It’s been one year since Baldur’s Gate 3 launched, and now, developer Larian Studios has revealed how players chose to navigate their journey through its Dungeons & Dragons video game.
The studio unveiled a smorgasbord of stats in a lengthy X/Twitter thread. While it includes interesting data related to Baldur’s Gate 3’s soul-crushing permadeath Honour Mode and which characters fans favored over others, it also reveals that 1.9 million players were, at one point or another, turned into a wheel of cheese.
Another crucial stat update reveals that while everyone’s favorite dog, Scratch, was pet 120 million times, The Owlbear Cub and His Majesty the cat received only 41 million and 141,660 pet attempts, respectively. What matters most, though, is that we now know just how everyone chose to approach the game's romance options.
Over the last 12 months, you’ve smooched your companions a total of 75 Million times.
Please give them a break, their lips are losing pixels. pic.twitter.com/6UWN45gri6
— Baldur's Gate 3 (@baldursgate3) August 7, 2024
Larian’s posts include a nice selection of romance-related figures. Baldur’s Gate 3 companions have been kissed more than 75 million times in total, with Shadowheart leading the pack at a whopping 27 million kisses. Astarion is, unsurprisingly, in second at 15 million smooches, with poor Minthara in last with 169,937. We also have a look at some stats about Halsin, Larian’s infamous Druid character. Of the 658,000 players who had sex with Halsin, 70% chose to sleep with him in his human form, while the other 30% chose his grizzly bear form.
In all of Baldur’s Gate 3, Astarion proved to be the most-played as Origin being at 1.21 million characters created with him to start. That’s a lot of High Elf Rogues running around, but Larian does clarify that 93% of players did choose to create their own custom character when beginning an adventure. Meanwhile, while 141,660 players managed to complete Honour Mode, a staggering 1,223,305 playthroughs ended in a loss.
As for some of the more important story moments achievable in Baldur’s Gate 3, 3.3 million users managed to kill the Netherbrain, while another 1.8 million chose to betray the mind-flayer emperor. Interestingly, only 34 players who chose Lae’zel as their Origin character also chose to kill themselves at the end of the game.
Astarion has been your favourite Origin character avatar, shortly followed by the wizard of Waterdeep and, of course, God’s favourite princess.
However, over 93% of players chose to play as a custom avatar. Nice. pic.twitter.com/rzyj3scKPx
— Baldur's Gate 3 (@baldursgate3) August 7, 2024
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game of near-infinite possibilities, and that’s one of the biggest reasons players fell in love with it last summer. Despite so much to offer at launch, Larian has continued to deliver more content in post-launch updates, with many speculating that Alfira may be added as a new companion when Patch 7 arrives soon.
While we wait for Larian to expand on the already massive world of Baldur’s Gate 3, be sure to read our 10/10 review. At the time of its launch in July 2023, we said, “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur's Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
