Elder Scrolls Online has a massive story arc on the way—Gates of Oblivion. One installment will introduce a companion system to Elder Scrolls Online and along with it, Bethesda Softworks has plans to turn companionships into romantic relationships.

The Gates of Oblivion DLC expansion will be set 800 years before the events of Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. This story arc will be a year-long endeavor, and Bethesda recently revealed the upcoming chapter Blackwood where players will once again encounter the Daedric Prince of Destruction: Mehrunes Dagon. Blackwood alone will include over 30 hours of brand new content as well as a highly-requested mechanic, a companion system in ESO. Soon, players will be able to permanently bring along NPCs with developed stories for quests and missions in single-player mode.

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While this feature will be a big portion of the Blackwood Elder Scrolls Online expansion, it's not the only type of NPC relationship fans will get to look forward to. Because Blackwood will introduce close friendships complete with their own storylines, similar to how companions worked in past Elder Scrolls games, Creative Director Rich Lambert said Bethesda also plans to turn these into potential romantic relationships further down the line during a recent interview with Game Informer.

Currently, the only way to have "romance" in Elder Scrolls Online is by performing the Ritual of Mara with another player, which will give players an exceptional experience boost when questing together. In the interview with Game Informer, Bethesda confirms the companion system is setting up romantic relationships with NPCs further down the road.

Lambert outlines what the companion mechanic will look like with the Blackwood DLC update. The companions will each have their own likes and dislikes, he says, which sounds reminiscent of companions from Fallout 4. "There is going to be something special that unlocks when you max out that relationship spectrum as well," Lambert said. In Fallout 4, maxing out a relationship typically took the form of a useful perk.

"Romance is definitely somewhere we want to get to," Lambert said. For now, he describes a couple of Elder Scrolls Online characters that players can look forward to fostering a close relationship with. First, there will be a chivalrous knight named Bastion. By unlocking him, the player will unravel his backstory and tragedy. There will also be Mary, a Dunmer thief with a plot twist in her story.

Although romance won't be introduced right out the gate with Elder Scroll Online's coming DLC, players can get to know these companions by unlocking the Gates of Oblivion quests.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood releases June 1 for PC and Stadia, and June 8 for PS4 and Xbox One.

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Source: Game Informer