GamesRPGAvowedDespite the Skyrim comparisons, Avowed is an Obsidian RPG first and foremost: “Let’s bring in all the greatest hits"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRPGAvowedDespite the Skyrim comparisons, Avowed is an Obsidian RPG first and foremost: “Let’s bring in all the greatest hits"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
Avowed: The Big Preview(Image credit: Future)This month, we’re diving into the highly anticipatedupcoming Obsidian game. To find our coverage, visit theAvowed Big Preview hub.
Avowed: The Big Preview
(Image credit: Future)This month, we’re diving into the highly anticipatedupcoming Obsidian game. To find our coverage, visit theAvowed Big Preview hub.
(Image credit: Future)
This month, we’re diving into the highly anticipatedupcoming Obsidian game. To find our coverage, visit theAvowed Big Preview hub.
Avowed art director Matt Hansen, who sits down for a chat during my studio visit, says that legacy gives Obsidian a sort of patchwork flexibility: “The nice thing is, with each game that we make, we can reference that thing and say, like, actually, how did Grounded handle that? Or how did they do it on The Outer Worlds? Or how did Pentiment handle that storytelling beat, or whatever? And we go, cool. We explored that there. Let’s bring in all the greatest hits of that stuff, which is really satisfying, but then also remembering what our core DNA as a studio is, right?,” Hansen explains. “We’ve got that mantra of ‘your worlds your way’. We want to make sure that the player feels empowered to play the game in ways that excite them and occasionally will hopefully surprise them as well.”
Play your way
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
Obsidian on display
(Image credit: Heather Wald)
As character creators go, it’s pretty extensive, and I love how my chosen background is almost immediately reflected in dialogue options. The ensuing prologue sees me washed up on a beach, after the beginning of my journey aboard a ship goes awry. It’s here I learn Avowed’s ropes – from looting axes from a poor unfortunate footsoldier who didn’t make it in one piece, to finding a grimoire beside some washed up boxes, it’s a nice opportunity to switch up my loadout before parkouring over debris. Even in the opening area, I’m pleased to discover there’s already plenty to discover and do, with areas to explore and involved sides quests and encounters. One, for example, sees me stumble upon a prisoner who begs me to release her, even if my companion thinks I shouldn’t trust her word. It’s then left up to me to decide if I want to help her, or leave her behind bars. Landing on the former, the prisoner ends up joining me in battle and adding to conversations later on, which makes it feel as though my choices matter.
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
As game director Carrie Patel tells me, the decision to cast players as a Godlike Envoy draws from the way the team has previously approached stories in the Pillars of Eternity universe.
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“There’s always this really neat mix of a very grounded political story and then kind of this more mysterious, esoteric, metaphysical story about souls and past lives and the gods and all of these weirder mysteries,” Patel says. “And one thing that we worked with very early on – and I remember, Kate [Dollarhyde, senior narrative designer] and I actually brainstorming for several days on the whiteboard a couple years ago – was, ‘How do we give the player stakes in both of those stories and a foot in each of those worlds?”
The Living Lands
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
Prior to my hands-on session Patel stated that RPGs are the studio’s “bread and butter”, and much about Avowed speaks to the developer’s past experience. Whether it be the history and lore tab brought forward from Obsidian’s 2016 RPG, Tyranny (which gives you more explanation about key events, names, or references in conversation should you need it), or the option to play in either first-person or third-person like Grounded, I’m already starting to see how Avowed is like a mixture of the studio’s “greatest hits”, as Hansen put it. Right down, even, to the structure of the world of Eora we can explore.
Moving on to the next region, Dawnshore, I get a taste of the open zone format which has allowed the team to be more hand-crafted in their approach to every region. “We took the open zone approach with The Outer Worlds,” Patel tells me, “so it was obviously a structure that we were familiar with. We knew how to build both technically and creatively in Unreal but also, I think, a couple things that it does is it allows you to create a distinct aesthetic and a distinct set of characters and story lines and kind of sense of place in each region.”
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
Looking ahead
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
“We’re very confident that Avowed is going to stand on its own.“Carrie Patel, game director
“We’re very confident that Avowed is going to stand on its own.“Carrie Patel, game director
“We’re very confident that Avowed is going to stand on its own.“Carrie Patel, game director
“We’re very confident that Avowed is going to stand on its own.”
As someone who lives for fantasy RPGs, it feels like we’ve been really spoiled for choice in recent times after quite a long stretch without any major releases. With the likes of 2023’sBaldur’s Gate 3and the long awaited arrival ofDragon Age: The Veilguardjust last month, Avowed eyes the fantasy RPG space of 2025. I’ve admittedly been tentatively excited about the prospect of Obisidian’s new adventure, but after my hands-on time, that excitement feels more tangible. It may not tick every single box I look for in the genre (I’ve always been a big fan of romance in RPGs, which Avowed doesn’t feature), but just from my brief session alone, I can see how it’s putting choice and consequence at the forefront in almost every respect.
“The really wonderful thing about the modern age as a gamer is you’ve always got great new stuff coming out,” Patel says, “And so I don’t think you’re ever going to find a window where absolutely nothing is coming out and you’re going to be the only one out for a month. But we’re very confident that Avowed is going to stand on its own. I’m very excited about a lot of those games coming out personally, and I think that we’re also [offering a] very distinct experience from them. Players who want an Obsidian style RPG, with our approach to choice and consequence and our very nuanced take on narrative are going to find exactly what they’re looking for with Avowed. And the time that we’ve gotten in extending to February has just given us more time as a team to fix bugs and kind of do those final tuning passes.”
Avowed is set to release on Xbox Series X/S and PC on February 18, 2025. See what else awaits us with our roundup ofupcoming Xbox Series X games.
TOPICSObsidian Entertainment
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CATEGORIESXbox Series XPC GamingPlatformsXbox
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