One of the biggest changes in Mass Effect: Andromeda from its predecessors is the expanded romance system, which allows players to strike up sexual or romantic relationships with other characters. For the first time, you can have both casual hookups and deeper relationships, and you can even juggle multiple baes at the same time. With so many romance options, though, figuring out how to make relationships happen — and how to avoid screwing them up — can be tough. Here’s a complete rundown of whom you can get close with and what the requirements are to make them go steady with you.
How to trigger romances
In general, you can flirt with and drop hints to a ton of characters in Andromeda, and flirting with some doesn’t close off your ability to flirt with others. You can explore your options early on without committing, meaning you won’t jeopardize one relationship while approaching another.
Step 1: Flirt
Whenever you visit settlements and return to your ship, the Tempest, you’ll find your squad — and in some places, your other shipmates — milling around. Take these opportunities to speak with them and hear about their backstories, discuss what you’ve seen together, and most importantly, flirt. You’ll know the flirtatious dialogue options (if you can’t guess from the content) by the big “heart” icon next to them in the dialogue wheel.
As previously mentioned, you can flirt with a lot of people more or less harmlessly, so feel free to mess with it and see who strikes your fancy. In order to kick off romantic relationships of any sort, however, you’ll need to do a lot of flirting. Check in with your squad whenever you land at settlements, and make the rounds on your ship every time you complete a major story mission or a mission specific for one of your characters. You should do this even if you’re not engaging in relationships, though, because what your characters have to say about what you’ve experienced is truly the best part of Andromeda‘s narrative.
Step 2: Complete missions
In your “Journal” menu — the one that tracks all your active missions in Andromeda — there’s a tab marked “Allies and Relationships.” This is full of character-specific missions, often for people on your squad or those close to you. Regardless of your relationship goals, these are often the most interesting missions in the game because they’re the ones most closely tied to characters. This is opposed to, say, driving around collecting rock samples on various planets.
Missions specific to your squadmates are necessary for kicking off romances, as they allow Ryder to get closer to her teammates and create friendships. Basically, your people trust you more if you spend time with them. These series culminate in “Loyalty Missions,” which are bigger levels about those characters and Ryder. They unlock your characters’ best level upgrades, as well as the ability to get close to them. So if you want romance, you need to make sure you’re knocking out the missions under the “Relationships” tab.
Step 3: Keep an eye on burgeoning romances
It takes a lot of flirting over time with whom ever you’re interested in to kick off a relationship, but they have various degrees as well. For instance, you can have casual relationships with several characters without actually committing to being a boyfriend or girlfriend. You can even have those casual relationships at the same time. But if you go for something deeper, it’s monogamy time.
This means you’ll want to keep tabs on just how far along things are getting with any given character. Once you cross a certain line, you’ll be set for a playthrough with that relationship. And some characters won’t go all-in once you’ve gone casual. So be sure you’re getting what you want out of your relationships before you commit.
Squadmates
Liam
Interested in: Female Ryder.
Relationship type: Committed.
You can kick off romancing Liam pretty early by engaging with him in conversations. Tune in often to get things going — you’ll also get access to his loyalty missions before too long. Liam won’t go for a casual relationship, but will be your exclusive boyfriend eventually. If you’re looking to play the field a bit, however, feel free to do so; you need to complete Liam’s lengthy loyalty mission series before he’ll go all the way with you, which includes setting up three different colonies. Basically, you have time to try other romances before you settle down with Liam.
After Liam’s loyalty mission, you’ll have a chance to commit. You’ll be locked in a few scenes later upon returning to Eos to deal with a crisis there.
Cora
Interested in: Male Ryder.
Relationship Type: Committed.
Though Cora has a problem with Ryder for ostensibly stealing the Pathfinder position from her despite years of training, she’ll come around to the Male version if you flirt incessantly. Eventually, as you make your way through the main story, Cora’s loyalty series starts, sending Ryder out to track down the Asari ark. Knock that out and keep up the flirting and you can wind up with Cora as your girlfriend. She’ll ask you to Eos when you’ve finished her series, allowing you to lock down the relationship.
PeeBee
Interested in: Either Ryder.
Relationship Type: Casual or Committed.
Flighty Asari PeeBee will go with either Ryder, and she’s willing to either have a casual, no-strings-attached situation with you or go all the way. In fact, she’s more inclined toward no strings, which means you have to kind of work to get her to commit. Start by flirting with her as much as you can, to which she’s very receptive, and you can trigger the ability to hook up after seeing PeeBee get a little tipsy on Aya.
Here’s the thing, though: If you go for the casual hookup with PeeBee in the airlock when she offers, that’s all you’ll get — you’ll cut off your ability to have a committed relationship with her. (Edit: players report that a no-strings hookup with PeeBee doesn’t necessarily cut off the greater romance if you stick with it.)
After that, finish PeeBee’s loyalty mission and you can convince her to go for the relationship. If you opt for the casual route, however, you’ll be open for more hookups in the future if you like. These also won’t affect your ability to have other casual hookups.
Vetra
Interested in: Either Ryder.
Relationship Type: Committed.
Things are pretty straightforward with Vetra. She seems to prefer Male Ryder over Female Ryder, but she’ll come around if you’re diligent in flirting with her, so don’t give up if she’s a bit aloof to your early Female Ryder advances. Get through her loyalty mission and meet her sister to get closer with her. After that, a couple more conversations and a meeting on Kadara should be enough to kick off the relationship.
Jaal
Interested in: Female Ryder.
Relationship Type: Committed.
Like Vetra, getting a relationship with Jaal is just a matter of flirting and time. Interact with him and keep flirting throughout the course of the game, then start knocking down Jaal-related missions and story missions until you get to the big loyalty mission to help his brothers and sister. There’s also a Liam mission along the way in which he asks you to build a special piece of armor at your research station — do it and return to him for a particularly interesting Jaal scene. Once you’ve done that, head to Havarl when prompted for a chance to meet Jaal’s family. You’ll also have to finish the main quest to get all the way to the relationship.
Ship’s crew
In addition to the members of your squad you can start relationships with, there are a few shipmates who are available as romance options. They too have specific Ryder preferences.
Suvi — ship’s navigator
Interested in: Female Ryder.
Relationship Type: Committed.
You can talk with Suvi aboard the Tempest just like you would any other person in your squad, and flirting is an option as usual. Drop by and converse with Suvi as you move the main story along to push the relationship. As you advance the flirting, watch for a Suvi email that kicks off the relationship mission-style.
Gil — ship’s engineer
Interested in: Male Ryder.
Relationship Type: Casual or Committed.
Like Suvi, seek out Gil on the Tempest between story missions and flirt with him as necessary. You’ll get a few opportunities to meet him off-planet as well, specifically on the Nexus and Eos, so complete those missions to keep pushing the relationship. You can do most of them as Female Ryder, too, so you can at least spark a pretty solid friendship with Gil even if you can’t date him. Eventually, you can get a casual hookup going, but unlike PeeBee, it won’t lock you out of a deeper relationship with Gil.
Lexi — ship’s doctor
Interested in: Either Ryder.
Relationship Type: None, unfortunately.
You can flirt with Lexi, the Tempest’s asari doctor, but she’ll shut you down, and it doesn’t seem like you can take the romance much further. That’s probably good, since it’d be both a professional and an ethical violation for your doctor to start dating you, especially while serving on the same ship. So try as you might to win Lexi’s heart, you won’t be able to. That’s an especially big bummer for players who were hoping to get closer to a character played by Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer, known for portraying Margaery Tyrell in the HBO series.
Off-ship citizens
Reyes Vidal (Kadara)
Interested in: Either Ryder.
Relationship Type: Casual or Committed.
When you arrive on Kadara, the local leader there, Sloane Kelly, will offer you a deal. Turn it down and you’ll eventually be introduced to Reyes Vidal, a local scoundrel-type guy who will give you missions and ask for your help making Kadara a better place to live. You’ll also have the opportunity to flirt with him heavily as either Ryder, and to go for the casual fling or a full-on relationship.
Work through Reyes’ missions and the story content on Kadara while flirting with him to open additional options. Once you’ve completed everything there is to do with him, you’ll unlock a few more things to do with him (if you know what we mean).
Avela Kjar (Aya)
Interested in: Male Ryder.
Relationship Type: Casual.
You’ll meet the angaran historian Avela almost immediately upon landing on Aya if you look around for people with whom you can kick off sidequests. She’s standing at the Tempest dock and will send you off to find angaran artifacts. Work through her missions — they dovetail with some of the story — and return to Aya to talk with her some more and keep pushing the relationship forward. Throw in some flirting as you complete everything she gives you to accomplish, and you can begin a casual relationship.
Keri (Nexus)
Interested in: Either Ryder.
Relationship Type: Casual.
Asari journalist Keri hangs out on the Nexus, and you’ll find her ready to hand out a sidequest once you’ve completed the first Eos story missions. She’s the one who continually asks you to give interviews about life in Andromeda every time you complete a story mission. You can start flirting with her almost immediately if you so choose, and keep it up as you advance the main story and complete her sidequest missions. Finish them up and you can kick off a quick affair with Keri. It shouldn’t even interfere with your main squeeze (if you have one), assuming you don’t mind a little infidelity.
