Baldur's Gate 3's smug, roguish vampire Astarion is one of the most widely romanced and thirsted-over game characters of the past several years. Astarion's suave personality, deep backstory, and award-winning performance courtesy of Neil Newbon have won over thousands of fans. Now, in Date Everything, Astarion romancers have the opportunity to pursue a character who might just remind them of their favorite vampire. Newbon's character in Date Everything is distinct from Astarion, but there are a few moments that might have players flashing back to smooching the pale elf by the campfire.
How to Earn SPECS for Realization Recipes in Date Everything
Players can bring their Dateables to life using Realization Recipes in Date Everything, so here's how to earn SPECS for the recipes.
Drysdale Isn't Astarion, But He Borrows From The Beloved Vampire
In Date Everything, Neil Newbon portrays Drysdale the Dryer, one of the 100 dateable objects and concepts scattered around the player's house. Though the character has a few things in common with Astarion – primarily his dramatic and flamboyant way of speaking and his immediate willingness to praise his own looks – he's immediately a distinct character with only a few reminders of the vampire. He is an acrobat whose romantic and professional relationship with Washford the Washer (David Sobolov) broke down several years ago, a fact he's still deeply affected by, although he initially pretends not to be.
Neil Newbon's performance as Drysdale is a nuanced one, portraying the ups and downs (and round-and-round tumbles) of a person still strongly affected by the loss of a relationship that defined their life. The character will start a conversation with a light-hearted quip about his love for his own buttocks before gradually being coaxed to admit that he wronged Washford badly and wants nothing more than to apologize. In a game where the depth and genuine emotion of character writing is its greatest strength, the "Stackables'" lost passion is one of the strongest and most compelling stories of them all.
But, as players grow closer to Drysdale, they won't just get a deeper look into his emotional core, but also a few almost certainly deliberate moments that bring to mind romancing Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3. Drysdale is a nicknamer, dubbing the player "cherub", "truffle" and other cutesy appellations, and will occasionally drop in a "Darling" in a tone of voice that Astarion-lovers will find very familiar. The low, throaty chuckle that follows his frequent flirtations is also a page right out of Astarion's playbook. And the shyness in his voice when he finally admits to the depth of his emotional turmoil is definitely reminiscent of the scene where Astarion tells the player he wants their relationship to be "something real" rather than just a bit of fun.
Even The Character's "Hate" Ending Has Elements Of Astarion
In Date Everything, each of the Dateables has a love, friendship, and hate ending – and yes, players can seek out the "Hate Everything" achievement by pursuing Hate with all 100 characters. Getting Drysdale to hate the player is a matter of insulting his looks and intelligence, calling him full of himself, and, in one dialogue tree, simply telling him that you can't stand him.
A Drysdale who hates the player luckily doesn't take things in quite as dark a direction as Baldur's Gate 3's Ascended version of Astarion, but his frustrated scoffs and pointed insults are definitely Astarion-adjacent. When a player tries to talk to Drysdale after achieving a "Hate" ending, the scorn drips from his tone as he says "Oh, it's you" with the same venom as the spawn talking about his hated master, Cazador Szarr.
Astarion fans can always boot up Baldur's Gate 3 and romance the vampire in yet another playthrough – especially as a patch earlier in 2025 added 12 new subclasses to BG3 to play around with. But for those wanting something Astarion-like but also as fresh as newly cleaned clothes just pulled from the dryer, Date Everything's Drysdale is certainly worth taking for a spin.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 85%
- Released
- June 17, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Drug Reference, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Sassy Chap Games
- Publisher(s)
- Team17
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Dating Sim, Simulation, Comedy
