Summary
- Avowed's smaller scale allows for more impactful choices and consequences, making the player's actions feel more significant.
- Obsidian Entertainment has a reputation for creating games with meaningful consequences and rewarding exploration, as seen in Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds.
- While larger RPGs often prioritize open-world gameplay, Avowed's smaller scope enables a more intimate and memorable experience with distinguished characters and their motives.
In mid-2020, Microsoft and Obsidian Entertainment officially revealed a new fantasy game known as Avowed. It was set to be the latest entry in the Pillars of Eternity universe and represented a dramatic shift in gameplay style. After the game was initially revealed, there was a lot of speculation as to just how big Avowed would be.
Originally it was rumored that Avowed would be bigger than The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. These rumors turned out to be false, and the developer has since given gamers a better idea of the game's smaller scale. While this might disappoint some, it could very well be perfect for what will be one of the game's most defining features. Specifically, a smaller scope could ramp up the impact of the choices the player makes and better highlight the consequences of their actions.
Obsidian Entertainment’s Defining Features
Since the release of Fallout: New Vegas, developer Obsidian Entertainment has gained a reputation for making games with meaningful consequences for player actions and rewarding them for exploring every corner of the map. New Vegas was a sprawling game that had gamers visit nearly every part of the region in order to meet members of its many factions. How the players behaved determined how factions responded to them and eventually what became of them. Likewise, how players treat companion characters and the ways they react to their personal quests would determine how they interact with The Courier and contribute to their ultimate fates.
Despite the game's initial launch, Fallout: New Vegas is often considered to be the franchise's best installment and would lay out the blueprint for a large chunk of Obsidian Entertainment's games going forward. Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, and The Outer Worlds would all feature similar systems with the characters and settings. The endings for the characters and regions would likewise be affected by the player's actions or lack thereof and encourage multiple playthroughs. While the games are sometimes smaller and shorter than that of the competition, this often helps these elements stand out and this likely will be the case for Avowed as well.
How Avowed's Scope Will Help With Decision-Making and Consequences
A problem that tends to occur in a lot of larger RPGs is that there is more focus on the open-world gameplay aspects than on the story. There will often be hundreds if not thousands of nameless NPCs surrounding a few dozen important characters. While not inherently a bad thing, these sorts of vast environments will sometimes make the storylines feel less intimate and fail to make gamers feel the consequences of their actions. For example, the Civil War quest in Skyrim is arguably the game's best storyline, but save for a few mostly forgettable NPCs being removed, it fails to convey the scope and consequences of the player's actions.
Something like The Outer Worlds, on the other hand, benefits because it is that much smaller. All the characters the player interacts with have distinguished personalities and motives. They are not just another procedurally generated NPC who could easily be replaced by another.
The smaller scale allows the player to become intimately familiar with these people, making the consequences of their actions hit all the harder. It also meant that the players' actions had a ripple effect that could be felt throughout the game's runtime in some way, shape, or form. With the size of Avowed being compared to that of The Outer Worlds, it is very possible that the upcoming fantasy game will benefit similarly.
Until the game is released, it's impossible to say how well its smaller scope will affect its gameplay. While elements like Avowed's characters will need to be game-changers in order to stand out, Obsidian Entertainment's track record with smaller-scaled worlds speaks for itself. Because of this, it is probably safe to say that the game's scope will be perfect for one of its most defining features.
Avowed releases in 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.