Baldur’s Gate 3’s Best New Romance Tweak Was Inspired By Fan Art

Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku

Baldur’s Gate 3’s sixth patch is out, and it brings a slew of new kiss animations for its various love interests. While everyone can kiss their better half at camp, one of the best parts of the patch is for us Gale lovers, as a new touch animation has made one of his romantic storyline’s most pivotal scenes a little more personal.

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If you romance Gale and keep him from trying to be a god, Baldur’s Gate 3’s wizard will propose to you after you beat the final boss. This is the path I took when I played through Larian’s RPG, but the scene in question felt a little impersonal my first time through. The dialogue and performance by actor Tim Downie were great, but the whole thing was shot with Gale and my Warlock standing across the room from each other and keeping that distance.

Patch 6 adds a lot more to this post-final boss scene for all possible pairings, including waking up together in bed and having the same conversation, but making it a little more dynamic. The pair will walk around the room and kiss between their lines, and it’s overall a better version of the original scene. With Gale, however, when he proposes, he now gets down on one knee and kisses the player’s hand. Sure, it’s no ring, but it still made my heart flutter.

Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku

What’s interesting is that this tweak was inspired by a piece of fan art. In August, Twitter artist @niku30_ posted a piece showing Gale kissing someone’s hand, and Larian Senior Cinematic Artist Elodi Ceselli confirmed the art inspired the updated scene.

Baldur’s Gate 3 brings out the most romantic, fanfiction-brainrotted version of me, and seeing Larian be so in tune with that aspect of the game’s community has been delightful. As a Gale romancer who has endured the onslaught of jokes at his expense for being a huge nerd, it is good to know Larian has my and the rest of the Galemancers’ back. So thank you to @niku30_ for setting up the events that made this lovely scene all the better. Now I’m gonna go watch all these new kisses on loop.

Baldur’s Gate 3 – Gale Patch 6 Kisses