Avowed Won’t Copy a Hit Feature from Baldur’s Gate 3

Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming RPG, Avowed, is breaking away from a trend in role-playing games by choosing to omit romance options. The game is set to hit the market next February and has been one of the more anticipated titles in recent years. This will set it apart from recent titles like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Baldur’s Gate 3

Game Director Carrie Patel clarified this decision, stating that it wasn’t made lightly. While romance can add depth to character interactions, Patel explained that the team chose to focus on creating proper platonic relationships.

Avowed Won’t Just Be Another Hit RPG Clone

In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Patel explained the challenges of creating romance systems, noting the extensive work required to make them truly impactful.

“It’s a ton of work. You want to make sure you do it right. And part of that is also you want to make sure that a player who opts not to romance but still wants to have a very deep relationship with those companions gets to have just as thorough and meaningful an experience on a friendship or ally path.

With this, fans will experience deep, well-rounded connections with their companions, regardless of whether they choose to pursue romance or not. The focus on platonic bonds will enable Obsidian to show the game’s world in a more neutral tone.

And so we felt that we could best tell our companions’ stories and our players’ relationships with them without the romance option.

While romance mechanics have become a beloved staple of role-playing games, Patel explains that the complexity of implementing them makes it an exhaustive feature to do justice.

For both romantic and platonic paths to be equally fulfilling, Obsidian has to double its effort, particularly as player expectations continue to grow. Patel emphasized that they want non-romantic relationships to offer the same depth as romance, and that would require a lot of work.

Let’s See What This Improved Resource Allocation Brings Us

Speaking to Windows Central, Patel also elaborated on the challenges of introducing romance in a game with limited resources and scope. While larger RPGs often have sprawling storylines and intricate romance paths, Avowed is designed to be a smaller, more focused game.

We wanted to make sure that if we were going to do romance, we were going to really, really, really do it right — or not at all. For Avowed, we decided to focus on other aspects of our companions.

For Obsidian, cutting out romance means they can allocate more resources to refine other aspects. This way the game can focus on what it wants to do instead of what it could do avoiding the bloat that can arise when trying to include too many features.

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This decision might even give players more genuine interactions with companions. While romance systems are popular, they can sometimes come across as immaterial or formulaic. The option to romance companions often ends up feeling more like a checklist than a properly thorough feature.

Patel is aware that a romance system can add an extra layer of reality to RPGs. But she argues that this isn’t the only way to achieve emotional engagement.

With companions who can build meaningful relationships with players outside of romance, Avowed intends to create memorable interactions that align more closely with its core themes and story.

We’ll see if this decision pays off on February 18, 2025, when Avowed releases. In the meantime, let us know what you want from the game in the comments!