Josh Sawyer has been outspoken about his dislike of RPG romances for nearly two decades now, first in response to fans calling for more options in Neverwinter Nights 2, and more recently with the unprecedented success of Baldur's Gate 3 and its cast of amorous sweet-talkers. But that doesn't mean Obsidian will never dabble with kissing companions in future games.
When PC Gamer asked if there's at least one RPG out there that has done romances well, Sawyer had an answer in the barrel — Cyberpunk 2077. He even said that if he were to "base romances on anything, I'd probably do something like that."
You might expect Obsidian to take cues from Larian, which has arguably set a new bar for RPGs (Sawyer even said that a hypothetical Pillars of Eternity 3 would be just "like Baldur's Gate 3"), but his reasons for preferring CD Projekt Red's approach are pretty compelling.
There are a few key problems he has with romances in RPGs: a) they feel like checklists with "victory conditions", b) they don't mesh well with pacing, and c) it feels 'odd' to have such intimate conversations besides everyone else at camp. But Cyberpunk 2077 circumvents most of...
