Baldur's Gate 3 devs made the RPG "too horny" right before release because last-minute playtesters were "probably just very bad at seducing people"

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Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Larian Studios reveals that Baldur's Gate 3 shipped in a hilariously horny state as developers were unable to properly "seduce" companions while testing the RPG's romance system.

Speaking at BAFTA's recent An Evening with Baldur's Gate 3 event, Larian Studios admits that Baldur's Gate 3 romances were spiced up right before the game's monumental release in 2023 after developers failed to seduce companions. "Right before release, we made everyone too horny," writing director Adam Smith explains. "That's an actual thing that happened. We were testing the romance and we get to Act 2 - and no one's interested in me."

Smith continues, saying the devs assumed "we're probably just very bad at seducing people" upon failing to romance companions in the second act. "So we dialed up the numbers," he describes, "and then we shipped it." Studio CEO and game lead Swen Vincke chimes in that it "was actually bugged" afterward: "We sort of started seeing all these reviews and people saying, 'does it really have to be this horny?' No, that was not the intention!"

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"I remember the scripter saying I don't think it's working," Vincke recounts before laughing. It sounds like Baldur's Gate 3 wasn't meant to be so horny to begin with - but it doesn't seem like everyone in the RPG's community is all that mad about it. After all, this is the fanbase that has accomplished everything from creating sex% speedrunning categories to running multiple playthroughs in order to find out how many NPCs you can sleep with in total.

Shadowheart from Baldur's Gate 3 was originally "more sassy" and had to be "heavily dialed down" after one of the devs said "I really don't like" the character

Anna Koselke
Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.