Since Obsidian Entertainment unveiled the main companions of Avowed, there have been whisperings of a certain kind. Low, unsure whisperings that ask a shaky question: The fish man. He’s hot, right? Someone tell me he’s hot. These conversations haven’t only popped up within the GamesHub team, I can assure you. Whispers of Kai and his aura of sexuality have been shared in all corners of the internet. And it’s been decided. Definitively, he is a sexy fish man, and it’s fine to feel that way.
According to Obsidian Entertainment, this wasn’t necessarily the intention with the character. After all, the companions in Avowed are not designed to be romanced. Rather, they’re your headstrong, personal friends, each of whom has their own motivation, desire, and agency. You can’t romance any of them, even if you can get to know them intimately.
While the fervour around Kai wasn’t strictly expected on Obsidian’s end, it’s fair to say they’re happy to lean into the conversation. There’s certainly a desire for the game’s companions to be desirable, charismatic, and easy to get to know. You’ll be spending plenty of time with them in Avowed, so there’s no harm in a warm gaze or two.
“We didn’t plan for [players to be attracted to Kai] but we don’t stay away from it,” Dimitri Berman, Lead Character Artist told GamesHub. “We had different outfits and concepts for his outfits – for example, if he’s a soldier, should he wear a heavy armour, a lighter armour, what does it mean? But we always look at the background of the character, how they’re written, their personality. With Kai, he’ll like his shirt open, and he’s got a little whale. We just pick what makes sense for the character.”
Per Berman, creating Kai’s look was a process that involved plenty of research, diving back into Pillars of Eternity history, to ensure his Rauataian culture was well-represented in design and approach. The team experimented with a variety of armours, and in the attempt to make him “as visually interesting” as possible, they appear to have stumbled on a design appealing in multiple facets.
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“We didn’t intend for Kai to be viewed this way, but it’s obviously totally fine and good … The player will be looking at the companions a lot, right? So we want to make sure they’re pleasant enough to look at … We also want the player to be sympathetic towards them, to their journey. They’ve got to be really believable.”
Carrie Patel, Game Director, added that while the thirst was relatively unexpected, there was precedent within the Pillars of Eternity franchise. The fish people in that franchise – particularly in Deadfire – got their fair share of love.
“It starts out fairly innocent, right?” Patel said. “Like okay, we have these fish people, but they’re athletic, they’re strong, they’re big, they’re fit. So that already gives you a base to build upon.”
Why there’s no romance in Avowed
As Patel explained, while you can’t strictly act on these romantic desires in the game, you will be able to get to know your companions very well. They function as platonic friends that guide you, remind you of current events, fight by your side, and maintain a steadfast belief in you. Per Patel, it was important to keep companions in this role, to ensure they didn’t become subsumed by player desire and wish fulfilment.
“I think it’s very easy for companions to become player validation engines,” Patel said. “What I come to love about companions as I get to know them is their personalities, their beliefs, the fact that they really stand out as distinct characters and counterparts on this adventure.”
“It’s very easy for companions to end up becoming their personality, to be subsumed by their relationship to the player. One thing we’ve been able to do with these companions, in terms of their stories, arcs, and their journeys, by virtue of not making them romanceable, is that we can delve a bit more into their arcs and lives outside of the party.”
Per Patel, this was important for Avowed‘s companions, as their backstories play a key part in the overarching narrative. Against a backdrop of war and conflict, beginning a romance would’ve stifled their growth, and the ability for players to get to know them better.
Internally at Obsidian, there was also concerns about the challenge of creating a worthy, satisfying romance where players were genuinely rewarded for their energy.
“If we’re going to do a romance path, we have to make sure the platonic path is equally compelling. It’s very challenging and labour-intensive to create a satisfying romance path that feels thoroughly developed, then maintained going forward through the content,” Patel said.
“Then to do that and say, okay, now we also have to make sure the platonic path is just as good, so you don’t feel as if you’ve gotten short shrift for not romancing someone – in my opinion, it’s better not to try to do both, than to do one or the other poorly.”
Putting Avowed‘s pieces into place
In keeping a tighter focus on the role of companions, Obsidian aimed to keep the narrative of Avowed more satisfying under its own steam – not because you had the chance to make out with the hot fish man. Inadvertently, this approach also allows for characters to be more compelling on their own terms, as better-rounded characters. Kai’s inherent appeal isn’t explicit – it’s in his cool design, his skills, and the layers of his story.
Per Patel, it’s also thanks to the contributions of the game’s voice actors that characters are elevated and made tangible, more compelling – whether that be Kai, Giatta, Marius, or Yatzli.
“It’s always really exciting to cast your characters, especially your companion characters,” Patel said. “We normally do it when we’re a good chunk of the way through writing, but there’s still quite a bit of room for refinements, additions, and polish.”
“There’s something about finally hearing the voice of that character that allows you to hear the rest of their lines, hear the things you haven’t written, with a lot more completion … Brandon Keener [who voices Kai, and who Mass Effect fans will know as the voice of Garrus] just brought this wonderful mix of warmth, this dry humour, and also this real vulnerability to some of Kai’s more personal moments. [This brought] them to life, and really informed, for me, the work I was doing, as I did final passes on some of those moments.”
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“I think for all these characters, when you finally hear their voices, it gives personality to the ideas behind them, and that’s where you find the humour. That’s where you find the tragedy.”
Throughout Avowed, that mix of humour and tragedy will guide players across Eora, a land beset by terror and change in every corner. By your side, Avowed‘s companions will protect you and guide you – and you’ll guide and protect them, in turn.
In the creation of these companions – with intentional and seemingly unintentional flourishes – the team aimed to create heroes worth investing in, and fighting alongside. You may not be able to smooch any of them, but with depth of character, personality, unique fighting styles, and intriguing backstories, the companions of Avowed still make for sturdy travelling companions.
Avowed is set to launch for Xbox Series X/S and PC on 18 February 2025.
