Larian explains how that rather obscene bear scene in Baldur’s Gate 3 came about

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has shared the origins of the viral bear sex scene that brought attention to the already popular RPG.

I’ll admit, while I’ve known about Baldur’s Gate 3 for a while, for most of that time I wasn’t that interested. Then, all of a sudden, I saw people talking about this game where you can have sex with one of the game’s characters and they turn into a bear. That particular moment really helped make Baldur’s Gate 3 a huge success (although I imagine it would still do well without it), and really showed how crazy and weird things could get. Now, at a development meeting in Brighton earlier this week, former Larian writer Baudelaire Welch spoke to Eurogamer about how that scene came about, and how it didn’t initially make that much of a difference.

When Welch joined Larian in 2020, the game was halfway through development and a lot of work had been done, including companion romances, but certain characters, like Harsin, were not yet romanceable. “We had no specific plans to make him a romanceable character, I think,” Welch explained. At the time, it was clear that the community around the game wanted a “Harsin Dad,” and Welch knew this because they were part of the community. Larian took notice and decided to explore what that character would be like.

“Here’s a character that everybody likes and was suggested as a potential love interest, so let’s try it out and see how it goes,” Welch continued. “Specifically, turning into a bear. It was originally a joke in another scene that I brought up because I didn’t think it was going to go anywhere, but then Sven [Vincke] and John [Corcoran]who was the screenwriter for Halsin — because they were writing more of the main love scenes — they said, ‘Oh, let’s take this idea, let’s escalate it and make it a main part of this character.’

“I have to admire that something I thought was just a joke – there’s a behind-the-scenes sex scene where he turns into a bear – was interpreted as ‘Oh, that’s really cool and fun, let’s do that.’ That’s a great attitude, and it’s always been that way at Larian. Sometimes I think some things are too ridiculous, or too funny, especially because so many people have to deal with cinematics and motion capture and scripting in games, but there is room for things that feel like ‘Oh, that’s a ridiculous little idea.'”

This silly little idea has really blossomed into a life of its own as it even gave us a sex speedrun, so let’s all be thankful to Larian for allowing us to say something so silly exists in the world.