Carrie Patel, the game director of upcoming Obsidian Entertainment role-playing game (RPG) Avowed, has confirmed that the title will not feature any romance options with its companions, and has explained some of the reasons why.
In a recent interview with IGN, Patel stated that the developers “are building thoughtful relationships with our companion characters,” but that romance isn’t on the cards right now.
“I personally am a fan of making that an option, but I feel like if you’re going to do it, you really have to commit and make sure that you’re giving all to fulfilling that in a way that feels both true to the character, but also creates an engaging player experience,” Patel explains. “[It’s] not something we’re doing for Avowed, but I wouldn't say never.”
She went on to suggest that adding a romance system to such a narrative-driven game would be a huge undertaking, requiring many complex systems and a variety of possible paths to fulfill player expectations. Even so, it’s undeniably a little bit of a let-down that such a major RPG won’t offer some kind of option for those who are romantically inclined.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that Baldur’s Gate 3 has been causing waves with its plethora of detailed romance paths, with players particularly enraptured by the likes of Shadowheart and Astarion (sorry Gale) and fawning over them with thirsty posts all across social media.
Even an older RPG title like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, which was first released in 2011, offered a very limited set of romance options by allowing the player to marry a roster of eligible characters.
Whether or not players will find themselves quite as, please excuse the pun, engaged with the wholly platonic relationships in Avowed has yet to be seen, but I’m interested to see what the game has in store when it releases later this year on PC, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
For more on RPG games, see our guide to the best RPGs right now or read about the best single-player games.
