Last week’s Baldur’s Gate 3 showcase catapulted the fantasy role-playing game to Steam’s top-selling list.
A Panel From Hell livestream revealed that players could have sex with a bear-like druid. The cutscene clip went viral on social media and even caused TikTok to prematurely cancel its showcase.
The druid in question is called Halshin, an NPC and a potential companion who can be rescued from prison. Harshin can temporarily “wildshape” into a bear, and does this during his romance cutscene if the card is played correctly. You can see it in the tweet video below.
So Baldur’s Gate 3 is a 10/10…that’s a proper D&D experience. #baldur’s gate 3 pic.twitter.com/HEi2PJRLLu
— Vaughan (@vaughandavies97) July 7, 2023
In an interview with IGN, Larian boss Swen Winke called the bear sex scene in Baldur’s Gate 3 “hilarious.” “Everyone who sees this is like, ‘Oh my God,’ but it’s funny.”
It didn’t take long for Baldur’s Gate 3 to climb to the top of Steam’s best-selling rankings (by revenue). At the time of publication, the game climbed 21 ranks, making it his fourth-best-selling game on Steam, ahead of the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2, Hogwarts Legacy, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It’s been a great game.
In a new statement released to IGN, Winke did not single out the bear sex scene as the sole cause of Baldur’s Gate 3’s surge. Instead, he pointed to the overall success of the livestream.
“Panel from Hell and feedback from journalists and creators who spent time playing the game at press events definitely contributed to sales,” said Winke.
“It’s a deep and diverse game, so it’s hard to showcase everything we’re excited about, but the response has been great and people are getting a sense of how deep BG3 is and how much there is to discover. I think we’re finally starting to get it right.” A big thank you to everyone who watched, participated, and especially those who have already spent hundreds of hours in Early Access.
“Hearing the enthusiasm they have for what we have shown is very rewarding for the team. I would like to share what I have accumulated.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 is an expansive, open-ended Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game from the makers of the Divinity: Original Sin series. Larian has pushed the PC release date forward by a month, from August 31st to August 3rd, to avoid conflicts with Bethesda’s upcoming behemoth Starfield, which is scheduled for early September. Announced. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 version has been slightly delayed to his September 6th, and the Xbox Series X and S versions don’t have a release window (read more about Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox holdout here).
Vincke told IGN that the developers expect a typical playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 to take between 75 and 100 hours. However, a player who wants to “get it all done” should expect twice that number for him.
Wesley is IGN’s UK news editor. Find @wyp100 on Twitter. You can reach Wesley at: wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially wyp100@proton.me.
