“It’s not you, you understand, it’s me. I have standards.”

Welcome to the sarcasm and wit that defines Baldur’s Gate 3 gaming experience, and one of the characters that has become the very definition of obsession for gamers around the world. Astarion is one of a group of adventurers seeking a cure for the Mind Flayer tadpole shoved inside his brain. You are the leader of this group – the brains (sorry) of the operation – and the one who makes all the decisions, for good or evil, throughout a vast, sprawling gaming world. In this role-playing game rooted deep within the Dungeons & Dragons universe, you have to navigate endless challenges, questions and ethical conundrums before the tadpole mutates and destroys you, completely. Every decision you make changes the game. Every interaction you have changes your relationships.

And the one relationship within this adventure that has obsessed thousands of players is the one with Astarion. He rejects everyone. In fact, he rejected 100 000 players in the game’s opening weekend, according to Larian, the studio behind BG3.