Avowed hit the market just a few days ago, and players worldwide have been getting to grips with Obsidian’s latest ambitious RPG. This semi-open-world title boasts sumptuous visuals and an innovative story, plus all the trappings of a fantasy RPG that we’ve come to expect over the years.
The single-player marvel could have been something entirely different, though. In a recent report published by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, it was revealed by Carrie Patel, the game’s director, that Avowed started life as an MMO that was dubbed ‘multiplayer Skyrim’.
What Might Have Been
Given that the industry’s MMO category is well and truly oversaturated these days, I’m rather thankful that Avowed took on a fresh form following a dramatic reboot.
In a recent report published by Bloomberg, Obsidian’s Carrie Patel explained that a 2021 pivot led to a total reboot of Avowed, which had until then been designed as a multiplayer title. The game was preparing to enter production in earnest, but Microsoft’s acquisition of Obsidian took a drastic turn, and a relatively large team was ordered to shake things up.
Patel expanded:
Normally if you’re stepping back and reevaluating your creative direction, putting together a new vertical slice and revised production plans, you would do that with a very small team.
We did not have a very small team at that point.
A lot of lessons we learned as we were building this game, ideally we would’ve learned on a small scale with a true preproduction.
In a further twist, Avowed’s open-world model was switched out for a ‘zone-based’ structure akin to 2019’s The Outer Worlds. This has since been reviewed by Avowed’s development team, which has been pretty public on the reasons for that creative and logistical decision.
Patel wrapped the interview with Schreier by signing off with a nod to the future of the Avowed label:
Now that we’ve built this wonderful world, and also built this team strength and muscle memory around the content and gameplay in this world, I’d love to see us do more with it.
Are you happy that Avowed is a single-player RPG, or would you have preferred an MMO? Let us know in the comments or on the GPlayr forum.
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