Avowedis Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming first-person fantasy RPG. After the studio seemed to take on Bethesda and theFalloutfranchise directly with its RPGThe Outer Worlds, Obsidian’s new game sets its sights onThe Elder Scrolls.
However,Avowedwill have to be far more than “Skyrim 2” in order to succeed in a vastly different landscape to the oneThe Elder Scrolls 5was released in and the standards it set.Avowedwill have to distinguish itself, but luckily, there’s some ways Obsidian might be able to pull that off.
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Avowed’s Opportunity
Avowedreturns Obsidian fans tothe world of Eorafrom the studio’s twoPillars of Eternitygames, though likeFalloutbefore it the franchise’s isometric top-down viewpoint will be swapped out for anElder Scrolls’-esque first-person perspective. Not only isAvowedalso a fantasy, but certain aspects like the lost Engwithan civilization and its vast underground ruins are particularly reminiscent ofSkyrim’s Dwemer among other similarities.
Avowedis likely, in part, relying on its superficial similarities withThe Elder Scrollsas part of its plan for success. After all, sinceThe Elder Scrolls 6was announced back in 2018 there have been almost no updates on the project apart from Todd Howard’s claim that the game will make extensive use of procedural generation. BothSkyrimandOblivionalso used procedural generation to some extent, so even that reveal doesn’t tell fans much. With Bethesda’sStarfield, a new IP, set for release beforeThe Elder Scrolls 6, fans could be in for a long wait.
Bethesda has also damaged its reputation in the last few years, particularly with the release ofFallout 76which even Howard himself described as having “let a lot of people down,” putting Obsidian in a great position to snap up some of the larger studio’s share in the market. However,Avowedcan’t just recreateThe Elder Scrollsif it wants to be truly successful.
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How Avowed Could Surpass Skyrim
ForAvowedto cement its place as a top-tier RPG as gaming enters the next generation, the game will need to deliver on some of the promises that past open-world RPGs have failed to realize, but which have often been used as selling points. Dynamic AI which feel like they live their own lives, for example, was promoted as anElder Scrollsfeature all the way back inOblivion, and when the game released it quickly became apparent that the NPCs were far more scripted and less reactive than the marketing had suggested despite the game’s success.
Avowedcould take the opportunity to address some of thebiggest criticisms ofSkyrim. It’s possible inSkyrim, for example, to become the faction leader of almost every major group in the land, and yet not only will very few NPCs notice, the player themself rarely has the opportunity to mention their accomplishments.
Avowedcould include battles which surpass those inSkyrim’s Civil War, which were reduced to parties the size of raiding bands. That didn’t strike too many players as odd – after all, cities like Whiterun were very small in-game, so taking them over with a small force made more sense. However,Avowedcould also deliver on cities and towns which feel realistically sized like the ones inThe Witcher 3, as opposed toSkyrim’s cities which sometimes had as few as 20 residents.
Avowedcould also take advantage of its setting. The game will be set inthe Living Lands, described as a “lawless land where communities band together, fall apart, and fight petty wars with each other constantly.” A frontier setting is a great opportunity for a more dynamic faction system where groups can build settlements, expand their territory, take over and rule other cities, and so on. It could even include aFallout 4-style town-building mechanic where players can begin to build their own communities.
Skyrim’s followersleave a lot to be desired in terms of personality, with many sharing the same default lines and few having their own quests or stories. Even later Bethesda games likeFallout 4and companions like Nick Valentine have far more compelling stories thanSkyrim’s followers. If the characters inPillars of Eternityare anything to go by, players may be in luck, andAvowedcould easily get the jump onThe Elder Scrolls 6by throwing players into a large open world which doesn’t sacrifice non-player character depth.
Combat will need to be as intuitive asSkyrim’s, but could certainly be tightened up significantly. There are plenty ofSkyrimmods which the developers ofAvowedcould look at to see how gamers have madeSkyrim’s combat, which often devolves into a war of attrition, more exciting. Magic, similarly, could be a far more rewarding skill to learn than in Skyrim, where every character starts the game with some basic spells like Heal while simply learning new spells via books.
Avowed and Freedom
One aspect ofThe Elder Scrollsformula thatAvowedshould not change, however, is the level of roleplaying freedom the games afford their players.Skyrimplayers can escape Helgen and simply never complete the main quest, never becomingthe Dragonborn. Their backstory is left completely up to the player’s imagination, giving them the ability to roleplay as whoever they want.
It may be tempting forAvowedto establish more about its player character in pursuit of a more character-driven story. However, if the game is going to take themost successful parts ofSkyrimwhile stepping out from its shadow, that weight should really be carried more by the NPCs while players are given enough variety in terms of both origins and dialog options to engage with scripted characters in interesting ways. There are still many details aboutAvowedwhich have yet to be announced. It remains unclear which directionObsidianwill be going with, but one thing is for certain: by taking onThe Elder Scrolls,Avowedtakes on high risks, and the possibility of even greater rewards.
Avowedis in development for PC and Xbox Series X.
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