If you have played Baldur’s Gate 3 In Early Access, you’ve probably met Halsin, the druid companion that can transform into a bear that you can recruit as a party member. He’s also an option for a romantic relationship, and that transformation comes into play when you let him down. And I wasn’t prepared for the direction the scene would take when Larian Studios presented it in the finale Panel From Hell presentation.
During the showcase, the team particularly emphasized romance by showing specific scenes and talking about how those relationships will develop over the course of the very long role-playing game. There are multiple romantic options, and each love story takes you down different paths. Some storylines will involve or allow for polyamory, others may have an unhappy ending that may end with you being sacrificed to a demon. But these are rough strokes. The notable parts of the presentation were two scenes that Larian showed during the show.
The first scene shown was an enchanting dinner with Karlach, a Tiefling barbarian. Unlike what followed, it was incredibly sweet and everyone in the audience went “aww.” However, the stream took a sharp left turn when it moved onto the love scene with Halsin. The exchange starts normally. The player (who controls the vampire Astarion as the main character) approaches Halsin in a fenced off area of the forest. When things get hot and intense, he strips naked and things seem to take their natural course. Then Halsin loses control of himself and transforms into his bear form. He quickly reverts to human forms and apologizes. Sometimes that happens when he gives in to his basic desires.
Depending on the dialogue choices you make, you can break up with him here, reassure him that everything is fine and continue as planned, or… you can tell him you like it. During the presentation, Larian let the live audience decide which dialogues they wanted to select and demonstrate on stream, and they found the bear form alluring and encouraged Halsin to turn back. It took some persuasion, and Halsin said that…size might be an issue. Nevertheless, they persisted, and Baldur’s Gate 3
Towards the end of the presentation, while unboxing a collector’s edition, studio founder Swen Vincke shared with the room that the studio has been banned from TikTok due to the scene.
Apparently there’s more to the scene that wasn’t deemed safe for the stream itself. So if someone wants to follow this to its natural end, they can Baldur’s Gate 3 starts on the PC on August 3rd. However, PlayStation 5 players will have to wait until September 6th.
