Baldur’s Gate 3 has been officially released for over a year now. During Pax West 2024, Larian CEO Swen Vincke talked about the game’s sudden social media success due to the important bear sex scene and how they had an even more intense alternative.
Why did the game go viral on social media? Baldur’s Gate 3 was in Early Access for about three years. However, most players only became aware of the game through a very special live stream – because it banned the official channel of developer Larian Studios on TikTok.
In the stream, the developers showed a scene in which origin character Astarion seems to be experiencing a hot night with a bear. The bear in question is the druid Halsin, who can be unlocked as a companion by making the right decisions in Acts 1 and 2.
At Pax West, Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios, said they almost showed an even more intimate sex scene.
Makers of Baldur’s Gate 3 show intimate love scene with a bear and are immediately banned
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The alternative would not only have banned her from Tiktok
Why did they show the bear scene? During the Baldur’s Gate 3: A Retrospective panel, the team talks about the sex scene with Halsin in bear form. Among other things, they talk about the story behind it, but also about how they came to show this particular scene.
Swen Vincke explains: There was actually a debate [über die Vorführung der Bären-Szene vor dem Release]because we wanted the audience to choose them, so we didn’t know what they would choose, and we felt [der anderen Szene] actually uncomfortable.
Lead author Adam Smith even jokes that the non-bear scene didn’t just get us banned on Tiktok. This leaves the question open as to what an intense scene it must have been.
Finally, Vincke becomes serious and explains that they chose the scene primarily because it represents the game well: The scene and the game are funny, sometimes raunchy and, above all, adult. You can watch the entire panel on YouTube.
More violent than the bear? At least more explicit
What would have been the alternative? There are a lot of sex scenes in Baldur’s Gate 3 that could have been shown in the stream. Every companion you can romance has their own – sometimes even several or at least different versions.
The scene with Halsin, for example, can be experienced with the druid’s bear form, just like in the stream. But you can also ask him to remain human. This version of the scene is actually one of the most explicit in the game. It would probably have been the alternative for the bear scene.
Unfortunately, the developers don’t go into detail. They just hint that the other scene was even more explicit.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is still in development: Since the release, a total of six major patches have gone live. The seventh is now finally in the starting blocks and brings not only official mod support but also a bunch of new endings: Baldur’s Gate 3 will bring Patch 7 next week, which all players have been eagerly awaiting for months