Down-bad Baldur's Gate 3 player loses 90-hour Honor Mode run to an NSFW scene that definitely wasn't worth the sacrifice

Baldur's Gate 3
(Image credit: Larian)

Baldur's Gate 3's Honor Mode is a truly brutal way to play the enormous RPG, with tougher foes, a single save slot, and the constant threat of having to start over if your party gets wiped. A momentary lapse in judgment can mean losing hours of progress, and one player has suffered exactly that at the hands of an NSFW scene they were too thirsty to ignore. 

Before we get into it, consider this your final spoiler warning as the scene in question appears in the third act of the game. If you don't want to find out what it is, feel free to scroll away now with the sound advice that it's always worth being cautious when dealing with dialogue options you've not seen before during Honor Mode runs. 

As shared by a player on Reddit, the scene in question takes place in the House of Hope during Act 3. After 90 hours of playtime, the player arrives there with the knowledge that they need to get a key from the Incubus, Haarlep. There are a few ways you can do this – you can fight them and loot the key after defeating them, or you can choose to initiate an NSFW scene and get in bed with them. This itself also has a couple of options within it, but if you fully submit to Haarlep and give them your soul, you can expect to be met with instant death. I'm sure you see where this is going. 

"I sneak in through the balcony, and the dialogue starts, and I’m thinking, 'Well, I have never seen this [scene] before, so why not.' I knew from spoilers that this would kill me, but I had plenty of revive scrolls, so I just planned to use one after," the Redditor begins. 

"Well, I play along and give my soul to them, and then [the] lost Honor Run screen pops up, and I can see the rest of my party still alive in the background. So I lost my 90-hour Honor run because I wanted to see the scene with the [incubus]." Was it worth it, they contemplate? "No."

As others in the thread have pointed out, giving Haarlep their soul was the player's unfortunate mistake: "There's no reviving when the Incubus takes your body and soul," one responds. The first? It's not that terrible; you'll live. But the latter? It's time to roll for saves!"

Needless to say, if you're in the midst of your own Honor Mode run, just be careful when it comes to making deals with Haarlep – even if you find the scene tempting, it's probably not worth giving up so much progress for. Even so, it's certainly one of the more unusual ways we've seen Honor Mode runs fail in the months since it came out, which has got to count for something.

Be sure to check out our list of the best RPGs if you want even more games like Baldur's Gate 3 to dive into. 

Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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