Avowed may just be looking to define RPGs on the next generation of consoles. However, while many fans of The Elder Scrolls are hoping Obsidian can finally give them the fantasy fix they’ve been waiting for, the game will need to provide a world that takes immersion further than other developers have done before.
Pulling off first-person RPG combat is one of the bigger tasks facing Obsidian with Avowed, but it shouldn’t be the only consideration. For too long, RPGs have made combat the main way to interact with other beings in the world. If Avowed is going to feel truly next gen, combat should be one of many options for dealing with adversaries in the world of Eora.
For the game to succeed, the world of Avowed needs to be reactive. The game should make its scattered enemies as reactive as it does its more developed NPCs. Coming across a group of bandits on the road should not initiate combat unless it makes sense for it to do so. For example, if the player approaches a bandit camp at night with a group of followers and their weapons drawn, the bandits should have a very different response than if the player approaches them alone during the day while unarmed, even if both responses are bad news.
Similarly, just as in many RPG conversations, interactions with hostile NPCs should factor in things like intimidation, charm, and performance. In Skyrim, bandits will attack a player decked out in full Daedric armor and carrying an unholy relic as a weapon with the same reckless abandon as they would a straggler on the road. This undermines immersion.
If Avowed wants to feel truly next-gen, combat shouldn’t be the only way to navigate life outside of towns and cities. The Outer Worlds demonstrated how a lack of options outside of combat can be limiting to roleplay. When the player character of The Outer Worlds first lands near Edgewater at the start of the game, their options when interacting with the first people they meet are to sneak past them or mow them down. Presented with these two options, engaging in combat is by far the more fun.
As a result, no matter what sort of character the player intends to roleplay as, most of their time spent outside of cities in Skyrim and The Outer Worlds is spent slaughtering almost everyone they encounter. While that should absolutely be an option for a player who wants to roleplay as a particularly ruthless mercenary, it limits the roleplaying opportunities for anyone interested in taking their character in any other direction. A player who takes the humanitarian routes in The Outer Worlds‘ main quests will experience extreme dissonance when playing the game’s combat.
In a more immersive RPG experience, combat should be risky enough to warrant avoiding it when possible, or finding alternate ways to deal with the various threats of the world that don’t pigeon-hole the player protagonist into the role of some kind of super soldier. As in games like Red Dead 2, pointing a gun at someone should illicit a response, but should have a chance of intimidating them instead of simply initiating combat.
Enemies from the Kith races of Avowed, even those with ill intent, should value their own lives if the game is going to take the immersion of predecessors like Skyrim to the next level. The final bandit in a group should attempt to bargain or fly into a rage depending on their own disposition. Similarly, a player who wants to avoid combat at all costs might be robbed of everything down to the shirt off their back and left to the elements, but if they’re able to convince the bandits to spare them otherwise, that should be a path they’re able to take.
What’s important is that Avowed’s combat does not limit players’ opportunities to immerse themselves in a variety of characters. It is through this that the game could achieve the same longevity and replayability as Skyrim, while also making the game world feel more reactive than any RPG that came before.
Avowed is in development for PC and Xbox Series X.
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