Larian’s boss had to step in after realizing that the game’s waste-related insults had gotten a little out of hand…

Vicious Mockery is one of the most iconic spells in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. The spell deals 1d4 psychic damage (scaling with level) and imposes disadvantage on the target’s next attack roll. It also lets players hurl insults so cutting that they can literally kill, which Baldur’s Gate 3 embraces wholeheartedly. But Larian may have gone a little too far: the writers gave even NPCs uniquely cruel, trauma-inducing lines—at one point, many of them were quite literally “sh*t jokes.”

In a recent stream, junior writer Martin Docherty revealed that studio head Swen Vincke had to tell the team to dial it back. Docherty recalled compiling a massive list of Vicious Mockery insults on a big sheet of paper: “Swen looked it over and said, ‘Hm. Why are so many of these about poo? Interesting observation. We’ve all become very scatological.’ Then he added: ‘Less poo, more Shakespeare.’”

Some of the sharper barbs that survived the cut included: “Tape your bottom-mouth shut!”, “Thou goblin-goo-gobbler!”, “Thou latrine-loving leper!”, “You gorbellied, purulent horse-ass!”, “Back to the anus that spat you out!”, “Hark! A dung golem!”, “Regard this spontaneous flatulater!”, and “Shall I compare thee to a sow’s fart?” At least 17 such lines referencing butts and dung still made it into the final script. Even so, the game stayed true to its Dungeons & Dragons roots, which was a core goal for Larian. That commitment clearly paid off—Baldur’s Gate 3 remains massively popular to this day.

Source: PCGamer, GamesRadar