Unlike previous Dragon Age games, v Curtain coverall recruitable companions are romantic regardless of your Tower’s race and gender: hopeful scout Lace Harding, confident Gray Warden Davrin, brave elven historian Bellara Lutare, cynical detective Neve Gallus, erudite necromancer Emmrich Volkarian, tough dragon warrior Taash, and the pragmatic assassin Lucanis Dellamorte. Romances run the gamut from steamy to gripping to awkward (free), but regardless of who is romancing whom, the relationships are true to the characters and the progression of their story.
“There are so many different shades of hero romance that even if one of them isn’t right for you, I think one of them probably will be,” original director John Epler told Polygon. “But they’re so tied into character arcs that they become part of character development, as opposed to ‘and you can also romance them on the side.’
For example, Epler said, Bellary’s romance is intentionally awkward and stilted. (“As the author of Bellary, I am very familiar with this,” he added.)
Meanwhile, Lucanis – who joins the party after you rescue him from an underwater prison where he was tortured for a year after someone in his inner circle betrayed him – has a long way to go in terms of opening up and letting others in. (This also means that the results of one important choice early in the game can cut him out of the game entirely.)
In addition to the player’s chosen romance storylines, some companions you have not chosen to romance may develop romantic relationships with each other (or in the case of one character, with an NPC who is not in your party). This isn’t the first time non-romance party members have come together: for example, fan favorites include Qunari mercenary Iron Bull and Tevinter mage Dorian Pavus in Dragon Age: Inquisition. But Curtain cover has more opportunities than ever before for these side romances to blossom.
It all came down to, once again, what made sense for these characters’ stories. Bellara doesn’t romance anyone except Rook because, as Epler said, she’s “a very focused person with a very specific obsession.” Romance is not on her mind. But for Taash and Harding, the romance made sense – both characters accepted who they were and how that fit with what they thought they knew about the communities and cultures they came from.
Players may understandably want to start the game without any character spoilers power gather. However, if you start the second game and already know more about the characters’ relationships with each other, decision-making may take on a completely new meaning. This was certainly the case for game director Corinne Busche.
The series puts a lot of emphasis on the relationships between the characters Curtain cover. Not only is there the usual party banter, but you can also stumble upon conversations between characters in your base, velvety over misunderstandings between them, and read codex entries about their book club meetings, cooking rotations, and other things. It makes sense that writing interactions between these companions might inspire certain ideas among writers.
