Even my crusty old heart has melted at seeing how much everyone loves Baldur’s Gate 3’s companion characters—especially the actors who portrayed them. As reported by Polygon, after some reprised their roles for a High Rollers tabletop one-shot, many in the cast have been sharing playlists tailored to their characters.
Neil Newbon’s opted for quite a bit of David Bowie in his nearly 10-hour Astarion playlist, which makes sense as Astarion himself is a bit of a “Thin White Duke.” There’s quite a spread of stuff on there otherwise, but the dancier, early aughts stuff really screams “Astarion” to me.
Halsin’s playlist by actor Dave Jones really leans into that character’s romantic side, and I’m a fan of the double entendre in Bombay Bicycle Club’s “I Want To Be Your Only Pet” being on the Wild Shape master’s playlist. Samantha Béart’s Karlach playlist, meanwhile, has a healthy amount of dad rock in it, which really nails that character’s vibe. Gale of Waterdeep always struck me as a jazz cafe kind of guy, but Tim Downie’s Gale playlist still has a bit of that sense of sophistication—and a few pun song titles, like The Ink Spots’ “I Don’t Want to Set The World On Fire.”
Some of Baldur’s Gate 3’s wider cast have been getting in on the bit as well: Mega spoiler late game character the Emperor’s actor Scott Joseph has shared a playlist inspired by the rogue Mind Flayer. The actor describes it as “going on a journey beyond sight and sound… or maybe just The Emperor taking the nautiloid out for a spin.”
Joseph focuses on ideas of ambition and feeling disconnected with his song choices (“I Want It All,” “People Are Strange”), but I think when the Emperor pulls out his Zune, he’s queueing up straight whale sounds and field recordings of ice sheets cracking, the weirdo.
There’s also Dammon voice actor Frazer Blaxland’s extensive playlist inspired by fans’ shipping of the infernal blacksmith with Karlach—most of us at PC Gamer would rather ship Karlach with our own characters, but it’s hard to deny there isn’t a spark there. Truly, if you were craving some Baldur’s Gate-themed Spotify playlists, there has never been a better time in human history to be alive.
