’s not actually cooking with his head.)

Shadowheart: Polishing the Spear of Night.

Halsin: Whittling.

• If you started your game on a certain difficulty, you can now switch to Custom Mode (unless you are already playing Honor Mode).
• Fixed an issue that prevented travel between acts.
• Fixed an issue that prevented quicksaves from being uploaded to cross-saves.
• Characters in the Epilogue Camp Party now have appropriate titles under their names.
• Fixed Shield Bash and Rebuke of the Mighty Passives not causing saving throws.
• Added lightbar colors for the DualSense controller on PC.
• If you liked Lae’zel, grab a red dragon and saddle it. You can now join her in the rebellion against Vlaakith, even if you’re not in the saddle.
• Fixed graphics settings not being applied for some 4K monitors.
• Fixed a crash on Xbox that would sometimes occur when starting or ending a game.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 patch will be available Friday on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. Mac players will have to wait a little longer, but no timeline is available.