Bless my queer Baldur’s Gate heart
There is a moment when you meet Shadowheart for the first time as a female character in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) where you simply melt. Or maybe its just me. Then you meet Karlach, and then you bumble your way through her dommy mommy fuck you energy until the heartbreaking end. Then you stumble into Dame Aylin and her girlfriend. Then there is Astarion. And then there is all the other explicitly queer content hard wired into the game. Yes you can play the game straight, but goodness, why would you? BG3 is proudly queer, and I can see why all the Karlach stanners have been gumming up my socials for the last six months.
Going into the game I do not know what I was expecting. On the one hand I absolutely hate Dungeons and Dragons mechanics, as a role player I find them clunky and frustrating. On the other I had seen all the memes and content. So, one early birthday present and a hundred hours in two weeks later I can confirm three things: DnD mechanics still suck, the game is all the things and so much more, and oh my why on earth did I not find Karlach sooner. Yes, I stan her, and yes I am hella queer.
Enough of simping after the thirst trap, for me what makes BG3 so enthralling is it does not feel like a traditional RPG. I have recently come back to Cyberpunk 2077, and the two games share remarkable overlap in terms of narrative. Brain about to fritz, intrusive…