Shortly after the launch of Obsidian’s newest RPG,Avowed, the game’s director shed some light on the game’s troubled development in a new interview. After it was first revealed in 2020,Avowedtook five years to release, during which time the game shifted direction drastically from what was shown in the initial trailer - seemingly for the better, as the game has released to generally positive reviews. According to director Carrie Patel, however, that shift in direction posed some major challenges while the game was still in development.
In an interview with Jason Schreier ofBloomberg,Patel revealed thatAvowedwent through some significant challenges while in development, including two reboots - the second of which resulted in the project being placed under Patel’s leadership. According to theBloombergarticle, the initial pitch forAvowedin 2018 included a full open-world environment and multiplayer elements, described by Schreier as “a cross between Destiny and Skyrim”, and development under Patel involved pivoting away from those two aspects.
Avowed Was A Major Challenge For Obsidian, According To Director
Avowed Director Carrie Patel Reveals Development Struggles In A New Interview
As revealed by theBloomberginterview, evenat the time ofAvowed’s initial reveal in 2020, the game’s development was in dire straits, enough so that it was rebooted for what would be the second time in January of the following year, placing Patel in charge.
This reboot, according to the interview, came with significant challenges and resulted in the decision to more heavily emphasize the game’s shared narrative elements withPillars of Eternity, and a shift away from an entirely continuous open world,instead opting for the separate open areas that are present in the final release.
Though Obsidian is notable for having achieved an uncommonly high rate of release at a time when many other major developers are slowing down -The Outer Worlds 2, set to launch later in 2025, will be the studio’s sixth game within a seven-year period.The development struggles revealed by Patel’s interview withBloomberghighlight the difficulties that the studio still faces when developing these larger titles. As of right now, however, the trouble thatAvowed’s development team went through seems to havebeen worth it.
After Launch, Avowed Proves To Be Worth The Effort
Avowed’s Long And Troubled Development Seems To Have (Mostly) Paid Off
Despite - or because of - the issues thatAvowedfaced while in development,the game has been released to a generally positive reception, withScreen Rant’s own reviewfrom Kyle Gratton giving the game a 9/10. In particular, the lack of an open world and strong connection to the lore of Eora, the setting established by thePillars of Eternitygames, has beenpraised by multiplereviewers.
Gratton writes “Avowed skipped the opportunity to feature a fully open world, and I think it’s much better offbecause of it.” At the same time, however,Avowedhasn’t quite hit home for everyone, and other reviews have criticized the game’s writing and lack of innovation.
Avowed Reviews Are In, But The Scores Fall Short Of Obsidian’s Other Great RPGs
Leading up to the full release of Avowed, the game has garnered generally positive reviews, but with a score that falls short of other Obsidian RPGs.
While not bad, the game’s publicly visible numbers, like the peak player count of around 18,000 on Steam (as shown onSteamDB), don’t quite paint the picture of a major success, either. It’s worth mentioning that those numbers have likely been impacted by both the game’s early access release for Premium Edition players and its availability on Xbox Game Pass. Still, Patel hints that Obsidian might have future plans forAvowedDLC or sequels, saying “Now that we’ve built this wonderful world[…]I’d love to see us do more with it.”
