Now that it’s under Microsoft’s wing, it’s in a good window of time to experiment and get the most of Microsoft’s support. These years of trying new ideas will inform what Obsidian creates in the future and give Microsoft a better picture of what to expect out of this new working relations
The fact that the main Elder Scrolls series has been dormant for nearly a decade puts the pressure on both Avowed and The Elder Scrolls 6 to solve some of the main criticisms of games like Skyrim . This doesn’t just include the game’s simple, repetitive combat and spell systems, but the weaknesses of its main narrative, the formulaic similarities between the faction quests, the lack of follower depth, and more. Avowed will take on both the advantages and risks of going first, and will likely attempt to address some of Skyrim ‘s main criticisms directly, to avoid the greater potential criticism that Avowed adds little to the Skyrim formula ten years
Microsoft certainly had plenty to say regarding its upcoming first party games and Xbox Game Pass, but State of Decay 3 was again not part of that conversation. Revealed last year during the Xbox Games Showcase , State of Decay 3 showed a CG trailer focusing on a character walking through a snowy wilderness and eventually coming across a zombified d
When Avowed was revealed last year, fans of both Obsidian and Bethesda were quick to notice the similarities between the upcoming RPG and The Elder Scrolls games. Not only that, but Obsidian had already revealed more about its upcoming project than Bethesda has revealed about The Elder Scrolls 6 since its announcement in 2018. Many concluded that, as with The Outer Worlds and Fallout , Obsidian was developing another first-person RPG to attract Bethesda fans who felt dissatisfied with the studio’s recent releases, or lack ther
There have been no hints as to what this project is, but it’s not hard to imagine Josh Sawyer returning to the Pillars of Eternity series in light of Avowed. Additionally, The Outer Worlds is a successful new IP for the company, so it would make sense for Obsidian to follow it up at some point down the line. Perhaps the most popular and sought-after theory is that Obsidian is making Fallout: New Vegas 2 , which has been rumored ever since Microsoft began its Bethesda acquisit
Even though Obsidian is in the middle of developing two games, it could easily surprise fans with new announcements over the summer at venues like E3. For example, many are wondering if the follow-up to The Outer Worlds is right around the corner. The Outer Worlds, a very successful sci-fi RPG from the studio, came out just a couple years ago and got followed up with a couple equally popular DLCs. Although the game’s ending doesn’t beg for a sequel, it also leaves a rich foundation for one. It certainly has a big enough following for Obsidian to justify a sequel,
With Benny, the player might pursue revenge or simply avoid him, but in both cases it feels far more like a personal, in-universe decision rather than the player just following the plot’s demands. The main character in Avowed needs the option to ignore the main quest, and should be positively motivated to do it, not negatively. This may not need to be the case for all RPGs, but Obsidian has shown before that it works particularly well with the open-world RPG form
The trailer for Avowed shows the first-person perspective of a character drawing a magical symbol in the air before summoning a spell into one of their hands. This could hint at some sort of rune drawing system connected to more complex magic mechanics than Skyrim ‘s. Back in March leaker Tiffany Treadmore suggested that ” Elder Scrolls 6 will include new ‘Rune Drawing’ functionality.” While she said this feature was yet to be confirmed, it is likely that both Bethesda and Obsidian are looking for ways to make their first-person magic and combat systems feel like a generational step forward from Skyrim
Through Avowed , Bethesda could be presented with ways to address some of The Elder Scrolls ‘ most common criticisms without lifting a finger. If Avowed doesn’t end up presenting solutions to Skyrim ‘s common criticisms or feel like it drags the first-person RPG formula into the current generation, it’s unlikely to be much of a threat to The Elder Scrolls 6 anyway. Although The Elder Scrolls 6 is a very high-stakes endeavor for Bethesda, Avowed could reveal at least part of the path forward, even if it only manages to improve on a few aspects of the form
However, that wasn’t meant to be as the upcoming Fable was left out of Microsoft’s already stuffed E3 2021 press conference. While industry insiders mentioned that certain Xbox franchises like Fable would be absent from E3 , the lack of confirmation from Microsoft gave some fans hope that perhaps even a trailer would be shown. Unfortunately for them, the wait contin
Announced in July 2020, Avowed is a first-person action-RPG that’s coming at an unspecified date, and it looks set to be one of Obsidian’s largest projects ever. Avowed Strategy was immediately compared to Skyrim , thanks to its fantasy setting and first-person perspective, but Obsidian have a large well to draw from to make it stand out as a more unique title. The game is a spin-off of Obsidian’s RPG series Pillars of Eternity, and it’s set in the same world. Where Pillars is a classic throwback RPG, Avowed is very much set to take a more action-orientated spin on the world of E
