I have a confession to make: I am a sucker for a good RPG romance. Ever since BioWare started letting me flirt with party members in the 1990s, I have spent an unreasonable amount of time wondering whether the sarcastic rogue likes me back. Then Baldur's Gate 3 came along and turned companion romance into a phenomenon, proving that players will lose their minds over a well-written kiss, a tense confession, or a beautifully awkward polycule negotiation. So when I heard that Avowed would not have romance at all, I felt a small pang of disappointment. And honestly? I get it.
Now that we are in 2026, Avowed is no longer a distant promise. It launched on February 18, 2025, after being delayed from its original 2024 window. The extra breathing room pushed it away from the crowded October and November release period, and by the time it arrived, I had already read and re-read the arguments from game director Carrie Patel about why Obsidian chose friendship over flirtation. At first, I thought it was a missed opportunity. After spending more time with the game and with Obsidian's broader RPG history, I think it is one of the most honest design choices the studio could have made. ❤️🤝
The Director's Case: Romance Is a Ton of Work
Patel did not dance around the reason. Speaking to GamesRadar, she said that romance is a ton of work and that you want to make sure you do it right. That sounds obvious, but it is also the kind of truth that gets buried under fan demand. A romance system is not just a few extra lines of dialogue. It is voice acting, animation, branching quest states, jealousy flags, break-up paths, friendship fallouts, and a thousand tiny reactivity checks that can break if the player does something unexpected.
Patel also pointed out something that I wish more developers would say out loud: players who do not romance anyone should still get a relationship that feels deep, meaningful, and complete. A friendship path should not be the boring version of the romance path. It should be its own story. That is why Avowed does not include romance. In Patel's words, the team felt it could best tell our companions' stories and our players' relationships with them without the romance option.
I have to respect that. Look, I love a good romance subplot, but I have also played games where romance felt like a checkbox. You say the right things, you get a kiss, and the emotional arc ends there. If Obsidian did not believe it could give romance the same care as its companion stories, then I would rather have no romance than a shallow one.
Obsidian's Platonic DNA
This is not a sudden shift for Obsidian. The studio has included romance in some games, but it has never been the defining feature of its RPG identity. I can make a quick table:
| Obsidian RPG | Romance? | What I remember instead |
|---|---|---|
| The Outer Worlds | No | Companion loyalty, corporate satire, and philosophical arguments |
| Pillars of Eternity | No | Deep lore, faction conflict, and personal trauma |
| Neverwinter Nights 2 | Yes | Ambitious campaign with some romance options |
| Pillars of Eternity 2 | Yes | Pirate politics, gods, and companion relationships |
| Avowed | No | Companion bonds, ally paths, and player-driven choices |
When I imagine an Obsidian RPG, I do not first think of dating. I think of companions who disagree with me, factions that make me uncomfortable, and choices that leave a bad taste in my mouth because there was no clean answer. That is the studio's voice. Avowed leaning into that voice makes sense.
What Avowed Does Instead
Instead of romance, Avowed puts its energy into companion stories and the player's relationship with them. I can still grow close to these characters. I can still learn what they fear, what they want, and what they think of my decisions. The difference is that the game is not constantly measuring whether I have crossed some invisible affection threshold. I am not trying to unlock a cutscene. I am trying to understand a person.
That might sound less exciting on paper. But in practice, it can be more interesting. A friendship can be messy without being romantic. An ally can challenge me without wanting to sleep with me. A companion can leave my party because I made a terrible choice, and that hurts just as much as a breakup. Avowed's choice gives those relationships room to breathe.
The Trade-Off I Feel as a Player
I will not pretend that I do not miss romance. When I play a big RPG, I enjoy the fantasy of a slow-burn romance, the nervous first confession, the quiet moment before the final battle. BioWare built an entire legacy on that feeling, and Baldur's Gate 3 showed that it can still be wildly popular. So yes, part of me wishes Avowed had taken a swing at it.
But I also know that every feature has a cost. If Obsidian had spent months building romance routes, those months would have come from somewhere else. Maybe from companion quests. Maybe from faction reactivity. Maybe from the ending. I would rather play the game Obsidian actually wanted to make than a game that crammed in a romance system because the market expected it.
In 2026, with Avowed out in the wild and its launch window behind us, I think the conversation has shifted. The question is no longer whether every RPG needs romance. The question is whether the romance serves the story. For Avowed, Obsidian decided it did not. And as a player who loves romance, I can still say: that is a valid choice. Sometimes the deepest relationship in an RPG is not the one that ends in a kiss. Sometimes it is the one that ends with two people standing side by side, knowing they would die for each other, and never needing to say it out loud.
That is the kind of story I can live with. And honestly? I am glad Obsidian stuck to its guns.