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
Based on just how heavily the trailer features Woedica , Avowed may be set during the height of the goddess' power. Woedica may not even be "the Burned Queen" or "the Exiled Queen" yet at all. She only gained those names after the other gods of Eora cast Woedica from her throne, and the fire god Magran burned her. "The Strangler" is Woedica's manifestation on Eora. She is an old woman who wears expensive but tattered clothing, and who supposedly appears on empty roads to strangle those who break their oaths. The Strangler is also said to be supernaturally fast and strong, which could make her a horrifying encounter if she appears in Avow
Woedica seems to have a lot of influence at the time of Avowed , which may indicate where in the Pillars of Eternity timeline Avowed takes place. The phrase "when Woedica takes back her throne" is a saying in Pillars of Eternity used to refer to events which would only take place in a perfectly just universe. To the religious or conservative, this includes Woedica once again taking her place as the queen of the g
Skyrim 's system also has another key upside for Obsidian Entertainment — accessibility. Part of Skyrim 's massive financial success was no doubt in part to its accessibility to players new to the RPG genre, doing away with complicated and interwoven class and stat systems that could be alienating or confus
There's more evidence that Avowed will be set during Woedica's reign as queen of the gods. Both Pillars of Eternity games, especially PoE 2: Deadfire , were set in fantasy worlds with architecture, clothing, and technology from around the 1500s to 1800s. This included pistols, cannons, and magical bombs. In Avowed 's trailer, the world's architecture and weaponry seems far more medieval, likely indicating that the upcoming RPG will be set hundreds of years before the PoE ga
Skyrim is packed full of references to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Its last DLC, Dragonborn, saw the inhabitants of the isolated town of Raven Rock fall under a mysterious trance-like state that was leading them to build strange obelisks, with only the faintest memory of doing so. While some The Elder Scrolls quests are full of surface-level Lovecraft allusions like this, the series' metaphysical lore makes the connection explicit. The same can be said for Obsidian's upcoming first-person fantasy RPG, Avow
Obsidian fans should get excited about the state of the studio. It's determined to push out a lot of new projects, and experimental ones like that. The Outer Worlds ' incredible claim that no NPC has to live for players to beat the game proves that Obsidian wants to try bold new things. Obsidian's future isn't just packed with new games; it's packed with new ideas that'll help Obsidian grow as a stu
Through Avowed , Bethesda could be presented with ways to address some of The Elder Scrolls ' most common criticisms without lifting a finger. If Avowed doesn't end up presenting solutions to Skyrim 's common criticisms or feel like it drags the first-person RPG formula into the current generation, it's unlikely to be much of a threat to The Elder Scrolls 6 anyway. Although The Elder Scrolls 6 is a very high-stakes endeavor for Bethesda, Avowed Updates could reveal at least part of the path forward, even if it only manages to improve on a few aspects of the form
The final likely possibility is Avowed modeling its system after Skyrim 's design. In this case there isn't a class system, but there is a skill and perk system. Aside from differences contingent on race, every Skyrim player starts out the same, and levels up skills depending on what they do more of in the game. Levelling skills unlocks unique perks, such as being able to forward roll while in stealth. Each of these possible systems comes with its own pros and c
When the trailer for Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed dropped last year, fans were quick to notice the similarities to Skyrim . The game's first-person perspective, medieval fantasy world, ands the history between Obsidian and Bethesda led many to conclude that Obsidian was developing an RPG with the specific intent of taking on The Elder Scrol
Grounded is Obsidian's big potential release for 2021, but the studio's next step is public too. In the same showcase that Grounded was revealed, Obsidian and Microsoft announced Avowed, a new RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity universe. Although Obsidian has said next to nothing about Avowed since then, knowing the setting of the game has gone a long way in helping fans get an image of the game. There's tons of Pillars of Eternity lore already in place that'll surely inform the game, no matter what the story is or how the gameplay differs from the games that precede