Upcoming RPG Exodus, the very Mass Effect-y one from veteran Mass Effect developers, is trying to avoid easy romances in favor of more realistic, sometimes challenging relationships.
In an exclusive interview with GamesRadar+, novelist and narrative director Drew Karpyshyn says the team's approach to romance is to "start by giving players as many options as we can, but we want to keep it so that these characters feel real."
With experience on everything from Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to Mass Effect, the writer is no stranger to responsive in-game relationships, and that's something developer Archetype Entertainment is trying to carry forward in Exodus.
"There are some games where, literally, you can just romance anyone, because you're the hero, and you just get it," Karpyshyn continues, speaking on a trend that's become somewhat more prevalent in today's RPGs. "And we want it to be a little bit more than that. We want these relationships to feel real, which means there's sometimes conflict, there's sometimes push and pull. Sometimes you've got to earn it. Sometimes you do something that sets some characters off, or upsets them, and then maybe closes off some of these paths, or maybe makes it harder to reopen them."
Interestingly, relationships in Exodus aren't just about you and whoever you're looking to hook up with. There's the relationship your companions have with each other, the unfolding events of the wider story, and then the game's highlight feature, time dilation, which opens the door to "some really interesting things that can happen."
"They all have their own motivations," Karpyshyn says of the RPG's companions. "So we want to keep it realistic in a way that is challenging and fun for the players, so that you can't just be like 'I'm the focus of the game, I get to romance whoever I want, and they just love me because I'm me.' I don't think that's very entertaining for people. So we really focus on that. And then we've also focused on the emotional impact."
Personally speaking, I much prefer this approach as opposed to Baldur's Gate 3 or Dragon Age: The Veilguard's frequently horny, player-sexual characters who are sometimes instantly into you.
My mind turns back to Dragon Age's Morrigan, who you can't simply woo by spamming her with conversation starters. You need to be the open-minded type. You need to be at least a little into dark magic. And you need to sometimes join her in bullying Alistair. Who knew that having to actually roleplay as a particular type of character in an RPG is fun?
