Baldur's Gate 3 simulates making peace with your ex

The Baldur's Gate 3 "no possibility left unpossible" choice-and-consequence train continues with the revelation that, if you break up with a lover in the game, you can slowly repair the relationship and spark a bit of your old chemistry. This might not sound earthshattering to anybody from outside the videogame world - what are you doing here? Run along and watch your silly non-interactive movies and TV shows - but it's quite novel for a fantasy RPG in the BioWare tradition. In my experience, at least, most RPGs only give you the build-up to a character romance, then flash-freeze the relationship post-consummation, perhaps because you've unlocked a sexy "loyalty" companion ability and the developers don't want to take it away from you. Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the few that thinks about how chemistry might come and go.

We have redditor WanderIntoWonder to thank for this titbit - they went to the trouble of breaking Shadowheart's, er, heart, then painstakingly raised the character's approval ratings back up (I say painstakingly - a loveless person might accuse them of speeding the process up with Baldur's Gate 3 mods and/or console commands) and discovered unique 'old flame' dialogue in the process. "You're a sight for sore eyes, even now," she says. Ah Shadow, we'll always have that little nook by the goblin camp.

Other Baldur's Gate 3 characters are sharing details of their own flings in the WanderIntoWonder thread. Sadly, it appears that there isn't necessarily bespoke ex-partner dialogue for all the game's companions. If you retain high approval with the character after breaking up, it seemingly just defaults to the standard comradely dialogue. It sounds like you'll need to artificially lower their approval - perhaps by smacking them round the head repeatedly, which is no way to treat God's Favourite Princess - in order to experience the relevant lines.

Larian's handling of amour, flirtation and general hanky-panky in BG3 has been tempestuous and remains subject to dramatic change. As Alice Bee reported, the game is on the raunchy side, though it turns out Baldur's Gate 3 characters were hornier than they should have been due to a bug. If you're having trouble knocking boots, or even just holding hands with your favourite Baldur beau, Whitney has written a massive Baldur's Gate 3 romance guide.

Disclosure: Former RPS deputy editor Adam Smith (RPS in peace) now works at Larian and is the lead writer for Baldur's Gate 3. Former contributor Emily Gera also works on it.