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 '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
One of the strangest aspects of the Pillars of Eternity universe is the way that death works in Eora. Not only is Eora's relationship with death likely to be one of the most interesting parts of Avowed , but just how death will work will depend on when Avowed is set in relation to the events of Pillars of Eterni
Pillars of Eternity may not be a first-person RPG, but with their shared setting the game most closely predicts the tone of Avowed , and there are still some lessons the new RPG can learn. Pillars of Eternity has a rich lore, a fascinating cosmology, and an in-depth plot. However, its seriousness often left its world and companions coming across as cold and detached. The story can be serious and its stakes high, but Avowed needs companions who show warmth like Minsc, the hamster-loving warrior from Baldur's Gate . Without that, Obsidian can't expect players to be as invested in their follow
Skyrim 's system also has another key upside for Obsidian Entertainment — accessibility. Part of Skyrim 's massive financial success was no doubt in part to its accessibility to players new to the RPG genre, doing away with complicated and interwoven class and stat systems that could be alienating or confus
In Pillars of Eternity , Woedica is the deposed queen of the gods. She is the goddess of justice, oaths, and rightful rule, with a strictly authoritarian streak. Like all the gods in Eora, she was actually created by the long-extinct Engwithan civilization from a single ideal using the souls of the Engwithan populat
Although contentious in the past, the unique history between Obsidian and Bethesda now presents and opportunity for both studios. Obsidian has the chance to draw disaffected or increasingly impatient Bethesda fans to its smaller-budget first-person RPG projects like The Outer Worlds and Avowed Patch notes . Bethesda, on the other hand, has the opportunity to look at Avowed when it releases __ for a clear example of the RPG formula Bethesda uses being executed on current-generation hardware. Without Avowed , the last major first-person fantasy RPG for Bethesda to look back on would be Skyrim itself, a game just months away from its ten-year annivers
The risk is that by setting Avowed in an earlier period of Eora's history, the game will resemble the more standard fantasy worlds of games like Skyrim rather than Pillars of Eternity 's more distinct setting. Fortunately, there are a few ways the Living Lands could still feel very different from the settings of other fantasy ga
Unlike the top contenders for The Elder Scrolls 6 's setting , the Living Lands are practically a blank slate in terms of lore. In Pillars of Eternity, the region is simply described as a "lawless land where communities band together, fall apart, and fight petty wars with each other constantly." This presents great opportunities not just in terms of storytelling, but in terms of mechanics. While the Living Lands will likely have some large fixed quest hubs, the dynamism of the setting could lay the foundation for Avowed to have a world far more prone to change than Skyrim
Considered a new take on the New Vegas formula was The Outer Worlds . Set in a distant solar system, The Outer Worlds shared many themes and mechanical similarities with Fallout . It even carved out its own little fandom. However, without Bethesda's engine or the Fallout 3 assets to work with, there were some areas where it fell flat that Avowed will need to av
Avowed may not use a system entirely similar to Oblivion , but The Elder Scrolls 4 may give a good idea of what Avowed 's class system might be working from if it has one. In this case classes are essentially major stat modifiers — they don't necessarily affect what the player is able to do, but they do greatly tilt the likelihood of success in favor of certain tact
Pillars of Eternity also gets wrong what New Vegas gets right. In Pillars of Eternity the player is exposed to a cultists ritual that makes them a Watcher , a person able to read souls and see their past lives. If the player doesn't track down the cultists, they are told, their character will go ins
At the start of New Vegas , the player character is shot in the head by a gangster named Benny, who steals the Platinum Chip the Courier was delivering on behalf of Mr. House . They somehow survive, however, and wake up in Doc Mitchell's office having been patched up. This opening is great for several reasons. First, it does not prescribe anything about the player character besides a single job they took to deliver a package. Although later DLCs bring back some deliveries from the Courier's past, the game still never establishes anything about the Courier's age or origins, giving the player free reign to roleplay as whoever they'd l