While Avowed is undoubtedly a huge undertaking, Obsidian Entertainment somehow has another project in the works that could be equal to the scale of Avowed, if not greater. Josh Sawyer, design director at Obsidian Entertainment, took to Twitter in August 2020 and noted in no uncertain terms that he's directing his own project and that the project isn't Avowed. Josh Sawyer worked on the Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights series early in his career. More recently, he was responsible for pitching Pillars of Eternity which saw the company get out of a tight financial spot, and went on to direct the two games in that series. He's perhaps most well-known for directing Fallout: New Vegas, a fan-favorite entry in the post-apocalyptic RPG ser
Obsidian Entertainment is one of the most respected western RPG studios in the industry. Many of its employees have impressive resumes dating back to Black Isle Studios, best known for games like the first two Fallout titles and Baldur's Gate . Despite its esteem, Obsidian Entertainment has long been seen as a junior studio to RPG giants like Bethesda. Many of Obsidian's games are beloved, particularly for their writing, but the studio has a history of struggling financially in a way that larger studios have
Obsidian's past financial struggles were likely one of the motivations behind taking the setting from Pillars of Eternity and using it for a more mainstream, accessible first-person fantasy RPG like Avowed . While CRPGs remain a relatively niche market, Avowed was almost immediately compared to Skyrim after its announcement trai
With voiceless protagonists, small cast of voice actors, and large but relatively free-form narrative worlds, the Elder Scrolls games rely on the imagination of the player more than many other major RPG franchises . Small details like being able to sit in chairs, zoom out, and manipulate objects and bodies go a deceptively long way towards allowing players to imagine their own stories in these wor
Two thousand years before the events of Pillars of Eternity , an ancient civilization known as Engwith made huge advancements in Animancy . At the time, many Engiwthans were suffering from "soul maladies." Soul maladies include phenomena like "soul twins," where a reincarnated soul splits between multiple bodies. To prevent such problems, the Engwithans created a giant machine that controlled the flow of souls from The In-Between to The Bey
That might be bad news for fans of The Outer Worlds hoping to see the sequel soon, but it could be good news for Obsidian overall. In fact, it seems like Obsidian might be taking its time with its main projects. Avowed was expected by many to make an appearance at E3 2021, and the fact that it didn't could mean that Obsidian is holding off on revealing too much until it's really ready. If the last year has taught RPG developers anything, it's not to build too much hype too early, something Cyberpunk 2077 infamously fell victim to over its prolonged development and controversial, chaotic rele
Adra is a naturally occurring substance in Eora which appears in large pillar-like veins underground, believed to be connected into a single huge network. Adra is uniquely linked to Animancy, the science of souls, and can be used to channel souls. The Beyond is the realm in which the gods reside, and where souls go before they are reincarnated and return to The Here. This can take several years, but is sometimes almost instantane
Pillars of Eternity was deeply invested in exploring the metaphysical side of Eora. The player character was a Watcher, a person who can see people's past lives. Who exactly Avowed DLC 's protagonist will be and whether they'll be a Watcher remains to be seen, as does Avowed 's investment in concepts like The Wheel which dominated the plots of the isometric R
There is one small problem with The Outer Worlds , however, that could prove to be a far larger problem if not solved in time for Avowed . If Obsidian Entertainment is going to take on a giant like The Elder Scrolls series, fixing this issue will be an absolute necess
A smaller project like Grounded also seems unlikely to take up too many of Obsidian's resources, even if its continually worked on throughout the development of Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 . Ultimately, there's no way to know how well the studio is handling multiple projects until details about either Avowed or The Outer Worlds 2 's release windows are revealed. However, while Obsidian has struggled in the past, the studio may be in a better position for its increasing ambition than ever bef
Without these small details The Outer Worlds ends up feeling far more like a shooter with an RPG dialogue system than a fully immersive open-world RPG. While RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age also have far fewer ways to dynamically interact with the world, their more linear stories and more prescriptive player characters create a style of RPG which doesn't rely as heavily on these smaller eleme