Avowed: Obsidian's new fantasy RPG | 2025

[Mister Pink]

Obsidian, the developers of Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds is announced their new fantasy RPG, Avowed. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28 by Mister Pink

[Turan]

Two things make me happy about this game:
 

1) It's an action-rpg made by Obsidian in a setting I especially like.

2) It is exclusively next-gen. 

 

Big thumbs up from me. Now the question is how much we'll have to wait for it.

[TonySopranoM0B]

This looks awesome, Obsidian's own Skyrim it seems like!

[Jason]

Set in the world of the Pillars of Eternity games which in my experience of PoE2, is great news. Fantastic world and one that will need little fleshing out for Obsidian so they can get right into it.

[Mister Pink]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

Set in the world of the Pillars of Eternity games which in my experience of PoE2, is great news. Fantastic world and one that will need little fleshing out for Obsidian so they can get right into it.

Never played PoE but watched some videos there. And if they're set in this world, do you think the world will offer us clues to what to expect in Avowed? Do you think it will be analogous to Fallout: 1 and 2 transitioning to a first-person 3D world like Fallout 3? 

 

6 hours ago, Turan said:

2) It is exclusively next-gen. 

I remember our big discussion about this before   I think it might be out in about 2 years, maybe more. This will put it in that exclusive box for sure. I wonder if it will be out long before Elder Scrolls. I know it's a bit stupid, but I'll but so many hours into the next ES. One fantasy RPG like ES is almost enough for me for a generation. I just hope the releases don't clash or that there is much overlap. 

 

I love going from fantasy or period piece to futuristic to get that complete change of environments. I love the drastic and contrasting change of scenery. I can imagine going from Cyberpunk 2077 DLC or Multiplayer, when eventually getting bored of that to going into Avowed for a change of scenery. 

 

I just hope the art direction aims for AAA style graphics. When I say AAA, I mean, I still love the graphics of Skyrim SE. They're not perfect but they have their charm. I even like Fallout 4. As apposed to The Outer Worlds which was nice but just a tad lacking to keep me really excited. Not a deciding factor but would be nice. 

 

Really excited for next gen. 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Mister Pink

[Jason]

4 minutes ago, Mister Pink said:

Never played PoE but watched some videos there. And if they're set in this world, do you think the world will offer us clues to what to expect in Avowed? Do you think it will be analogous to Fallout: 1 and 2 transitioning to a first-person 3D world like Fallout 3? 

Hmmm, well I never played those Fallout's but from a world/story perspective, possibly. Erora is a high fantasy world with a huge pantheon of gods, I have only played PoE2 (and I need to finish it one day) but religion is a big theme for many characters and towns/cities. Politics as well is big part of the world and the kindgoms in it, and it touches on stuff like racism in there (between races). There's also criminal undergrounds, seedy individuals, crime families, cults, pirates, the whole shebang really. So from a story perspective we might get something that touches into all that stuff. But yea, knowing Erora and having played PoE2 that's why I think it's a great thing that they're sticking with this world cause it's already so well fleshed out.

 

Gameplay wise,  PoE being a CRPG makes it anyones guess. It's Obsidian so it'll be an RPG with choices of course but how deep they make the RPG part is anyones guess. The Outer Worlds was a pretty damn light RPG where as PoE has number crunching and dice rolls galore. I think it'll be deeper than TOW but not as deep as PoE but that's just my speculation.

[Mister Pink]

9 minutes ago, Jason said:

but religion is a big theme for many characters and towns/cities. Politics as well is big part of the world and the kindgoms in it, and it touches on stuff like racism in there (between races). There's also criminal undergrounds, seedy individuals, crime families, cults, pirates, the whole shebang really. So from a story perspective we might get something that touches into all that stuff.

If that's the source material and they dip into all these topics, then I'm sold. 

 

10 minutes ago, Jason said:

The Outer Worlds was a pretty damn light RPG where as PoE has number crunching and dice rolls galore. I think it'll be deeper than TOW but not as deep as PoE but that's just my speculation.

That sounds like a reasonable speculation. 

[Tacymist]

I love Skyrim and this game sounds sweet, I'm super excited for it! I think I'm going to check out the other Pillar games on youtube to get an idea of the story.

[Mister Pink]

There was an apparent leak on details for Avowed, soon after the reveal. Could be PR inside Xbox/Obsidian deliberately leaking details and they can always change these things because they aren't "official" and it's a "leak." 

 

Going to spoiler tag it in case someone wants go into this game fresh. 

 

[pingli]

I expect this game to be massive and amazing. Now it's only matter of time which game will see the light of the day first, Avowed or TESVI

[Mister Pink]

I like the idea of the map not being much or any bigger than Skyrim's map. That map for me was just perfect. Visually and size-wise. Maybe a bigger, more densely populated city or two would be better. But the size is good. If it's around that size but builds on the density of the map, I'd be delighted. Underground caves, obscured groves, mountains, valleys, forest, snowy areas.  Map diversity would be key. 

 

If it's set in the Pillars of Eternity world, then here are some screens of what we might expect the 3D open-world will be based on. 

 

 

 

 

These worlds are really nice and detailed. I've never played an isometric RPG. But this looks really inviting. 

 

My big wish is that graphically, it goes for more of a richer, detailed and realistic, art direction. A mote AAA design and less The Outer Worlds mid-range graphics. But I think that's what Obsidian is now. We get grounded from their C-team. The Outer Worlds from B-Team and Avowed from A-team. 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Mister Pink

[String]

Reading two conflicting reports from gaming insiders on reddit on Avowed gameplay being on today's/tomorrow's  Xbox showcase

 

Jeff Grubb says 'Xbox mandated the studios to have tons of gameplay ready for the showcase and it should be there'

 

Tom Henderson said 'there are certain games that you expect to be there that won't there, i have vowed not to talk about them wink wink' on his stream from what I read on reddit

 

June 12th will reveal who's right I guess

 

Even if Avowed is 'just a Skyrim clone', that would still make it a really good game I'm surprised we don't have more 'Skyrim clones' filling the gap between Elder Scrolls tbh. The Eora world has it's own fleshed out lore and character as has been said so i think Avowed should make for a very interesting and special game

[Jason]

Yea it does sound like it's not there, but then there's a lot of little murmurs from staff from Xbox/Obsidian that sorta make you think wait maybe it's actually there?

 

Henderson's admitted he's not 100% on the show from what I saw, so it's possible he's wrong.

 

Right now Starfield's the Xbox game I'm most excited for it but once that's out it's Avowed for sure, so I'm hoping for something today, even if it it's just a taster.

[Mister Pink]

Avowed is been in development hell. A lot of leads have left, aparently went through multiple reboots and has changed directors. Looks like we wont see Avowed for years. We'd be lucky if we see it by 2025 (IMO). 

 

Posted and deleted by Shreier.

 

 

[Jason]

Does fit with other MS studios as well really. It's not... worrying, not yet, but the brand new studios or recently acquired established studios suddenly who are trying to make much bigger games seem to be having growing pains for sure.

 

Avowed on paper shouldn't be that difficult  though, they'll probably be smart to drop the first person only and then just go from there. They've got a lot to adapt from PoE so they just need to figure out the open world structure, core gameplay and story. Sounds like a lot and I'm not saying it's simple, but generally speaking the foundation of a fantasy RPG shouldn't be that hard to figure out.

 

Hopefully they do figure it out though cause I really do like the sound of an open world RPG set within the PoE universe.

[Jason]

Big old bump!

 

There's a lot of talk right now in gaming circles around Dragon Age: The Veilguard with a lot of mixed opinions and thoughts and while I'm mostly positive on it and look forward to giving it a whirl, after watching Dragon Age's demo and Avowed's deep dive on the Xbox podcast... I'm lowkey thinking that Avowed might be the fantasy RPG to play this fall.

 

Some screens, all but the first I took from the Xbox showcase, screenshotted from the YouTube video @ 1080p, so the compression is hurting the image quality:

 

 

An actual proper dialogue select and not a sh*tty wheel:

 

 

Skill trees:

 

 

Inventory:

 

 

 

As you can see in one of the shots above, which is in the party camp, they did indeed listen to my advice in my post from 2022  and have added third person as an option. No combat footage of this yet, I think it might've been a relatively recent thing, but it's a big change and hopefully they've had enough time to polish it.

 

In terms of structure I don't think it's a true open world game, it sounds like it's gonna be more like The Outer Worlds which had a select of zones you could explore.

 

Leaked release date is November the 12th, but Xbox are being weird and not giving specific dates to stuff officially.

 

Personally for me this right now based on the footage I've seen from DA:TV and Avowed, this is the one I'm looking forward to the most.

 

[Mister Pink]

We're a little bit spoiled this Autumn/Winter for fantasy RPG's. 

 

The water reflection and lighting in the first screenshot is gorgeous. I'm going to give the deep dive podcast a list as I still don't entirely know what angle/style of gameplay Awvowed is going for, although I do remember something about being able to seamlessly switch between fighting styles, which I love the idea of. 

 

One thing that bothers me, and it's a not a specific thing to Avowed, it's fantasy RPG's in general.  They always have the most cluttered inventories/menu systems. There's just a wall of text/symbols and it gives me a headache to watch. I think Bethesda's minimalist UI approach to Skyrim was a really underrated pillar of Skyrim's success. To people really familiar with the genre, the barrier to entry isn't high. It's just a matter of familiarizing oneself with the what does what. But to first-time players, and people new to the genre might get put off by all the things to track. 

 

Edited June 12, 2024 by Mister Pink

[Jason]

4 minutes ago, Mister Pink said:

The water reflection and lighting in the first screenshot is gorgeous.

 

Yea, Unreal Engine 5 is becoming a bit of a secret sauce for Xbox I think because they have the expertise of the Coalition to tap into, who at this point are probably on par with Epic (who make the engine lol) when it comes to getting the most out of UE5.

 

5 minutes ago, Mister Pink said:

One thing that bothers me, and it's a not a specific thing to Avowed, it's fantasy RPG's in general.  They always have the most cluttered inventories/menu systems. There's just a wall of text/symbols and it gives me a headache to watch. I think Bethesda's minimalist UI approach to Skyrim was a really underrated pillar of Skyrim's success. To people really familiar with the genre, the barrier to entry isn't high. It's just a matter of familiarizing oneself with the what does what. But to first-time players, and people new to the genre might get put off by all the things to track. 

 

I think we're seeing a return to deeper RPG systems, which truth be told I think is a no downsides and only good thing, because we really needed it. But there is a bit of a learning curve now, but I think it'll make a stronger RPG cause of it. I think Baldur's Gate 3's wild success is proof you can have more depth than what we were getting in most AAA RPG's and yet still have tons of success. Also in Avowed there's a bunch of skills (if not all of them, idk) that are ripped directly from Pillars of Eternity which is really cool. 

 

I'm also liking how they're handling picking up skills as well, there's seemingly no classes you're locked into, and new skills are level gated and nothing more. So you could build a warrior that taps into magic, a gunslinger that taps into warrior skills, a magic archer, etc etc. It's very reminiscent of a CRPG and like I said above about deeper RPG systems, I think that's ultimately a good thing.

[Index]

One thing that had me concerned in previous viewings was the combat. It looks sooooo much better and now has that punchy weight added to it. I'm hoping that outside of the first person, it feels quite free and flowy, if that makes sense.

 

And yes, no disgusting dialogue wheel is a massive plus in my books, lol.

[Jason]

Yea combat has me hmm. I think in first person it looks fine but the addition of third person makes me very curious how third person combat looks. As I said, for them to only confirm that now makes me think it's a recent thing, and the fact they're not showing it in a big way in the deep dive adds to that. So I hope it's polished up for release.

[Jason]

New interview with GameInformer: https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2024/06/20/avoweds-creators-on-why-romance-was-considered-but-ultimately-not-included-and

 

Few bits:

 

• Can you tell me more about Avowed’s third-person option? That’s likely how I will play the game.
• Carrie Patel, game director: "So, as you yourself have just noted, there are a lot of people who simply prefer it. There are people who prefer it for aesthetic reasons. They've built this character, and they want to see them in the world. There are people who prefer it because of accessibility reasons. First-person maybe makes the motion sick, and FOV sliders don't quite get them comfortable. So yeah, there are a lot of reasons to have it. There are a lot of players who prefer it for some reason or another. But we're still giving players the same Avowed experience in third-person. Gabe can speak more to that."
• Gabe Paramo, gameplay director: "So, to be super clear, right? This is a first-person game with a third-person perspective. So, when we talk about feel, there might be some micro-adjustments – in terms of, like, the physics of the capsules, super micro – in order to give a little bit of leeway for the animation frames to kind of make those blend a bit better, but we want it to feel as snappy. And we and it's going to feel in control exactly like the first-person game." 
• Do you expect players to go back and forth between first and third? Or do you expect players to commit one way or the other?
• "I think that's still kind of TBD. I believe we've started with making it more like an accessibility setting. But definitely, if we hear feedback that's like, “I really want to switch this quicker,” that's definitely something we could discuss in a community forum."

 

Sounds like I suspected, that the third person was a late addition and probably won't be a super polished up third person experience. Still really appreciate that they added it, it could certainly end up like a BGS game for me where I do a lot of combat in first and exploration in third.

 

• Do you embrace comparisons to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? Or do you push against it?
• CP: "I think the best comparison is The Outer Worlds. I think that gives a much clearer idea of the scope of the game and also the design and layout. Like The Outer Worlds, Avowed has a series of open zones that are connected and unlock over the course of the game, rather than one giant map that you can walk through from beginning to end. And yeah, in terms of the kind of the quest structure, the narrative structure, it's a lot closer to The Outer Worlds, as well."
• Is it tonally similar to The Outer Worlds? Is it humorous in a comparable way?
• CP: "Tonally, the best comparison is going to be Deadfire, the second Pillars game where you have a very grounded and serious political story. A very kind of weird and esoteric, metaphysical, and divine story beneath that. A lot of moments of seriousness, but also moments of levity to kind of to kind of break that up, and a lot of those things are very character-based. So yeah, I wouldn't compare it tonally to The Outer Worlds."

 

 

Sounds like it's structured like I thought as well, TOW like open zones you can explore but aren't directly connected to each other. Should lead to some great location diversity, which was one of TOW's strengths I think. They touch on the scope/size of the game and that it's similar to TOW as well, so more of a 20-30 hour experiences for the average player than a giant behemoth RPG, which I'm all for.

[Emmi]

As someone who suffers from motion sickness in 99% of first-person games this is wonderful and I wish every first-person game had this option. I'd like to know what it is but for some reason Metroid Prime Remastered was so far basically the only game I was able to enjoy because I didn't get motion sickness from playing it. I'd be interested what it does different than other first-person games.

[Jason]

Camera movement like view bobbing (from walking), camera shake, low FOV and involuntary camera movements are all big causes of motion sickness in first person games. For me if it's first person I generally look for a 80-90 FoV (I play on UW, so 100+ is not needed, plus I find it a bit fisheye-y) and turn all camera shake and movement off, motion blur as well.. Generally this solves the issue for me, worst case scenario is my first one or two sessions get cut a bit short to take a break.

[Index]

I found that I do tend to get motion sickness in FPP games nowadays too. I couldn't handle DOOM Eternal the other day, so I put it down. I know there's normally a good selection of accessibility features in games that'll help, like head/weapon bobbing and all that.

 

As for Avowed's third person, I'm still very eager to see how the combat moulds together in and out of first person. If they can nail that punchy combat in TPP, that'd be great. If not, I'll take it. It's always cool in a fantasy RPG to be able to check out your character in whatever new armour or some enchanted weapon you've found for them.

 

And for big RPG's this year, Avowed's probably on my "must play day 1" list at the moment instead of DA:TV, really looking forward to it.

[Jason]

The more I hear of Veilguard, and the more I play DAI, the more my interest in Veilguard grows. I'll most likely be playing both this and Veilguard this year, it just depends what comes out first. At this point they're the two games I'm looking forward to the most this year I think, above the likes of Outlaws, Shadows, Indiana Jones, Ragnarok PC etc.

[Index]

14 minutes ago, Jason said:

For me if it's first person I generally look for a 80-90 FoV (I play on UW, so 100+ is not needed, plus I find it a bit fisheye-y) and turn all camera shake and movement off, motion blur as well.. Generally this solves the issue for me, worst case scenario is my first one or two sessions get cut a bit short to take a break.

I fear I'd suffer from even more severe motion sickness if I moved to a 32:9 monitor. Seems overkill for any game you'd play lol, looks great though.

[Jason]

7 minutes ago, lndex said:

I fear I'd suffer from even more severe motion sickness if I moved to a 32:9 monitor. Seems overkill for any game you'd play lol, looks great though.

 

32:9 looks amazing for productivity but for gaming I think it's a little bit of a case of owners trying to justify their investment. The fisheye, the lack of compatibility with noticeably more games (compared to 21:9) and the sheer price of the monitors and the price of the hardware to run it... I sure as hell would say it's the best thing ever for gaming if I was spending that much lol. It's too wide as well IMO, it makes the lack of verticality obvious

 

21:9 is the sweet spot but we need better panels for 38"-45" screens, cause most are 1440p which has meh PPI at that size. I'm still twisting over what I want, 34" 1440p OLED w/ great HDR, or a 38" 1600p IPS with okay HDR. I was looking into it last night and burn-in anxiety w/ OLED's sounds like something that'd really annoy me.

[Jason]

According to Tom Warren, Avowed is getting delayed into early 2025. He says the game is in good shape, they just want to release it in a better period for them, as November is starting to pack out, which is when they originally wanted to release it.

 

Shame if so, it was lowkey the game I was looking forward to the most this year I think. But it doesn't sound like it'll be a big delay. At least I should have a new GPU by then, lol.

[Index]

Feck, was quite looking forward to it and probably my most looked forward to just behind Stalker 2, which has now moved into November where Avowed would've been, so I'm not too fussed.

[Jason]

Just now, lndex said:

Feck, was quite looking forward to it and probably my most looked forward to just behind Stalker 2, which has now moved into November where Avowed would've been, so I'm not too fussed.

 

Warren points to Stalker 2's delay as a reason why Avowed has been pushed. With Shattered Space in September (which is a DLC ofc but still), CoD, D4 expansion and Stalker 2 in October and Indy in Nov/Dec, it's not too surprising they shifted it out. For better or for worse, their games pass model works better for them when they have consistent releases spread over the year, not all clumped up together.

 

Still, it should mean more time for Obsidian to give it some extra polish which can't hurt.