Over the past few years, there were numerous game announcements that quickly excited players worldwide, only for these IPs to go radio silent for long after. There are many examples of this phenomenon, and it affected games like The Elder Scrolls 6, Avowed, Elden Ring, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and others. Despite Obsidian Entertainment being acquired by Microsoft, just like ZeniMax Studios and Bethesda, Avowed feels like the answer to one of the most long-standing series of similar games: The Elder Scrolls.
With The Elder Scrolls 6 and Avowed both being announced and in the works, it appears that the future holds great things for RPG fans. However, there is little to no official information regarding these games including a possible release window, which makes it hard to properly compare them to one another. Regardless, there are a plethora of alleged rumors and leaks online regarding Avowed, and even if only a small part of them comes true, gamers are in for quite a ride.
Avowed: Pillars of Eternity, Eora, And The Living Lands
One of the very first things to note is that Avowed is not a game with no past history. It is a brand-new title, but it also builds upon the foundations laid by other Obsidian Entertainment titles, namely Pillars of Eternity. These RPGs are set in the fantasy world of Eora, which to some extent could be compared to The Elder Scrolls' Tamriel because of its different regions, each with its own biomes and cultural differences.
Avowed is rumored to allow players to explore the diverse region of the Living Lands, which is the northernmost island of Eora. According to the lore found in the Pillars of Eternity games, this nation is a wild place in many regards. The weather is ever-shifting, drastic changes in climate, and there are many creatures that do not inhabit other regions of Eora. Travelers within the world of Eora tell tales of impossible things found off the beaten track, and there are lawless people doing whatever they want because of the lack of laws to keep them in check. The Living Lands are doomed with wars that shape the collective history of all living there, and the very soil of the region.
Avowed: Open World Like Skyrim, Weather Like Breath of the Wild
Reports, rumors, and leaks all state that Avowed is going to be a huge open-world game, even bigger than Skyrim, and this seems like the perfect fit for a nation with wild weather in order to showcase the incredible next-gen graphics of Xbox consoles. Speaking of climate, it appears that Obsidian's new IP will feature a real-time weather system that is going to be an improved version of that from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The place where Avowed is set seems to be one with lots of diversity, but it is unclear if this refers to biomes, characters, creatures, races, or a combination of all these things.
There also seems to be a focus on several next-gen aspects that don't necessarily rely only on graphics, ranging from lighting and global illumination, to how responsive the environment and the characters are. Artificial intelligence is mentioned as a major upgrade from other Obsidian games, which is a big step up for a game as large and complex as Avowed looks to be. This also means that another improvement is allegedly coming in the form of dialogue being more advanced, detailed, and dynamic when compared to other Obsidian titles like the recent The Outer Worlds.
Avowed's Similarities With Morrowind, The Outer Worlds, Dark Souls
Of course, being a next-gen RPG, Avowed is rumored to have a realistic process of character creation and customization, with plenty of depth and detail. Another returning RPG feature from The Outer Worlds, and other RPGs in general, seems to be companions. Plenty of allies can presumably embark on their journey with them, but it also seems that Avowed's system will differ from that of The Outer Worlds. There is supposedly a lot to explore in Avowed, with only a few major settlements scattered around while the rest of the game's map is dominated by wilderness, untamed creatures, and powerful enemies, familiar from Pillars of Eternity.
Last but not least, it is also rumored that Avowed will be featuring massive boss fights on a very large scale, which means that it's not impossible that these bosses will feel a lot like those of Dark Souls. Overall, it seems like Avowed is going to be a very promising game, even if not all the aforementioned alleged leaks prove to be correct. In the meantime, however, fans can only wait and speculate about the game, at least until new details emerge.
Avowed is in development.