Larian Studios Gets TikTok Ban for Bear-Form Druid Sex Scene in Baldur's Gate 3

TwitTok pulled this? And the things they let random idiots stream every waking minute of the day is just fine? Gotta love social media platforms..

Biology class didn’t prepare me for this…sequence of events.

If it adds nothing to the story (as in this is to point out its some warped villain or something) then what’s even the point? It’s about as artistic as a porno.

Team bear sex

@RadioHedgeFund It does though. The Druid mentions the this happens to him involuntarily sometimes, and despite him being the one to arrange this meet-up wants to cancel it out of embarrassment. This is basically showing him that you accept him, but in a funny and silly way. It’s an RPG for god’s sake, you can make it mean what you want in the story of the character you’re playing, they’re just giving you options, you don’t have to pick it.

Surprised there’s been no coverage of the other stuff they showed on this site. This game is looking phenomenal.

Sex scenes in games are weird.

@ShadowofSparta "but in a funny and silly way"
So we're officially in the "bestially is a funny kink like any other" time period now? I though it was slippery slope fallacy to say we were going towards this?

@Nepp67 Right? I’m not against it at all but unless it adds anything to the plot (say, Outlander) or adds something to flesh out a character (Game of Thrones) then what’s the point?

@RadioHedgeFund humour?

@RadioHedgeFund it adds humour I figured all the people laughing gave it away 🙄

I'm sorry but this boning bears thing is just weird and messed up call me boring, stupid whatever fine but I don't find shagging animals amusing it's F'd up dunno what this team were huffing or snorting when they decided to include this

I've heard people say that they are not buying the game now because of this sex scene, despite really looking forward to it. Pathetic really. If it offends you, just choose not to romance the druid.

Unless there's a trophy for it.

@PixelDragon @KaijuKaiser

"Cheering on" and "laughing at" are two very different things.

This is meant to be humorous, not erotic.

@PixelDragon
Please stop reading tabloids, cause they seem to be whipping your bigotry into a frenzy.
Bear sex is so ridiculously far removed from reality, that you’re supposed to laugh at it, mister concerned parent.

@RadioHedgeFund knowing you can put pronouns in the game bestiality is not a surprise.

@PixelDragon

No, this is the part where I tell you that you don't need to be the target audience for everything. If you don't think this scene is funny, then don't romance the shapeshifter.

"Not being into sex with animals makes me a bigot?"

You're not supposed to be into sex with animals: this is comedy, not erotica.

And as a parent, you should he paying attention to age ratings. There's a reason mature games are rated mature.

@KaijuKaiser it was the content, not the fact that it was removed.

Yes @ShadowofSparta PushSquare need to post more Baldurs Gate 3 articles because it is looking really good

I'm currently wondering whether I'd RP The Dark Urge like Dexter, or just give in to the darkness 😁

Definitely a strange choice to present a scene like this as marketing material. Like I get that they want to show how open-ended the game is but was their best option really to show off bear/druid sex? Considering how big the scope is for the game I'm sure they could have found something else instead of this.

Feels like they did it just to start a controversy which if that was the goal...well... mission accomplished.

Well I've got no problem with gender fluidity, but (call me old fashioned) species fluidity is just pushing things a bit far in my book.

@KaijuKaiser Why on earth would you assume that I called him a so-and-so because he got his comment removed, rather than because of the actual bigoted content of said comment? O_o

@Cordyceps That’s modern journalism to you. Only after them clickz and we’re the ones to blame, for actually falling for it

This comment section has been a fun one to have unravelling in the background.

This is the kinda dumb ***** that always goes down in D&D campaigns, would be even funnier if instead of a persuasion check you had a roll initiative to seduce the wild-shaped druid.

I can't wait to see all the pearl clutching once the really silly stuff starts coming out about this game.

@Futureshark as long as it's done in a humourous way, I say it's all good. If it's serious, then Houston, we have a problem.

@Northern_munkey Posting material like this requires you to buy TWO blue checkmarks

We’ve got beastiality in video games now. Neat!

Why are people struggling to separate made up fantasy in a video game. And real life?!

Always makes me laugh. A game is a game. Not real. It’s fiction.

But you will be fine beating up prostitutes in GTA or killing people in shooting games. Or stabbing people.

But god forbid there’s a weird out there sex scene. That can’t possibly ever happen in real life. Coz we’ll you know shapeshifters.

Looking forward to playing this but not for the bears.

WHOA, WHOA. HOL UP.

Snu snu with a bear? I mean, I'll try anything at least twice. Where do I sign up?

I've got one for this:

So this guy is a big game hunter in the US. One day he is in the woods with his trusty rifle when a bear wanders into the clearing in front of him. He lines up a shot, pulls the trigger, BANG!, but the bear is nowhere to be seen. Then he feels a claw tapping him on the shoulder. He turns around, and there's the bear.
This bear tells him that no one shoots at him and gets away with it, and the guy now has 2 options. Either the bear will maul him to death then and there, or the guy can drop his trousers, bend over, and let the bear give him a good seeing to. The guy decides he'd rather not die, so he goes with option 2.
Afterwards, limping somewhat and humiliated, the guy heads back to town and goes to the gun store. He gets a big, 50 cal. rifle, and resolves to kill that bear.
He heads back to the clearing with his new gun, and sure enough, the bear shows up. He lines up the shot, BANG!, but the bear is nowhere to be seen. Then he feels a familiar tap on the shoulder. The bear says "you know what to do".
The guy returns to town for a second time, humiliated, seething with rage, and determined to end that bear's existence. He buys himself a big RPG launcher this time.
He returns to the clearing, and sure enough, the bear wanders through again. He lines up the shot, bulls the trigger, and BOOM! - he was standing too close to where the RPG made impact and he is thrown backwards by the blast.
Dazed, and on his back, he looks up at the forest canopy, when the bear steps into his line of sight.
"You're into this, aren't you?" says the bear.

These comments are wild. First off it's a video game, no one is condoning y'all to go out in the real world to shag bears. If you can't separate fantasy from reality don't play games.

Furthermore it's like an option. You have to go out your way to see this. If you don't want to like myself see this then just don't try and shag a bear in your play through. It's that simple. Too many people doing some mental Olympics to swing this to "when did beastiality be accepted". Engage if you want, if you don't move on. A simple solution to a non problem.

And before anyone is like "oh the children" remember kids play call of duty and GTA to the point where it's not even questioned. Games of violence are accepted without batting an eye so no one actually cares about this point.

For me it was increasing their attraction to each other. Both having beasts inside that are hard to control. Not so much just a bear thing

As some have already pointed out, this is CLEARLY not being presented as something erotic. It's in the spirit of the wild and random ***** that can happen during a D&D game.

Don’t know if it is the right marketing choice but I find it funny as heck. The bear’s face is so derpy 🤣

Looking forward to play this on ps5, my pc is so weak, I should really lose all remaining decency, embrace the nerd and try to assemble one following a tutorial.

I see this and think....that's 2000 hours of my life I can see disappearing. Sleeper hit of the year.

This is the most anyone has been talking of this game yet. Mission accomplished person who is running the marketing over at Larian Studios. The real ones get it. Would have been funnier as an owl bear though.

Also, it's good to see the "moral majority" still getting angry at Satanic worshiping D&D content just like they did in the 80s. Brings back some good memories...lol...

So that's where that clip came from? I kept seeing it and had no idea it was from Baldur's Gate lmao

Nothing says brain rot like people actually going ‘think of the children’ in response to this. I swear media literacy is at an all time low. This is a joke. It is also NOT A BEAR.

Now we know why Mr. Grizz is so grumpy if this is what Mrs. Grizz has been getting up to.

54 comments, and not one celebrating the squirrel's reaction. Sad, really.

@NEStalgia

LOL...the squirrel's nuts literally dropped...lol

I wonder though. Would the "think of the children" crowd on here still be as upset it was a hot female bear instead of a man bear?

@KaijuKaiser depends on the bear, I suppose.

What's wrong with the dev, just put a normal relationship in there, doing it with beast is super weird 🙁

Also rather than "cheers of rapturous fans", I think it's more like cheers of non-fans that won't buy the game, only to share and like it on twitter.

This just seems excessive, and I don't see why BG needs explicit sex scenes in the first place.
@mikeorator MY DnD games don't have naked people having sex with bears. BG is the kind of games I'm the market for, but all the sex scenes are turning me away from the game.

@wiiware

I don't know...the guy who shared it seemed like a pretty big fan.

@Jaz007

Considering it's a D&D game I can only assume that YOUR playthrough will not have any of those things you don't want in it as it is player choice that will trigger these events.

Or is it just the fact that the developer even thought of putting it in the game that is abhorrent to you?

Because I can tell you right now the basic rules of "pen and paper" D&D can be used to create these situations as well. Does that make the rules the world is based on immoral or the people playing it? Or Both?

@Jaz007 it's a roleplaying game based on DnD which a major part of that is making YOUR story. I would rather a game give literally as many options as possible for people to choose to engage than limit themselves. Once again you don't have to see any of this if you don't want to. It is a choice.

Like If sex is scary for you then move on. Y'all have no problem with people being beheaded in games like Skyrim but see a booby and you lose your minds 😂

@Kylekgh

Right, I may not want to engage in the activities in the game the same way as someone else, but just the fact that the developers thought this may happen holds out hope that this will be a true role-playing game and not some stat-crunching grind like Diablo IV

Somebody on that dev team just realized there furry dream 😳 😆😆😆😆

@Kylekgh Sex and violence are completely different and provoke entirely different reactions. There's a reason we allow kids to take a martial arts class, but not a be sexy class. We play violence with kids all the time. We do not with the other one.
Scary is also very much the wrong word. Disliking plain degeneracy does not mean sex is scary.

Also, it's not giving as many choices as possible. Romance doesn't mean sex, but if you want to romance this druid, it means a bear sex scene. That's giving no agency in the romance and denying my ability to choose. It would be giving as many choices without this scene.

@MikeOrator In general, I like romance options, and I don't want graphic sexual scenes and whatnot shoved my way because I chose romance (which doesn't equal sex).
DnD pen and paper has a persuasion skill. Obviously that's not immoral. Can someone turn DnD into immoral smut? Yes, and many DnD horror stories happen because someone wanted to turn the game into smut. In actual DnD, that's almost always a ticket to disaster.

Well this is dumb. But the game still looks fantastic. It’s on the list for a next year playthrough.

How the world has changed :

Kotaku (and the comments) in 2015 remembering Sonic kissing a woman : https://kotaku.com/remember-when-sonic-kissed-a-woman-1731219760

Same Kotaku (and the comments) in 2023 applauding being able to have sex with a bear in a mainstream RPG : https://kotaku.com/baldurs-gate-3-halsin-romance-sex-scene-bear-karlach-1850615466

But saying bestiality is being banalized is conspiratorial and a slippery slope, right?

@Kylekgh Would you hold the same views if the character in question was transforming into a 10 year old kid instead of a bear? I hope not.

Therefore, since you have your own limits, you should expect other people to also have limits of their own, and bestiality is quite a common ethical limit to sexual intercourse (and its depiction in art and entertainment) in most societies... don't you think?

@MikeOrator Maybe Sammy can Photoshop a school uniform on it and make the dream real. Do it for the clicks, Sammy!

This must be that new bearbnb thing someone faxed me about the other day.

@Olmaz 7/10/23 will forever be remembered as the day D&D was called mainstream by someone on the internet. I need to put that note in my pocket protector.

To be fair, bestiality with grizzlies should be normalized and encouraged by Kotaku, Twitter, and much of the internet. It will rapidly depopulate the worlds greatest idiots and also feed bears very well before winter.

@NEStalgia 208 million $ for the Honor Among Thieves movie https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1879410177/
Hasbro buying just D&D Beyond for almost 150 million $. https://www.xfire.com/hasbro-wotc-dnd-beyond-dungeons-and-dragons-fandom-150-million/
Articles in mainstream media : https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/13/dungeons-dragons-had-its-biggest-year-despite-the-coronavirus.html
Wizards of the Coast passing 1 billion $ revenue : https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/wizards-of-the-coast-billion-dollars-revenue/
A 7 hour developper panel about an upcoming CRPG with more than 650k views on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW846h6FyU4

Sorry to burst your bubble, but D&D is mainstream now. I know a lot of people want to pretend their nerdy hobbies (mine too!) are still niche, but they're really not.

Its good they didn't use a horse.

@Olmaz Did you have the same outrage when violence and murder were completely normalised in games years ago? Surely having sex with a bear isn't as bad as slaughtering another human? Yet I'm sure you lost count of how many virtual murders you've committed.

From a surface level and someone who would never bone a bear, I see it as harmless. On the same line, I will also acknowledge the fact that there are people out there that will take this too seriously and that’s why this is shut down. Aka, there’s always someone who ruins it. You can only ruin something so many times until you realize it shouldn’t have been a thing in the first place.

This comment section is actually insane. Guys. Its literally not a bear. Its not a person having sex with an animal. Its a person having sex with a shapeshifter. We don't even need to get into the weeds of whether its bestiality if the animal can communicate and is sapient, like with a talking horse or smth, because THIS IS NOT AN ANIMAL. ITS A DUDE SHAPESHIFTED INTO A BEAR

Also shame on the people who tried to somehow connect this to actual real people who are discriminated against because of their sexuality. What the ***** guys?

@Olmaz this is literally not bestiality because this is literally not a bear, it's a SHAPESHIFTED DUDE

@PixelDragon mate this isn't an animal. This is a person who was turns into animals. Next scene hes in his person form and you have breakfast. Its literally not bestiality

@ChromaticDracula 100% natural boneless bear.

@Olmaz I think it's still pretty niche. There's a lot more people in the world than there was 25 years ago, and this stuff reaches more of the world than "America and Western Europe" than it did 25 years ago. The raw numbers keep getting bigger, but as a percentage of any given population the population is still pretty niche.

I'd say "you won't see any jocks that are D&D players" still, but, then there was that superbowl quarterback a year or two ago that's a huge Pokemon nerd, and Kingdoms of Amalur (the D&D inspired-type ARPG) was made by an all star pitcher. But, then, jock or not, a top elite level pro athlete by nature has to be kind of an OCD stats nerd so there's probably more overlap of math club nerds and top tier athletes than typical high school sports jocks realize.

@Dimitris670 So the "200 year old vampire that looks like a 10 year old girl" in a hentai is not a child, is that it?

Didn't expect the comments to be filled with Maude Flanders fans "Won't somebody please think of the children!?" 🙄

It's a video game is not real, you're not actually banging a bear. It's not even a real bear in the game itself, people love creating controversies out of nothing

If video game = real life then you should be trying to get GTA, COD and any other violent video game banned because it's teaching kids to be mass murderers. It's also telling kids that after banging hookers you should murder them 🤷

@Matroska 2 points :

1-Violence and sex are not the same topics, and don't necessitate the same approaches, as laws and morality have shown in every society. Others in this thread have given examples for this (some even have seen their comment deleted just for this... weird). Different ethical dilemmas, different rules.

2-What's your point exactly? Is it : we did a bad job about violence, so let's do the same bad job about bestiality? Or is it that violence is ok, therefore bestiality is ok too?

@NEStalgia Frankly, something doesn't have to be Marvel/Star Wars level of mainstream to be mainstream. When you say Dungeons & Dragons, a lot, and I mean a lot, of people will at least have an idea of what I'm talking about. And it's growing. Don't forget that the nerds of the 80s-90s (me included) are in our 40s-50s now, and we manage the brands' awareness.

As for Baldur's Gate 3, it is going to be one the major video game release of 2023, at least if you exclude all the multiplayer focused games. Not calling it mainstream is a stretch. It's not Spider-Man 2 level of awareness, but still.

This game looks great (and far better than diablo 4), but not for this cheap reason.
Of course some of the more vocal commenters here will just behave all smug towards those that disapprove and call them prudes, but at the end of the day, it's just cheap thrills and attention grabbing, while the core game has so much more to offer.

@NEStalgia They've defended final fantasy 16 as one for so long, that they forgot what a real role playing game looks like

@Cordyceps The only bad thing is this has more movies than even 16! The good thing is it doubles as National Geographic's DeviantArt channel.

@Olmaz I'm not quite sure it's going to be that major of a release compared to what we're used to being a major release. Maybe I'm wrong, but it still feels a bit below the radar to me.

Personally I'm a mammoth BG2 fan, but....I don't have a gaming PC anymore, and I know Divinity and BG2 have recent console releases, but I'm worried I just won't be able to come to terms with a controller interface for this

@NEStalgia I played Divinity 2 on console and it's glorious, I never felt the lack of mouse hindered my enjoyment so I'd say go for it. At least, grab it on sale you can get it dirt cheap nowadays.

This was awesome (the fact they don't compromise on their vision). The game looks good.
That squirrel reaction though. 🤣

@KaijuKaiser Have principles for real issues that affect real people. This is just rendered polygons.
Always amazes me how some can't separate entertainment media from reality.

Where are the furries when you need them. This is your chance to shine!

@Tecinthebrain don’t forget to get your money back from those hookers too

@Jaz007

What were we talking about again?

Oh Ya. Most people can create a story around something absurd like a talking bear that is actually a person and have an emotional reaction (negative or positive). This does not mean however that that person wants to act out in real life any of the scenarios that are part of the story. Maybe in the D&D world, there aren't any hang-ups about anything that we are concerned with in the real world.

I mean this person can change into a bear but has no control over when it happens and all he wants to do is make love to his boyfriend. Instead of being repulsed, the boyfriend decides he is going to accept his lover for who he is and show support. Bear form or not they are going to love each other through everything. It truly is a sweet love story.

Besides bears are sexy as hell...lol..

Anyone looking at that clip from the outside will not think it's a joke. It looks real and there is no context to imply that it's a joke or that it's supposed to be funny. Honestly, sounds like people are excited to see it happening. This is from the perspective of someone that has no clue what happened immediately prior to the shown clip.

If I didn't know that it was an optional event, I would have lost complete interest in the game.

Why are so many people obsessed with having sex in video games?

Video games have moved on from asking "Can you pet the dog?". We're now onto "Can you boink the bear?"

@Toot1st Why are so many people obsessed with killing others in video games?

@NotoriousWhiz actually, you can only speak for yourself, not "anyone" else.

@StrickenBiged
You’ve been watching The Crown I see. 😅

@Sekijo I think the more we see something, the more we become desensitized.

@Jaz007 sex and violence are different one is designed to only harm someone else. The other at worst is a bit awkward. Also your shifting the discussion I'm talking about video games. We have no problems with kids literally playing a game about how to be a criminal (GTA) and another where the goal is to murder as many people as possible (COD). Therefore if there was an actual "what about the kids" concern these would not be normalised. In the west in particular there's an adversion to anything remotely sexual but violence is accepted heck encouraged.

You second point makes no sense. It's an option added to the game therefore it is adding as many options as possible. You haven't played the full game as it's not out so no idea how you concluded this is the only moment of romance. In that case mass effect has no romance as sex is a part of the game. How bout we don't blow a non issue out of proportion

@Olmaz First of all you went from animals to kids that's a whole different issue so won't be addressing that.

This isn't beastiality, the druid is a HUMAN who can shapeshift. Furthermore it's a work of fiction. By your logic murder is a common ethical concern and limit for.most in reality. Let's just ban any game that allows killing. You see how when we confuse reality and fiction things stop working. Literally any violent act in a game would be considered an ethical issue in reality but the great thing is. It's a video game. Even better in this case. This scene is wholly optional and can only be seen if YOU want to see it. It's as simple as that.

@Sekijo Dude completely forgot about stick of truth 😂 the "what about the kids crew" are gonna lose their mind if they ever play that game.

@Sekijo Don't you think there is a difference between a game inspired by a cartoon that is meant to mock and criticize society's problems and people's behaviors on one side, and on the other side a serious RPG game that is promoting a romance choice including some form of behavior considered illegal/immoral?

At which point did you think while watching/playing South Park that the devs/producers were promoting the idea that bestiality was good, or even ok?

Here in this game we have the clear promotion of such behavior. And it is included in the marketing of the game just to create controversy while appealing to what they think their main audience want... which is a frightening thought if they are right.

Now, don't get me wrong : I am against censorship of content meant for adults (and even there, how strong will the "For adults" part of this game be enforced?), so if the devs want to depict bestiality in a positive way, they can. I'm just disappointed and disgusted at the positive reactions to it.

Oh look, the tech companies being pressured by the church worshipping ***** to ban anything that shows flesh. Only last week a ban on sex education accounts on Instagram came in to place. no warning, accounts taken down. Big lobbyist evangelical firms in America splashing the cash out on pushing the agenda to take down anything that doesn’t conform with their backwards thinking ideals. They’ll be going after Michelangelo’s David next

@lolwhatno following that logic, should any rated M/18+ game ever be allowed to be released?

@FatWormBlowsASparky No, actually. Did the same thing happen to one of them?

@Feena Love your comment ^_^
If anyone pulled that derpy face on me, I‘d be laughing at them for days 🤣

@StrickenBiged
That’d be quite the episode! 🙀