Avowed is the upcoming first-person fantasy RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, developer of Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds. The game’s release trailer immediately drew attention from many fans of The Elder Scrolls, showing a first-person sword-and-sorcery viewpoint which raised hopes that Obsidian’s next title could be the “next” Skyrim.
Few details have been released about Avowed since the trailer dropped earlier this year, but rumors and hints from the devs have been plentiful enough. Avowed is set in Obsidian’s world of Eora from its Pillars of Eternity games, which has also given many fans hints into details about the game’s setting and the creatures that might inhabit it. Here’s everything about Avowed which has been confirmed so far, as well as some leaks, rumors, and upcoming events where fans may hope to see more details confirmed.
There are a few things expectant fans can know for sure about Avowed. The game will be first-person, open-world, and will take place in the Living Lands. These lands are an untamed frontier to the north of the main nations of Eora, and are described as a “lawless land where communities band together, fall apart, and fight petty wars with each other constantly.”
In terms of the lore known from Pillars of Eternity, a few other things can be established about the setting. Eora is a fantasy world populated by the “kith” races: humans, elves, dwarves, orlans, and godlike. The orlans and godlike are the only two races most fantasy fans could be unfamiliar with. Orlans are short, fur-covered people stereotyped as thieves and feared in the wild. Godlike are children from any of the kith races who have been touched by the gods of eora, causing them to undergo physical transformations depending on the god who blessed – or cursed – them.
In Pillars of Eternity, players could choose to play as any one of these races, although this is not confirmed. This has led to a lot of speculation that these could be the playable races in Avowed, though there is one other consideration which may lead fans away from that conclusion. The races of Avowed vary greatly in height, which could cause problems for a first-person RPG like Avowed in a way that it didn’t for a isometric RPG like the Pillars of Eternity games. This
The gods of Eora are not, in fact, actual gods, as they were created by an ancient kith civilization known as Engwith. The Engwithans used machinery to turn thousands of souls into concentrated, singular ideals. “Engwith built gods from ideals, and an ideal on its own is a grotesque and vicious thing,” says one in-game text from Pillars of Eternity. This proves true, with the goddess of justice, Woedica the Burned Queen, also being the power-hungry goddess of strict hierarchy. The ruins of the Engwith machines and civilization still lie under all of Eora, and will very likely be found in Avowed.
Avowed is also said to have an in-depth spell system. This is hinted at in the trailer, with the player character drawing a rune in the air which allows them to cast some kind of spell. With so few details or points of comparisons, however, it’s hard to say what this means for magic in Avowed beyond its inclusion in the game. While there has been recent talk about the next Elder Scrolls becoming an Xbox exclusive after Bethesda was bought by Microsoft earlier this year, it has already been confirmed that Avowed will not be releasing on the PS5. The game its currently set to release for PC and Xbox Series X.
One ResetEra user known as sponger leakd some information back in July, which should be taken with a grain of salt. This leak claimed that Avowed will be a “fully open world, much much larger than Skyrim.” For reference, Skyrim’s world was around 14 square miles in size. However, the leak may not in fact point to the Living Lands being literally larger than Skyrim, or size alone being the main focus of Obsidian’s efforts when it comes to making the world of Avowed feel big.
The leak claimed that the Living Lands would be “denser” and “more contrasted” than Skyrim, which fits into the lore. Despite being in the far north, the Living Lands are said to be a place of man mountains and valleys, with huge biodiversity and many different kinds of biomes to explore. The leak also claimed that Avowed’s game world integrate “world-reactivity,” in terms of lighting, physics, and AI, as well as a weather system which could hint at some survival mechanics being implemented in the game as well. While these leaks align with what’s known about the game so far, as with all leaks they should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Avowed fans should keep an eye on December as well. The Xbox Series X was officially announced at The Game Awards 2019, and with the PS5 projected to sell better than the new Xbox this holiday season, Microsoft will likely be anxious to release new details about upcoming exclusives. This could mean more information may be released about Avowed at The Game Awards this year.
Fans will be looking for answers to a few major questions. Will Avowed allow characters to choose from multiple races like in Pillars of Eternity, or will the selection be more limited to accommodate the new first-person perspective? How big exactly will Avowed’s world be? When is Avowed set relative to the events of the two Pillars of Eternity games, and does it establish certain endings as canonical? Last but certainly not least: when will Avowed be released?
As it stands Obsidian has kept the answer to that final question very close to its chest, but the aforementioned leaked has indicated that the game is likely a couple years away. For now, fans should look to The Game Awards and other upcoming events where Microsoft may want to leave a big impact for news from Obsidian. If some of the rumors are true, however, Avowed could introduce an interesting new element of competition to the RPG scene on the next-gen consoles.
Avowed is in development for PC and Xbox Series X.
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