The Expanse: A Telltale Series, a sci-fi RPG developed by Archetype Entertainment founded by former BioWare members, is undoubtedly considered a spiritual successor to Mass Effect. While BioWare continues to develop the fifth installment of the series, Archetype is collaborating with Wizards of the Coast to create their own sci-fi shooter space opera, inheriting the popular romance system from Mass Effect. In the cold, vast unknown of space, who wouldn't long for a touch of romance? However, one difference between The Expanse: A Telltale Series and Mass Effect is that its romantic relationships are not locked based on the player's gender.
In an interview with IGN, The Expanse: A Telltale Series Narrative Director Drew Karpyshyn discussed the game's approach to romance, confirming that "romance storylines are player-driven and not gender-locked"—meaning regardless of whether your protagonist, Jun Ahslan, is male or female, you can pursue romantic relationships with any character of interest. Mass Effect 3 introduced male same-sex romance options, but some relationships still had fixed gender pairing restrictions. Soldier Ashley Williams could only romance a male Commander Shepard, while biotic Sentinel Kaidan Alenko became a bisexual romance option in Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect: Andromeda continued this trend; for instance, engineer Gil Brodie could only be romanced by a male Ryder, with his homosexuality being part of his personal storyline.
BioWare has fluctuated in its approach to romance design, sometimes setting gender locks for certain relationships and other times adopting a "player-oriented pansexual" model, allowing the protagonist to romance all characters. The recent Dragon Age: The Veilguard adopted the latter approach, explicitly establishing all companions as pansexual rather than arbitrarily changing character sexual orientations to accommodate player pursuits. In contrast, companion characters in Mass Effect always had clear identity settings and sexual orientations.
Karpyshyn noted that although all romance options are available to all players, The Expanse: A Telltale Series' romance system has deeper layers, such as the possibility of developing polyamorous relationships, while simultaneously pursuing multiple people could ruin a relationship.
"There is no scenario where a character will pursue you if you don't take the initiative. We want to give players the chance to try romancing multiple characters at once. Sometimes it goes smoothly, sometimes it doesn't, depending on the characters involved and the choices you make. Just like in real life, relationships are complex, aren't they? That's the kind of complexity we're aiming for."
Romantic relationships are also influenced by other player choices. Additionally, while the game does feature intimate scenes, Narrative Director Drew Karpyshyn stated that compared to Baldur's Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077, the intimate moments in this title will be more "restrained."