Love is in the air in Dragon Age:  Inquisition.  Yes, in the midst of all the blood-soaked dragon-slaying, demon-hunting, alliance-building, character-developing activities that keep you so busy for so many hours in the game, you can decide to also pursue an affair of the heart.

This is not new for a Bioware game.  Romances were optionally available in all three Mass Effect games, as well as in the previous Dragon Age games.  But never have the options been so generous as they are this time around.

Eight characters have romance options, including four straight, two bi, and two gay characters.  In addition, two of these characters also have race restrictions.  And by race, I of course mean dwarf, human, elf, and qunari.

Of the eight, the one I was most interested in romancing was the studly, slightly stuffy, straight arrow Cullen.  Cullen has been in all three games, and he’s probably the most compassionate Templar ever.  And he looks like this:

Alas, he’s only interested in the girls¹, and so my male human rogue, Dandy, is out of luck.

I briefly considered a liaison with the qunari warrior Iron Bull.  He’s a muscle monster (right up Dandy’s alley), and a hilarious conversationalist.  But two things held me back.  First of all, he looks like this:

And, I got the impression that he wasn’t interested in a real long-lasting relationship, but just an affair.  An extremely kinky, tricky and possibly physically dangerous affair.  Nope, I was looking for a soul mate…

Which I found in Dorian, the naughty, arrogant and devlishly handsome mage from the north:

Dorian is exiled from his homeland far to the north.  When you first meet him, you assume he left because he was a free spirit who didn’t like the highly traditional aristocratic ways of his family and social circle.

But it turns out to be something quite different:  Dorian was rejected by his family because he’s gay.

I know, right?  Bioware’s getting all relevant now.  It turns out you get to choose whether to help Dorian become reconciled with his family.  It’s extremely moving and dramatic and unlike anything I’ve experience in a video game before.²

Romance in Dragon Age is tricky.  Before any romance options become available, you have to make a string of decisions in the game that your target character likes.  Make too many calls that he or she doesn’t like, and your chances for a date drop to zero.  This is one of the zillion reasons why every player’s experience with Dragon Age: Inquisition will be so distinct.

Also, if you’d like to see video of my Dandy / Darius romance, including the emotional showdown between Darius and his father, you can click on this link.