Baldur's Gate 3's Most Romanced Companion in Early Access Is, Somehow, Gale
A stunning upset for the Shadowheart crowd.
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It's been a couple of weeks since Baldur's Gate 3 went into early access, certainly long enough for most players to craft a character and set off. Apparently, it's also been long enough for everyone to fall for one of the companions in their campsite.
Larian Studios published its latest community update today, and much like previous installments, it brought some numbers. Most of them are fairly expected; the dog Scratch, for example, has been petted 400,000 times. That's clearly not enough, but it's a good start for a very good boy.
The tally that caught my eye was which of the romanceable companions players went for. Baldur's Gate 3 might be a Larian Studios game, but it's the third entry in a BioWare series; and as Reviews Editor Mike Williams noted in his writeup on the early access section that's currently available, Baldur's Gate 3 is taking some pretty notable influence from BioWare. Some of that is in the production, through more character interactions, branching dialogues, and greater focus on companions and their approval, but also, it's about the romance.
All of the current Baldur's Gate 3 companions are theoretically romanceable, as well as at least one additional character I won't spoil (though you have to be pretty evil to seal the deal). And I should note that romance doesn't have the usual connotation in Baldur's Gate 3; it's in early access at the moment, so the most you can get to is a night of fun with someone following one of the first area's major plot resolutions.
That said, I would've sworn up and down that Shadowheart would top this list. Despite her virulent hatred of my glorious Githyanki slugger Barge, both she and definitely-not-a-vampire Astarion seem like the immediate romance locks. It's Gale, the cheeky mage with the attitude of Dragon Age's Alistair, who took the top with 33% of the vote, while Shadowheart came in at 31%.
It's a strange outcome, though Larian says only 1.37% of Baldur's Gate 3 players have spent that special night alone. You might be out there with some interesting choices, but I'm proud that my fellow Baldur's Gate 3 players are taking any option over none. For the record, I'm romancing Lae'zel, who would probably kill me if she didn't think it was a waste of good effort.
Baldur's Gate 3 is currently in early access on PC.