Why the Baldur’s Gate 3 bear sex scene reveal hit so hard

By now you’ve probably seen some of the hype online Baldur’s Gate 3, but a particular hot spot of discourse is not related to the game’s combat or conversation mechanics. Instead, gamers were elated when Larian Studios revealed that you could romanticize Halsin the Druid while in his bear form.

It’s no surprise this went viral, with people declaring Baldur’s Gate 3 the Game of the Year, and praised Larian’s bold creative decision. The cutscene, devoid of context, is so far outside the realm of typical video game romance that it’s absurd. It’s kind of like a game you give fun dolly dress-up gear that lasts through dramatic cutscenes.

In fact, the scene is so spicy got Larian Studios banned on TikTokwhich is the kind of thing that ironically made it more viral. And at a glance it’s a pretty simple joke – you can pop a bear in this video game? But the sheer amount of reaction to this scene says more about roleplaying than you might think.

Halsin is a druid who can transform into a powerful bear during battle. The trick is that Halsin also finds it difficult to maintain his human form when he is in moments of strong emotion. There’s a solid romantic novel premise there; a man so overwhelmed with love that he literally goes berserk. It’s no surprise that people love romantic plots in games; Mass effect developer BioWare sells a Garrus Vakarian body pillowfinally.

But not all role-playing games offer romance, and the ones that do can sometimes be limiting for the more adventurous among us. I know many players who have played on Dragon Age: Inquisition and complained that they couldn’t romanticize Corypheus. Baldur’s Gate 3′s bear bonanza proves that people don’t just want neat and tidy romances – they want a little less worldly fantasy.