The game industry is built on the backs of a wide range of studio types, from small indie developers to independent AAA studios to in-house developers under the likes of Microsoft and Sony. One company that's managed to travel through multiple of these categories is Obsidian Entertainment, the masterful developer of RPGs responsible for such games as Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. Obsidian has long been hailed as a talented studio thanks to games like these, and it keeps delivering new games that capture the imagination of fans. That's why it's a big deal that Obsidian is still going pla
There are lessons that Avowed can learn from all three of these games as a first-person fantasy RPG. There's also enough variation between the games to show that Obsidian doesn't always reliably pull off the best parts of its previous titles in later games. Here's what Avowed can learn from New Vegas , The Outer Worlds , and Pillars of Eterni
The Engwithans also used Animancy to create the gods of Eora using the souls of thousands of their own citizens. The gods are sustained by the essence souls lose to entropy while moving through The Wheel. Eventually, the Engwithans had changed the cycle of rebirth so much that The Wheel was reliant upon their machine. During the Pillars of Eternity games the god Eothas attempts to destroy the Engwithan machine. However, there are reasons to think Avowed will take place long before that ev
Even though Obsidian is in the middle of developing two games, it could easily surprise fans with new announcements over the summer at venues like E3. For example, many are wondering if the follow-up to The Outer Worlds is right around the corner. The Outer Worlds, a very successful sci-fi RPG from the studio, came out just a couple years ago and got followed up with a couple equally popular DLCs. Although the game's ending doesn't beg for a sequel, it also leaves a rich foundation for one. It certainly has a big enough following for Obsidian to justify a sequel,
Many of Eora's inhabitants worship specific gods in the hope of avoiding the lottery and being directed to a certain existence. The god Galawain, for example, uses the souls of his devout followers to create monsters. In Pillars of Eternity , it is revealed that all Pale Elf souls go to the god Rymrgand, who prevents their souls from losing essence to entropy, but also exclusively reincarnates them as Pale Elves. This revelation causes many Pale Elves to "awaken," or remember past lives. One clan even attempts to enter Rymrgand's realm and die for good. This is not the first time the mortals of Eora have attempted to affect The Wh
If Avowed doesn’t figure out ways to create more dynamic opportunities in its open world, then there risks being a separation between the storytelling and the world that story is. As it stands, the classic first-person RPG formula tells a story through its quests, and presents the player with an open-world to explore. Until exploring that open world begins to create dynamic stories in its own right, it’s unlikely any new entry to the genre will be considered a worthy next-gen successor to Skyr
Obsidian has had a rocky history, sometimes needing to crowdfund its games to get their development started. Now it's in a very different place with Microsoft's help. Frankly, it's great to see someone as influential in the game industry as Microsoft acknowledging what Obsidian is capable of and giving it a much greater level of stability to help develop its ga
What is for sure, however, is that Avowed will be set in a world with some fascinating spiritual lore. The player character will almost certainly have lived many lives before the game, some of which they may be able to interact with depending on the game's plot. If nothing else, Avowed Secrets players can feel a little less bad about mowing down their enemies safe in the knowledge that those souls will be returning to the world through The Wh
If Obsidian is going to create a first-person fantasy RPG that truly brings the genre into the next generation, however, the studio will need to make significant innovations in the way it handles its open-world storytelling. To do so, Avowed will need to solve one problem found back in Skyrim , but also more recently in The Outer Worl
In this sense, the Living Lands have a chance to intensely reflect the entirety of Eora , t he name of the world first established in Pillars of Eternity . The Living Lands are described as a "lawless land" where different communities are constantly at odds with one another that result in petty armed conflicts. That constantly changing composition of the setting's inhabitants, however, shouldn’t undermine the opportunity for the Living Lands to reflect the intensely different cultures from across E
Pillars of Eternity takes place in a period of Eora's history which is roughly technologically parallel to the real world's early modern era, from around 1500 to 1800. While Pillars of Eternity has guns , bombs, and galleons, the trailer for Avowed shows more medieval architecture and weaponry. Not only that, but the trailer references oaths multiple times, as well as "kings and queens." This hints that it is set during Woedica's reign as the queen of Eora's gods, as her domain includes rightful rulership and oa