Obsidian Entertainment revealed Avowed at an Xbox Series X games showcase last year, but information about the game has been minimal since its announcement.
An eagle-eyed Reddit fan recently spotted some interesting information about Avowed on Senior Area Designer Constant Gaw's LinkedIn. According to the LinkedIn page, Avowed may be further along than Xbox fans think and they may be getting more information about the upcoming Obsidian RPG this Summer.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Constant Gaw led two separate teams during pre-production. One of these teams apparently focused on the development of dungeon spaces, with an emphasis on "Vertical Slice level design." The other team Gaw led at Obsidian Entertainment focused on the creation of settlement spaces and the "Vertical Slice critical path experience." Vertical slice design is combining some of the best things from a game to include in a demo or a proof of concept for shareholders that will sell the experience. These vertical slices don't always represent a finished game, but they include various design choices and gameplay aspects that Xbox fans can expect from the full release.
During the main production of Avowed, Gaw designed and implemented Vertical Slice critical path quest, expanding on the experience set by pre-production. He is currently serving as one of two project Region Directors for Avowed, with both of them being responsible for driving the completion of the game's various regional content. His duties as Region Director mostly have Gaw focusing on regular review of team-generated content to ensure quality. With Gaw primarily reviewing Avowed content from developers at Obsidian Entertainment, the upcoming RPG is likely to be further along in development than Xbox fans are anticipating.
Obsidian is now 'driving the completion of various regional content of Avowed', suggests it is mid-far in development, per developer's LinkedIn. from GamingLeaksAndRumours
While working on Avowed, Gaw apparently drove the development of a tile-based system that allows for varied and fast interior space creation which may suggest procedurally generated areas in the RPG. Gaw also collaborated with programmers and artists to iterate on the tile-based system in order to accurately manage asset metadata needed to control the Avowed tool. Gaw's LinkedIn page also expresses his experience on The Outer Worlds, Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Dungeon Siege 3.
If Constant Gaw's LinkedIn profile is to be believed, Obsidian Entertainment is fully on schedule to release Avowed in the near future and the upcoming RPG seems to be in good shape. With E3 coming up and another Xbox games showcase on the way at E3 2021, Xbox fans likely don't have long to wait before seeing more of Avowed.
Avowed is expected to release sometime next year for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: LinkedIn