Avowed: Release date, gameplay, and everything we know about Obsidian's Skyrim-like Pillars of Eternity spin-off
Avowed is Obsidian Entertainment's big, first-person RPG set in the same world as Pillars of Eternity, and it looks like it might be Obsidian's spin on The Elder Scrolls. It would make a lot of sense: Over the past decade, Obsidian has garnered love and praise for taking beloved RPG subgenres and adding its own modern spin. Pillars of Eternity was a love letter to cRPG greats like Baldur's Gate, while The Outer Worlds evoked the grim satire and meaningful choices of Fallout: New Vegas. Now it looks like Obsidian is inching into Skyrim's territory, and with The Elder Scrolls 6 likely still years away, the idea of a big fantasy first-person RPG is exciting.
Details at this point are scarce, though. We're going to keep this article updated with all the latest details about Avowed as they become known, including word on a release date, how the game actually plays, and everything else that we couldn't glean from its cinematic trailer. For now, here's what we know so far.
Here's the Avowed announcement trailer
Avowed was first revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase this year with an ominous cinematic trailer. What we saw is brief, but it reveals a few key details—most importantly that Avowed is a first-person RPG in a similar vein to The Outer Worlds or, perhaps more accurately, Skyrim. Though no gameplay was shown, the trailer ends from that perspective, as the "player" brandishes a sword and traces out a spell in the air that charges their hand with some violet energy as an unseen enemy, presumably one that is very large and made of flames, approaches. It's cool, and it very much evokes the scene in The Lord of the Rings when the Balrog chases down Frodo and the gang.
Not much else is revealed, but the narrator in the trailer does place specific emphasis on oaths, which seems like it'll be a central theme in the story. Clever players on the Avowed subreddit have also deciphered the runes etched on the sword in the trailer, realizing that it's a language that already exists in Pillars of Eternity, to discover the sword's name is Oathbinder.
What is the Avowed release date?
We don't know! The reveal trailer didn't hint at any window or even suggest a possible year. But given that Obsidian is also working on Grounded, their upcoming early access survival game, and has two DLCs for The Outer Worlds in the works (one of which was revealed just before Avowed), it's possible that Avowed could be years away from release.
What will Avowed's gameplay be like?
Right now, all we can really confirm is that Avowed will be a first-person RPG, but rumors have long persisted that the game will mirror elements of Skyrim and other Elder Scrolls RPGs. Last year, Obsidian posted several job listings that might give an indication of what Avowed will play like.
Though it's not clear whether those job listings were for Avowed or Grounded, they mentioned "combat with an emphasis on an exceptional first-person melee experience" and "combat actions utilizing both first and third person animations" alongside references to day and night cycles and branching dialogue. That all sounds like exactly what you'd expect from an Obsidian first-person RPG.
How does Avowed relate to Pillars of Eternity?
Aside from being set somewhere in Eora, it's not clear what connection Avowed might have to the characters and events of Pillars of Eternity or its sequel. It's very possible that Avowed is set on a different continent or in a different period of time and that the games only share minor lore references.
Over on the Pillars of Eternity subreddit, however, players have noted some interesting connections. The castle shown in the opening shot flies banners that resemble the symbol for Woedica, the god of justice and law who also goes by the name—get this—Oathbinder. That's the same name as the sword shown in the trailer, and those runes etched on it are Aedyran, the language of one of Eora's biggest empires where Woedica was primarily worshipped. Woedica serves as a kind of indirect antagonist to the player in both Pillars of Eternity and its sequel, a god who is looking to restore her influence and power to assert dominion over all of creation.
Given that information, one of the bigger rumors is that Avowed is a prequel to Pillars of Eternity and set in the Aedyr Empire. And when you consider the banners shown in the trailer and the Oathbinder sword carved with Aedyran runes, it makes a lot of sense. By the time Pillars of Eternity starts, Woedica was exiled. Avowed could explore her fall from power, which might also explain the trailer's ominous monologue about forsaken oaths.
How do you know all this Eora lore?
It's amazing what you can learn in an hour browsing a wiki.
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