How romance works
Each romance runs through several connected quests, most of them optional. There are no obscure hidden requirements or reputation gates — the routes hinge on reaching a story choice near the end where you decide whether to be intimate or remain friends.
The system is forgiving. Writers covering the game reported never being turned down, even while openly disagreeing with a character or talking them out of a decision. Being consistently hostile is the main thing that would put a route at risk.
The one hard constraint is the calendar. Romantic questlines and intimate scenes count as major activities, and one can advance the clock by as much as a full day-night cycle. Time pressure also means you generally cannot repeat a scene after it happens.
General approach that works
- Be warm rather than cruel in conversation with the character.
- Pursue their questline promptly — most of these quests are optional and can be missed as days pass.
- Be honest in decisions rather than simply telling them what they want to hear.
- Declare romantic interest whenever the option appears rather than staying ambiguous.
- Do not assume a disagreement has cost you the route; the routes tolerate friction.
Anca: the earliest and most substantial route
Anca is the village healer of Laslea, a former nun turned learned herbalist with secrets of her own. She is flagged as a romance option before you even meet her — Coen's siblings tease him about his interest — and the prologue introduces her when you are sent for medicine for his mother.
Her route is a long chain of story quests that runs from the prologue material through St. Tryna's and on toward the Cathedral and the sword shard hunt, culminating in the quests surrounding The Font. Flirting opportunities appear throughout: pushing for a particular book while studying, brewing her tea, and a sequence at a mountain pool where Coen can openly confess.
The route is flexible about early choices. Whether you spend extra time with her in the prologue does not decide the romance, and the branching choice at the end of Echoes of Silenced Bells does not lock you out either. After the Font material resolves, returning to the inn triggers the intimate scene.
One decision does matter for her, though not for the romance itself: letting Anca use The Font is tied to the happiest outcome for her character and unlocks extra dialogue afterwards.
Lacra: the vampire route
Lacra is the only vrakhiri romance option, and her vampire status does not put her on Brencis's side — she has her own reasons to want him gone, which is the common ground she and Coen build on. Coverage describes her as an older vampire with a ruthless streak, willing to be brutal in pursuit of her goals.
Her route opens with A Friend Like This, which you can reach either by defeating Ambrus and reading the note on his body, or by spending time in Svartrau near the cathedral and following supernatural signs of a struggle. A separate path runs through helping Ocha take over in The Heart Wants What It Wants and then meeting Vicho.
From there her chain continues through The Song of the Mountain, Hive and Seek and Our Rotten Roots. Talking her down from violence along the way — refusing to let her feed on a shepherd, or preventing an attack on the Uriashi — does not cost you the romance. Helping Ocha earlier can grant access to the Uriashi enclave and head off a confrontation.
The decisive quest is The Night of Horrors, an optional chain that becomes available alongside her final Midnight Reckoning questline. Accepting the Mandrake at the end is required — refusing ends the quest early — and doing so leads into the romance scene. This quest also determines Lacra's ultimate fate, so it matters even if you are not pursuing her.
Crake: the rebel route
Crake leads the Manumits, the mortal rebellion fighting the Vrakhiri Court. He knows exactly what his enemies are capable of and has serious trust issues, so the route is about demonstrating how far you are willing to go against Brencis before he shows a vulnerable side.
The chain begins with The Firebrand in the prologue, reachable either by saving Vlad or by investigating his house in Laslea if he dies. Speaking to Mert at the end starts Shadows in the Woods, where you meet Sara and then Crake for the first time. Where Loyalty Lies then lets you join the Manumit rebels — you can also head straight to their hideout in Svartrau, but you will skip scenes doing so.
From there the route runs through What Hunts the Night, which gives a first quiet moment together while sheltering in a ruined house, and What Moves the Dead, where saving him from the Murohn and helping him afterwards unlocks Distant Shadows. That in turn leads to A Closer Look, where the romance resolves.
Note that pre-launch coverage refers to this character as Crake or Marat interchangeably, while the official character profile describes Marat as the cautious rebellion leader. They appear to be the same person under two names, but treat the naming as to be confirmed.
Who appears in the epilogue
The three routes are not equivalent in weight. Anca always appears in the epilogue and gets the most screen time — she is effectively framed as the canonical romance, with Crake and Lacra reading closer to one-night encounters.
Lacra needs only her questline completed up to Midnight Reckoning to appear. She will turn up even if you do not pursue an ending with her. Her own romance ending is deliberately casual: she leaves before morning and, when you talk about it afterwards, says she enjoyed it but is not looking for anything serious.
Crake is the most demanding. The only route to him appearing in the epilogue appears to be completing the final quest Rise at Dawn — that is, following the Manumit questline through to its ending. You will still hear what happened to him otherwise, so it is not worth choosing an ending purely for that.
Should you romance all three?
Mechanically, nothing stops you. Coen is not limited to one partner, and none of the routes lock the others out.
The real cost is time. Each route is several quests long, and a chunk of that is optional content competing directly with recruiting allies, clearing boyar operations and upgrading perks — all of which draw on the same 30-day budget.
If you only have room for one, Anca is the route with the most content and the most guaranteed payoff. If you are already running the Manumit questline to its ending, Crake costs comparatively little extra.
Still to be confirmed
- Whether Crake and Marat are formally the same character — sources use the names interchangeably. To be confirmed.
- Lacra's stated origin: one outlet describes her as Egyptian, which is not reflected in official material. To be confirmed.
- Whether any romance outcome changes Lacra's fate beyond The Night of Horrors — the coverage we have says it does not appear to.
- Whether additional romanceable characters exist beyond these three — no others have been confirmed.