Navigating the Spectrum of Fantasy: Obsidian’s Journey with Avowed and the Challenge of Legacy Expectations
What a remarkable difference a few weeks can make. It wasn’t too long ago that there were serious doubts regarding Obsidian’s vibrant role-playing title Avowed. Marketing trailers left players skeptical, presenting a journey that appeared to be relatively formulaic and lacking in creativity. However, just weeks later, Avowed has garnered widespread praise. “It’s one of this year’s most delightful surprises,” I noted in our review of Avowed. This title transformed from a source of skepticism to an unexpected Xbox standout. Obsidian has successfully demonstrated three times consecutively, with Grounded, Pentiment, and Avowed, that it can consistently deliver quality products for Microsoft, achieving this in a manner that is less risky than betting everything on each project. In turbulent waters, Obsidian’s vessel appears to be, thankfully, afloat.
“At Obsidian, we’ve always been very transparent that we produce highly ambitious games, but we don’t possess 400-strong teams; we operate under a budget,” Avowed’s game director Carrie Patel explained to me during a video call. It’s a limitation that I believe took many players, myself included, some time to comprehend about Avowed. Some had presumed that, since this was the studio’s first title financed by owner Microsoft, after years of independence, it would have significantly more resources at its disposal. But that wasn’t the reality.
“Avowed very deliberately has a specific scope,” Patel states. “This isn’t a game where we’re trying to create an infinite playground that players can immerse themselves in for hundreds of hours. This is something where we had a very distinct experience in mind. We had a narrative to convey, we had particular areas of this incredibly beautiful world to guide players through, and we aimed to make sure that experience was rich, engaging, and diverse, after which players would see the credits roll and maybe embark on a new game.” It’s a retro approach that she claims players have responded to warmly. I was one of them.
However, not everyone is entirely pleased. Obsidian has a lengthy history: established in 2003, it has created various types of role-playing games over those two decades, ranging from South Park titles to Fallout and Star Wars games (and it has suggested concepts for many more). That legacy carries weight, especially when players likely favor what you created in the past. “There’s a level to which you can never completely escape the expectations tied to your history,” Patel notes.
Some draw parallels between Avowed and “maximalist” RPGs that strive to include everything, as she describes them, and ponder why her game doesn’t include features like crafting, lock-picking, or full world interactivity (even though there are choices you can make that affect many, if not thousands, of lives). Personally, I have also questioned, for similar reasons, why Avowed doesn’t incorporate partner romance—a feature so ubiquitous in RPGs today that its absence feels glaring. According to Patel, “Successfully implementing romance and doing it well are very different challenges.”
“There were earlier visions and designs where this was going to be a larger game, a full open world, and multiplayer was going to be a part of it.”
Creating romance correctly involves several considerations, she elaborates. One aspect is ensuring characters maintain their integrity when romanced; they should not lose their sense of self or beliefs at the mention of romantic interest. “It’s always a bit disappointing when you encounter a character with a firm personality, goals, and interests, only for them to become the player’s ‘yes-person’ in service of this romance they have initiated with them,” Patel comments.
Moreover, if you provide a romantic route with a partner, you also need to ensure there is an equally compelling platonic route, “because it’s unfortunate if romance is the only way to achieve that level of depth with a character.” Ultimately, Patel concludes, “From both a developer’s and a player’s perspective, I see that the more you integrate romance as a mechanic, along with systems and metrics for players to gauge their relationships and affection levels with characters, the more it feels like players are engaging with a system rather than developing a genuine relationship.”
Avowed does include the possibility of partner romance; however, it’s just not highlighted in the ways we typically expect. This could naturally develop if you engage frequently with the character in question—I wouldn’t want to spoil who they are—but the point is it can happen organically; you may not necessarily pursue it. “It should feel natural, organic, and surprising,” Patel insists.
Yet, managing expectations is something Obsidian has been addressing with Avowed ever since it was initially revealed in the summer of 2020. Its first cinematic trailer hinted at a dark fantasy world that appeared closer in tone to Elder Scrolls than the bold pink and orange realm we ultimately received, with confrontations reminiscent of the Balrog in the Mines of Moria. Watching the teaser now, it seems like it belongs to an entirely different game, and there’s a reason for that: it was.
The original concept for Avowed was quite different from the game we have now. Initially, it was intended to be a much darker game, combining elements of Destiny and Skyrim, Patel told Bloomberg in a recent interview. This cooperative multiplayer idea was a crucial component of Obsidian’s proposal to Microsoft when it was acquired in 2018, so once that agreement went through, that was the direction the team pursued. “There were earlier visions and designs where this was going to be a larger game, a full open world, and multiplayer was going to be a part of it,” Patel reveals.
now.
However, crafting open worlds and multiplayer experiences requires specialization and various resources to develop, and a few years into its progress, Avowed began to falter. Obsidian struggled to discover a way to implement multiplayer features “while still maintaining the elements that excel in a single-player RPG of the type we traditionally create,” Patel explains – presumably referring to the cause-and-effect mechanics and dialogue that currently define Avowed. Consequently, the multiplayer aspect was discarded. In fact, the entire game underwent a reboot in 2021, when Carrie Patel – who had risen through the ranks at Obsidian through the Pillars of Eternity series and The Outer Worlds – was appointed as the game director.
The other significant changes Patel initiated included scaling down from a single large open world to several smaller areas and modifying the game’s setting. “It was still based in the universe of Pillars of Eternity,” Patel clarifies. “It was just situated in a different region of the world, and there was a feeling that its previous direction didn’t quite align with the IP anymore. There were new characters, a different region, and an entirely different narrative. However, I shouldn’t delve too deeply in case anyone wants to explore those concepts in the future,” she states.
By the time Avowed was relaunched in 2023, it resembled a remarkably changed game. In a “ripping the band-aid off” moment, as Patel describes it, Obsidian presented mid-development footage of a much more vibrant-looking game – “something that felt notably different from what many audiences were accustomed to and clearly understood in terms of, like, a very grounded, dark, serious fantasy. It is grounded,” she adds, “it is serious, but it is also very colorful, and very fantastical.”
“The amazing aspect of the reception Avowed has received is that it demonstrates there is indeed a demand for new fantasy IPs.”
People were confused, and the uncertainty persisted in the years that followed. Was it still a Skyrim-like game?
Despite what Obsidian previewed, it faced challenges reassuring followers about this new direction. “We constantly had difficulty defining precisely what we were going to become and making that very clear to players,” Patel comments. “A lot of what works best in Avowed is the exploration, and that’s not something you can easily convey in a 90-second trailer. It’s an experience you must engage in personally within the game.” It wasn’t until Obsidian placed Avowed in players’ hands at showcases and press events that this became apparent.