Avowed Dev Details Kai's Complexity as an Anchor Companion

Obsidian Entertainment's action RPG Avowed features four companions who travel alongside the player as they explore the Living Lands: former soldier Kai, animancer Giatta, spell-slinger Yatzli, and guide and hunter Marius. Of these, Kai, a hulking coastal aumaua who served in the Navy before becoming a mercenary, is the first companion players will meet after starting the game. Avowed's developers described Kai as an "anchor companion" who introduces the player to the world of the Living Lands.

However, in a conversation with The Best War Games, Avowed director Carrie Patel, who also served as Kai's writer, emphasized that his "anchor companion" status does not make him boring or one-note. Like the other companions, he is a complex, fully realized character with his own beliefs and opinions. Patel described the process of creating Kai as a balancing act—he needed to be "relatable but not bland, agreeable without becoming the player's 'yes man,' and humorous without trivializing the stakes of the world."

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By Ethan Mallory

Kai Becomes The Player's Brother-In-Arms

Encountered in the Dawnshore region, Kai is one of the few friendly faces players can expect to find in Avowed's hostile Living Lands. He's been living in the port town of Paradis and working as a mercenary for six years; his experience with the Living Lands makes him a valuable addition to the player's party, and he's the one who introduces much of the world and its lore to the player. From the beginning of the game, Kai is a steady, guiding presence at the player's side.

Described as affable and good-natured, Avowed companion Kai quickly forms a close bond with the player. Senior Narrative Designer Jay Turner stated that Kai got "bigger and kinder" as Avowed developed, and went from someone who was simply a tank in battle to someone the player could consider their "brother-in-arms." As the first of Avowed's companions to be designed and written, Kai changed greatly during the process and became an increasingly more complex character who was more than a simple big friendly guy.

Kai Is The Kindly "Anchor Companion" - But He Has His Limits

Kai's role as a friendly ally in a harsh world is important in Avowed. The Living Lands are vast and filled with challenges, from broken shrines to scourge-infected foes. As the Envoy travels through the Living Lands to combat the Dreamscourge in Avowed, having Kai at their side is crucial - and not just because of his ability to burn down obstacles with his fire magic. However, Patel warns that players should be careful when interacting with Kai—his friendliness and laid-back nature do have their limits:

"As with any good RPG companion, you can peel back their layers over time. Some of my favorite moments to write are the ones where the player can find the limits to Kai’s affability and the seeming contradictions in his worldview. It’s moments where a character breaks out of their type—when the easygoing bro draws a line in the sand, when you hit a raw nerve with the party jokester—that they become so much more than their roles and archetypes."

Avowed offers immense flexibility with player choices; the Envoy can be a straightforward hero, a sharp-tongued villain, or something in between. If they build up their friendship with Kai and treat him well, he can become an invaluable source of kindness, humor, and support in even the darkest times. As Patel warned, there is so much more to Kai than simply the "party jokester" or "easygoing bro." He has opinions, beliefs, and convictions which Avowed players can discover by playing the game and getting to know every aspect of this "anchor companion."

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