Baldur’s Gate 3 players swoon over new ascended Astarion kiss animation

Baldur’s Gate 3 players are going crazy over the new ascended Astarion kiss animation showcased by Larian Studios on Valentine’s Day.

Larian has been teasing a new upcoming patch, giving multiple characters new animations for showing affection – something that was suspected to come out on the day of love, but has yet to be released to the public.

Baldur’s Gate won Game of the Year and has managed to keep players hooked by giving them different paths to create their own stories… One of which is deciding whether or not to let Astarion become a Vampire Ascendant towards the end of the game.

The decision is up to the player, and has both good and bad consequences. However, those who want to see Astarion ascend and gain unthinkable power can also get exclusive cutscenes and animations.

Baldur’s Gate players lose it over Astarion animation

Astarion is known as a fan-favorite among players for his devilish charm and tragic backstory, which made him the perfect candidate to receive one of the new affection animations for the upcoming update.

After Astarion ascends, there will be a cutscene involving him and whichever character the player uses to romance him with. Astarion will have the character get on their knees in this cutscene before grabbing their neck and passionately kissing them, something that was not included in the cutscene before the update.

However, not everyone was impressed with the dramatic kiss, with one person saying that it was “unrealistic” to have that be the only animation. Another commenter pointed out that there should be a choice between the new animation and the one before based on your choices.

“Ascended Astarion’s kiss should be based on whether you chose to ‘be gentle’ or ‘make it hurt’ when becoming a spawn,” said one user. “This kiss would be for saying ‘make it hurt.’ If you said ‘be gentle,’ it would be cool to have a kiss that mirrors the gentle scene where he kisses your hand first.”

Despite the Valentine’s Day teasers, Larian Studios has not released the high-anticipated upcoming patch for Baldur’s Gate. Other patches have historically been released on a Thursday or Friday, which means the update could be coming in the next day or two.