Avowed: The Case For and Against Traditional Classes

The Living Lands are a great blank slate for Obsidian to create a setting that is more prone to player influence than other open-world RPGs, with factions fighting over unclaimed land and settlements rising and falling. Avowed ‘s setting also has the potential to have a main quest that tells a less predictable story than other fantasy RPGs, blending elements of medieval fantasy with science-fiction and a hint of existentialism. It will be up to Obsidian to take full advantage of the elements of Eora that could make the Living Lands stand out, but if it does the game may be able to step out of Skyrim ‘s shadow, creating a world that is more ambitious both in terms of the player’s impact and the complexity of its p

The gods of Eora , the setting of Avowed, have some surface-level Lovecraftian influence. Wael is the god of mysteries, dreams, and revelations, resembling both the dreaming Godhead and Hermaeus Mora in The Elder Scrolls . Wael is covered in eyes and mouths resembling the malignant globes of Azathoth. However, there’s one main difference between the role Lovecraft’s influence plays in Tamriel and Eora that changes everyth

For a time this made Obsidian’s position particularly precarious. Back in 2010 when Fallout: New Vegas got an 84 on Metacritic , Bethesda denied Obsidian a bonus contingent on the game receiving an 85 on the review aggregator. This led Obsidian CEO Francis Urquhart to announce the cancellation of a planned project codenamed “North Carolina.” While bigger studios like Bethesda can weather less successful releases like Fallout 76 , for a time it seemed like Obsidian was just one flop away from falling ap

Azathoth is an unimaginably powerful being who exists outside the Lovecraft universe and dreams reality while “lulled by the thin monotonous piping of a demoniac flute.” While the Dragonborn DLC dived deeper into the broader The Elder Scrolls -Lovecraft connections than most other entries in the series, the Lovecraftian connections to the world of Avowed are far more expli

The avowed Guide trailer may not have revealed much about the game, but what it does show suggests that it is likely set significantly before Pillars of Eternity , in a far more standard medieval fantasy setting. The only weapons seen in the trailer are medieval, while the voice-over hints that Avowed may be set in a specific earlier part of Eora’s history when Woedica was queen of the gods of Eo

Microsoft purchased Obsidian back in 2018, just a few months after the release of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire , giving the studio some stability. Since then Obsidian has undertaken a surprising number of confirmed projects. This includes Avowed , The Outer Worlds 2 , and continuing work on Grounded , the studio’s Honey, I Shrunk The Kid s-inspired survival game. Despite Microsoft’s backing, two major first-person RPGs and updates for a survival game seems like a lot to handle considering Obsidian’s history. This had led many fans to worry that the studio may have bitten off more than it can c

Pillars of Eternity has a fascinating setting. At the time the first game takes place, Eora has settled into its rough equivalent of the early modern era. There are guns, galleons, and even powerful magical explosives in the form of the Godhammer bomb. In contrast, the setting of The Elder Scrolls doesn’t seem to have had a major technological development since the Second Era, at least if The Elder Scrolls Online is anything to go by. Leaning into the early modern influences could be a great way for Avowed to differentiate itself, but there’s already a prob

Obsidian has had a rocky history, sometimes needing to crowdfund its games to get their development started. Now it’s in a very different place with Microsoft’s help. Frankly, it’s great to see someone as influential in the game industry as Microsoft acknowledging what Obsidian is capable of and giving it a much greater level of stability to help develop its ga

With Obsidian moving its CRPG Pillars of Eternity setting to a first-person RPG, it seems likely that the studio has mainstream accessibility in mind. This could make a non-restrictive class system the best option, giving players a bit of initial direction and a sense of specialization without cutting them off from changing that direction later in the g

There are a few reasons why Obsidian’s situation may not be as bad as it sounds, however. Not only has Microsoft given the studio some much-needed stability, but The Outer Worlds ‘ commercial success exceeded the financial expectations of publisher Private Divisions . The Outer Worlds is not without its flaws, but with Bethesda otherwise dominating the first-person RPG market, it provided a respite from Bethesda’s two main franchises and the long wait for their next installments. While Obsidian’s CRPGs sometimes struggled commercially, the studio’s penchant for more traditional RPG design also stood out in contrast to games like Fallout 4 , which has often been described as a better shooter than an RPG, even by fans of the Fallout franch