Ever since Larian Studios revealed the bear sex scene in the run-up to the release of Baldurs Gate 3, it's only been a matter of time before players began racing to sleep with Halsin in his bear form.
Now, after a recent patch upended the previously established speedrunning methods for the game's "Sex%" category, the runner Weedmoder has created and set a new world record for a brand new category. Dubbed "Bear%", the challenge sees players attempt to get down and dirty with Halsin, one of the druid companions in Baldur's Gate 3, while he takes the form of a bear.
Clocking in at an impressive 50 minutes and 30 seconds, Weedmoder's attempt at the run showcases a range of speedrunning techniques for Baldur's Gate 3. The run starts with the infamous "Shadowboxing" strategy. This involves the player killing the cleric Shadowheart, before stuffing her body in a box at camp and burning it with fire. This allows players to skip right to the end of Act 2 of the game.
After rescuing the druid grove and saving Halsin from the goblin camp, Weedmoder ran through the rest of Act 2 as quickly as possible. As they did so, they completed Halsin's storyline to continue to improve relations with him. After progressing the story to the beginning of Act 3 of Baldurs Gate 3, Weedmoder was finally able to unleash the beast and have sex with Halsin as a bear to set a new world record.
Previously, players have achieved times below 2 minutes in the "Sex%" category for the game. This was done by romancing Lae'zel, the githyanki fighter, who was the easiest companion to 'romance' in Baldur's Gate 3 at release. However, following the release of Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 4, Larian made a major change to Lae'zel's behaviour. Now, players have to "[prove] themselves worthy" before she will let them share her bed.
The change made to Lae'zel in Patch 4 was part of wider changes that were made to companions in Baldur's Gate 3. When the game was released earlier this year, many players felt that their companions were a bit too keen on getting intimate with their character. Larian has since reduced the lustfulness of Baldur's Gate 3's ensemble, to the point where the Sex% category has been divided into pre- and post-Patch 4 categories.
Given the recent reset to the Sex% category, who knows before we see other specific romance-related speedruns crop up for Baldur's Gate 3, or whether other players will attempt runs for the new Bear% category. There looks to be plenty of room for further optimisation for Baldur's Gate 3 speedruns, with players still yet to find a skip for the latter half of Act 2.