Plenty of RPGs have romance options, from Mass Effect to Stardew Valley. The romances in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are still among the best in the genre and have a lot to teach other developers about handling romance in the future.
The romances in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are well-integrated into the story, feeling far more narratively driven and far less mechanical than some of the ones in other games.
The Options
The Witcher 3’s romances aren’t compelling just because the characters are, in and of themselves, loveable. Geralt’s long-term lover Yennefer of Vengerberg has a particularly contentious relationship with the witcher, sometimes disappearing for months at a time, and often getting far more involved in the politics of the kingdoms she passes through than she ever does with Geralt.
The romanceable characters in The Witcher 3, particularly the two main options – Yen and Triss Merigold – are certainly well-written, complex characters. This doesn't completely explain why the romances in The Witcher 3 are such compelling plotlines, however. Mass Effect has some of the most memorable characters in BioWare’s history, and yet its romance system is still overshadowed by The Witcher 3’s. It's the romance system, not just the romanceable characters, that make the biggest difference.
In later patches for Dragon Age: Origins, for example, the player could buy some key gifts that would essentially fast track them to the romance dialog options with any romanceable character they’d like. These gifts, like the Alistair Doll, cost no money to purchase from Bodahn Feddic, the camp merchant. If the Alistair Doll – which resembles a voodoo doll stuck with pins – is given to Morrigan, it will always increase her approval by 50 points on a scale from -100 to +100.
This feels underwhelming because it’s so mechanical – it has very little to do with the story or roleplaying as the player character. Morrigan might fulfill the same role of the icy and quick-witted witch that Yennefer of Vengerberg performs across the Witcher series, but despite the similarities between their characters, the romance with Yenn works far better in The Witcher 3 because it is utterly integrated into the story.
Romantic Structure
Yenn is not always available to Geralt like Morrigan is to the Warden in Dragon Age. Yenn has her own life in the story, and there’s the sense that Geralt and the player are never more than a couple of poorly-chosen dialog options away from her exiting Geralt’s life entirely, especially towards the beginning of the game.
Romances in the Mass Effect series may still be among the most memorable in gaming, but the structure of them becomes pretty predictable after the first game. In order to unlock a romance option, the player needs to talk to their companion, choose sympathetic dialog options, and then talk to them again before the game’s big final mission to initiate a single romance scene.
In The Witcher 3, however, the opportunities for romance are far more scattered and dependent on circumstance. Geralt of Rivia doesn’t have a gang of companions for him to flirt with back at his home-base – he doesn’t even have a home. Instead, opportunities for romances and one night stands present themselves naturally throughout the game’s story, and disappear as quickly as they manifest. The result makes for far more immersive decision making. Some of the earliest romance options in the game, like Keira Metz, present themselves long before it's clear that any other romances will.
Opportunity and Availability
There are key moments of no return where it’s clear that a romantic decision is being made in The Witcher 3. The fact that the romances in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt don’t all fall under the same structure as the romances in a series like Mass Effect doesn’t obscure that fact, and it’s still obvious when a romantic encounter is presenting itself.
The Witcher 3 quest A Matter of Life or Death is the perfect example. During the quest, Geralt meets up with Triss Merigold, who is his friend, old flame, and a sorceress. They attend a masquerade party, have a few drinks, and eventually wander around a hedge maze together. Just as the fireworks are lit, the player is given the timed option to kiss Triss.
This romance is integrated extremely naturally into the story, but also has other implications that elevate it as a plotline. This moment and some of the first opportunities to engage in a romance with Yenn take place at very different times and places. While romantic opportunities present themselves, they do not do so in a neat and tidy way – it’s entirely possible for players to romance Triss not knowing that they’ll have the option to romance Yenn later on as well. If they do so, the two lovers will team up to humiliate Geralt later in the game.
In this sense, romance in The Witcher 3 feels far more out of the control of a first-time player than romances in RPG series like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, which feel like they are ready and waiting for the player whenever they so choose. In those games, romance is presented as more of a choice. In The Witcher 3, the player doesn’t get to choose when their relationships develop in the same way, and instead of being confined to a separate part of the game like the Normandy or the Warden’s campsite, the romantic plotlines take place between characters who are already meeting as part of the main plot for other reasons. The Witcher's romances are optional, but do not feel as supplementary or separate as the romances in some other RPGs.
The Witcher 3’s romances remain some of the most memorable in the RPG genre not because of the strength of the characters involved - who are certainly well written – but because of the way the game integrates its romances into the rest of the plot. There are stakes – the chance to miss opportunities, the opportunity to lose lovers for good, and other immersive features that eclipse the pick-and-choose attitude that some other RPG series have towards romance. As gaming enters the next generation, developers should learn from that structure to create more compelling relationships in future games.
The Witcher 3 is available now.