Baldur’s Gate 3’s anticipated kissing patch is finally out

Baldur’s Gate 3’s anticipated kissing patch is finally out

Larian Studios has its priorities straight. It’s newly published patch improves a fan-favorite activity in Baldur’s Gate 3: kissing. Baldur’s Gate 3 already had a bevy of potential lovers — like everyone’s favorite, Shadowheart — and offered plenty of opportunities for kissing. It’s important! But the studio’s been hyping up improved smooches for days now, and on Friday, players got a look at what that actually means.

The short of it: No more generic kisses! All characters have their own unique kissing animations, Larian said in its published patch notes. “These kisses are randomised and vary from the incredibly romantic to… uh, a little more intense,” Larian wrote. “Kisses have also been improved for shorter and taller body types, so embrace without delay.”

Larian published two examples of the kisses — one passionate, and one tender and sweet.

Astarion passionately kisses Shadowheart. Mwah!

Lae’zel gives a little peck on the forehead.

Beyond kissing, Larian said its improved endgame cinematics “to better reflect the connection between players and their partners.”

But look, there’s more to the patch than just love. Baldur’s Gate 3’s patch 6 is absolutely massive. (You might even have to remove the game and reinstall to save space — it comes it at around 20GB and requires roughly 150GB of free space.) Even the patch notes come in at novel-length. Running down the highlights, Larian has improved and added camp animations for companions, so folks won’t just stand around. (The notes also warn against interrupting Shadowheart’s spear-polishing sessions.) Elsewhere in camp, the studio’s added the ability more quickly replace companions: “You’ll now be able to dismiss a party member while speaking to the party member you want to replace them with – so no more going back and forth like a Machiavellian party planner!”

The list of improvements and fixes is where things get dense. There’s a lot to get through! Larian said it fixed a “deluge” of issues reported by players. That’s stuff like fixing Shield Bash, new Legendary boss actions in Honour Mode, and ensuring your avatar is the main character when speaking to party members.

You’ll want to head over to the Baldur’s Gate 3 website for the full patch notes, but here are the highlights from Larian (who also warned about spoilers, if you’re sensitive to that).

• You can now dismiss a recruited companion from your party while speaking to the companion you want to replace them with.
• When a dialogue triggers automatically, the game will now try to prioritise your avatar character as the main speaker.
• Your partner now has a few different kisses! They’re brand new, unique, and randomised – and we’ve also made improvements to how kisses look across the board, particularly for taller and shorter body types.
• Improved the cinematic scenes in the Elfsong Tavern to feel more intimate when you and your romance partner decide your future together after defeating the Netherbrain.
• Reworked the reflection scenes that take place after wrapping up the defeat of the Netherbrain for characters without romantic partners to better match the scenes for those who do have romantic partners, and to bridge the gap into the epilogue.
• Added a new cinematic scene to support the combat encounter that occurs after you choose whether to side with Nightsong at Sorcerous Sundries or not.
• If you sit on the stool in Shadowheart’s camp corner, she will now react to you with a line based on your relation with her.
• Added new idle animations for some companions at camp, including:

Lae’zel: Studying a githyanki disc.

Minthara: Contemplating a skull, tending to mushrooms, expressing violence, adjusting her armour, plotting her future, and being bothered by the sun.

Jaheira: Sitting, kneeling and whispering to a rat messenger, and whittling.

Minsc: Cooking and shaving his head. (These are two separate animations. Although we wouldn’t put it past him, he’s not, in fact, cooking his head.)

Shadowheart: Polishing the Spear of Night.

Halsin: Whittling.

• If you started your game on a set difficulty, you can now switch to Custom Mode (except when already playing Honour Mode).
• Fixed an issue that would prevent travel between acts.
• Fixed an issue causing quicksaves to fail to upload to cross-saves.
• Characters in the epilogue camp party will now have fitting titles below their names.
• Fixed the Shield Bash and Rebuke of the Mighty passives not triggering Saving Throws.
• Added light bar colours for the DualSense controller on PC.
• If you romanced Lae’zel, grab a red dragon and saddle up – you can now join her in the rebellion against Vlaakith, even if you are not gith yourself.
• Fixed graphic settings not being applied for some 4k monitors.
• Fixed a crash on Xbox that would sometimes occur when starting or ending a game.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 patch is available Friday on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. Mac players have to wait a little bit longer — but there’s no timeline available.