Summary
- Avowed's smaller scale allows for more complexity in its mechanics, with the game potentially avoiding the pitfalls of overstuffing content like other RPGs.
- By focusing on fewer but more developed ideas, Avowed can create a richer and more immersive gameplay experience for players.
- With a smaller scope, Avowed has the opportunity to go deeper rather than wider, creating memorable characters and more versatile combat systems.
Obsidian Entertainment's upcoming game Avowed is reported to be arriving with less content than many of its peers. However, this supposed drawback has the potential to be a big advantage for Avowed.
Despite comparisons to Skyrim, it was confirmed back in 2023 that Avowed will be of a smaller scope. Though the upcoming first-person fantasy RPG initially set out in 2020 with a larger, open-world goal, Obsidian CEO Feargus Uruquhart confirmed that the title ended up going in a different direction. When Avowed releases later this year, it will arrive in a scale more comparable to The Outer Worlds than Skyrim—a fantasy RPG in a more compact form.
Avowed's Smaller Scale Allows For More Complexity
With the wait for Avowed still looking sizable, it's worth taking the time to consider the value of a smaller scale. Whilst a vast, open-world fantasy title helmed by the studio behind beloved games such as Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, the studio sticking to a condensed scope will allow it to sidestep the issues that come with the biggest names in the open-world genre. By focusing on fewer ideas, each idea can be expanded to its full potential. It would be far better for Avowed to have a few deep, enriching mechanics than hundreds of half-baked ones.
Avowed Should Avoid Skyrim's Kitchen-Sink Approach
Avowed has a leg-up on Skyrim in this regard. Though the latter is a well-loved and incredibly successful title, it does suffer from its scope to some degree. When a game grows to house dozens upon dozens of humanoid species, magic systems, spells, and pantheons, it may eventually start to house underbaked or contradictory ideas. For instance, the breadth of Skyrim's spell list has left individual spells less developed, with the game's world seeming to have not responded to these groundbreaking systems. Its many locales lack a response to the widespread ability of arcanists to transmute gold or summon weapons from thin air. Skyrim's not alone in this respect, with peers such as Minecraft adding many new mobs and gameplay systems to the extent where individual parts often feel underdeveloped.
This is a growing issue with fantasy and sci-fi media as a whole. Dungeons and Dragons' Forgotten Realms setting, for example, is constantly adding more spells and playable ancestries, but many of the later addition not only lack development or conflict with established material, but threaten to become superfluous. This has spun out of control with the franchise getting its own multiverse, a trend that has infected far too many media franchises as of recent. In this respect, Avowed benefits from being tied to the existing setting of Pillars of Eternity. In addition, its smaller scope will free up time to be spent making individual systems more fun and interesting.
There's Every Opportunity For Avowed To Go Deeper Rather Than Wider
On that subject, it should be examined how a smaller scope could apply to Avowed specifically. There's a popular concept in game design that says that a mechanic should go deeper rather than wider, meaning one option should be well-developed before another option is given. An example for Avowed would be in how it could handle NPCs, something Obsidian has a great reputation for. It would be impossible to create hundreds of complex NPCs without many more years of development, so it's best for there to be fewer NPCs. A handful of intensely memorable characters are better than dozens of forgettable ones.
Avowed's combat could also benefit here. Confirmed so far are melee, ranged, and spellcasting systems—each of which will likely have many choices within. A smaller scope could, however, lead to fewer weapons or spells in return for options that can be used in more lateral ways, and which can be upgraded to greater heights.
Avowed
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 82%
- Released
- February 18, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Xbox Game Studios
WHERE TO PLAY
Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.
You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands - an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?
- Franchise
- Pillars of Eternity
- Platform(s)
- Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
