When Avowed was first revealed at the 2021 Xbox Summer Show, a dark and moody CGI trailer with flaming arrows and fantasy dual-wielding magic and sword — all from the studio behind films like Pillars of Eternity and Fallout: New Vegas — placed it like something like first party skyrim for xbox.
However, in the years since, it has become increasingly clear that this is simply not the game we should expect from Avowed now. It’s bright and colorful, seemingly full of dialogue, and as we learn in further explanation of the game’s combat, it’s only a pretty loose RPG if anything. As Avowed director Carrie Patel told Eurogamer last year after a somewhat unconvincing first demo of its combat, “the reference point we were trying to get people to is The Outer Worlds.”
It’s been a bit quiet on the Avowed front since then, but over the weekend Xbox showed off another trailer, this time emphasizing the game’s overarching story – though again it was a little light on something genuinely new. Luckily, after the showcase ended, we once again had a brief roundtable interview with Carrie Patel, who spoke alongside the game’s art director Matt Hansen and was able to outline just a little more of what we can expect.
On the role-playing front, Patel explained that this will probably be felt most prominently in Avowed’s dialogue. “We have skill trees that have your traditional fighter, ranger, and wizard flavor, and you can mix and match between them,” she said. “And you can build a character that either very closely follows one of those vibes, or takes the best of each that you like—and if you decide you don’t like your choices, you can pay a small fee, erase them, and build. something completely different.”
From a “narrative and dialogue perspective,” Patel continued, that’s going to be “a huge part of the game, and exploring and really defining your role in it is about the choices you make in each moment. There are skills that also affect the dialogue that will unlock certain possibilities, the player will be able to choose a background at the very beginning of the game that will have a flavor: ‘Here is who you were before this mission, here is how you brought to the fore.’ ”
The player “can choose to lean into it while playing, or they can say, ‘Oh, this is just fun and I want to use it’. But all of these things give the player different role-playing hooks.”
“The biggest thing for us is always that choice and consequence, in the quests, in the important critical moments of the journey, to let the player choose how to define the world and how to move the conflicts forward.”
Another update to the game is expected, but aside from the areas that are still a bit unclear – the finer points of exactly how Avowed’s instant gameplay works – one standout takeaway from the latest Xbox showcase trailer was the continued lack of a firm release date, with open only as “2024”. Does the studio believe that they will see the window and the game will be released by the end of the year?
“I will say, just coming from the studio last week, the game looks fantastic,” Patel replied. “The team is putting a lot of love into polishing. So we feel very good about 2024.”
Hansen added that the team is currently “finalizing”. He continued: “We’re in the Polish phase. And that’s such a satisfying place for us – and there’s so many little things where we’re like ‘Oh yeah, we didn’t think we’d be in!'” Patel, meanwhile, reassuringly agreed that the game is in the final stages of development.
One other, somewhat ominous question that always lingers in conversations with Xbox first-party developers at the moment is how they feel in the face of the wildly unpopular surprise closure of award-winning studios like Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin by the publisher. Does this sit well with you as an Xbox owned developer in the background? Much of the conversation, meanwhile, has focused on the impact of these closures on creativity – can a first-party studio at Microsoft feel safe experimenting and trying new things when studios that have done it – and in many cases done it extremely well? – still closed?
“As a developer – and as a gamer – it’s always sad and it’s always a shame to see studios close and developers lose their jobs… I really hope all these people get back on their feet because I know our industry is better with them. that,” Patel said.
“As for me and the way I look at things, I guess first of all: I don’t believe in living in fear. Especially if you need to invest in the creative process – you need to invest in what you’re making, and you need to believe in it. And I feel a strong sense of security when I’m part of Obsidian and, you know, I’m part of a studio that’s been a successful indie developer for almost 15, 20 years.
“I really believe in our leadership,” she added. “I believe in our game-making process and I believe in our players and our fans who believe in what we do. I’m definitely saddened by what happened to some of these other studios – it hasn’t diminished my commitment.” or my belief in what we do.”
Meanwhile, Hansen added that these situations are never as simple as developers taking risks and paying the price when they don’t work. “These are very complex decisions with so many nuances behind what’s going on, because they’re tough decisions to make at times, so it doesn’t feel creatively suffocating at all. I feel a deep sense of support, both internally on the developer side and with the fans , but also from Microsoft.” The situation was “unfortunate,” he added, “but at the same time I’m not afraid.”
“As Matt said,” continued Patel, “we’ve been incredibly well supported by Microsoft. We’ve also had Feargus Urquhart at the head of the studio since its inception. And before that when it was Black Isle Studios. He knows games, he loves games and he’s been incredibly successful in stretching Obsidian in all its various iterations. And I want to emphasize again that Microsoft leadership and Xbox leadership are also incredibly supportive of what we’re doing, how we’re making games [are] also very communicative with us.”
“The only side effect I’ve personally felt since Microsoft acquired us is just more support,” Hansen said. “There are fewer unknowns, less financial risk, and so we’re able to take more creative risk — but do it in a measured way. It’s been a really, really rewarding process.”