Obsidian insisted that Avowed wouldn't have romance, but that wasn't quite true, because there's at least one eligible bachelor, and he's voiced by an iconic Mass Effect heartthrob

So it turns out that Obsidian Entertainment's new RPG Avowed isn't as lacking in romance as the devs led us to believe, as you can become more than platonic besties with at least one of your companion characters.

Be aware there are minor spoilers ahead for how this all happens, and of course, who your envoy can get flirty with, so if you don't want to see that, feel free to step away now with the knowledge that there's at least some love in Eora.

Drum roll, please... Avowed has an eligible bachelor in the form of Kai – the merman-like coastal aumaua voiced by Brandon Keener, AKA the actor behind Mass Effect heartthrob Garrus. As we explain in our Avowed romance guide, if you're nice to Kai throughout the RPG, make sure to complete his personal quest and then confess your feelings to him when prompted; after the credits roll, you'll get that sweet confirmation that you're a happy couple.

We were able to romance Kai as a female Envoy, but PC Gamer reports that you're also able to do so as a male Envoy, so that's nice to see. It's also worth noting that you're able to flirt with other Avowed characters throughout the game, but these don't seem to lead to anything like Kai's actual romance option. PC Gamer also notes, however, that there are some hints that Giatta may also have some sort of romance subplot, but that's not been confirmed by anyone at the time of writing. It makes you wonder if there could be any other romance plots just waiting to be discovered.

Even if it's just Kai, it's interesting to see that Obsidian took the plunge into romance at all given the previous comments made by director Carrie Patel. Patel previously explained that despite being an aspect "that many players love," the devs would have wanted to include "an equally meaningful non-romance path" if romance was an option. "Given how much we were investing in our companions as characters who are really tied to the central story in a way that they haven't been in many of our previous games, 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," she stated.

Obsidian's latest is one of the biggest new games of the year, and based on our Avowed review, perhaps one of the best RPGs of 2025, too. We concluded that it's "no Skyrim, but an unforgettable return to form for Obsidian Entertainment."

While you're here, be sure to check out our guide to Avowed's companions and how to recruit them.