Baldur’s Gate 3 mod gives Ascended Astarion’s kisses an “unhinged” touch

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a ton of various romance scenes, including kisses. For Ascended Astarion in particular, there’s a mod that lets you change the way your Tav reacts to his kisses.

It’s no secret that a portion of the Baldur’s Gate 3 community has dubbed Ascended Astarion as toxic, manipulative, and controlling—though some players argue that Astarion being evil isn’t even his worst ending in the game.

The change in his demeanor doesn’t only surface when holding a conversation with Tav, but it clearly shows during his kiss animations as well. Players were quick to swoon when new kiss cutscenes were introduced, especially the one with Tav getting on their knees. 

But it goes without saying that Tav’s facial expression shouts that they’re frightened when kissed by Ascended Astarion, something that some players aren’t entirely happy with. 

Fortunately, there’s now a mod that lets players fix that for those who prefer their Tav to look happy in those situations.

The mod is called “Happy Facial Expressions for Ascended Astarion Kisses,” and it can be downloaded from Nexus Mods. 

When installed, the mod replaces Tav’s “scared facial expressions” during Ascended Astarion kisses with happy ones. So, no more of Tav looking scared during spicy kiss scenes with Ascended Astarion, which is really fitting if you’re playing a Durge playthrough.

“For now, it only changes the animations used in kneeling and ‘admiring the neck’ kisses. ‘Bitey kiss’ is a single .gr2 animation file that must be edited manually, so it may take a while to deal with it,” explained the creator.

They also mentioned that the mod works for “default and possibly modded faces of male/female elves/tieflings/humans.”

It’s definitely a welcome addition to give certain playthroughs more immersion. Some players in a Reddit thread even dubbed this mod as perfect for those playing as an “evil unhinged character.” 

If you’re considering adding this mod to Baldur’s Gate 3, make sure you read the instructions thoroughly to avoid any in-game issues.