Avowed's teaser trailer released by Obsidian Entertainment had fans immediately drawing comparisons to Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series, with many fans hoping that Obsidian could be creating the spiritual successor to Skyrim in the absence of news about The Elder Scrolls 6.
However, to feel truly next-gen, Avowed cannot just emulate Skyrim but will need to find solutions some of its biggest flaws. The faction system in Skyrim requires a lot of overhaul, and with just a few key changes, Avowed could make its organizations feel more organic and more immersive in Obsidian's world of Eora.
Skyrim’s Faction Problem
The faction quests in Skyrim are some of the most fun questlines in the game. The Companions questline has the player transform into a werewolf, the Dark Brotherhood sees them go from being kidnapped to training as a master assassin, and the Thieves Guild quest shows the players rise from pickpocket to Nightingale. However, there’s one consistent problem. In many of the faction questlines the player goes from being the newest recruit in the organization to leading it despite still being the most junior member.
If a Skyrim player does the College of Winterhold questline they see the Arch-Mage of the college die and take over, even if they only got into the college by demonstrating the power of the Voice and not any actual skill in magic. In the Dark Brotherhood questline, the leader dies and the player becomes the Listener. In the Thieves Guild questline, the guild’s leader dies and the player becomes the new leader, despite there being members like Brynjolf who have been in the guild far longer. The main exception to this rule it the Companions, which the player cannot become the leader of due to their non-hierarchical power structure.
Not only is it immersion-breaking for these quests to follow the same basic story arc each time, but even once the quests are over their outcomes have residual effects that undermine the player’s immersion in the game world. The Dragonborn can quite easily find themself the leader of most of Skyrim’s major factions, and yet very rarely has an opportunity to use this power or even mention it in the game.
If the player approaches Ulfric Stormcloak to offer aid to the rebellion and also happens to be the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, that should be an important moment, as the most powerful person in one of Skyrim’s cities has offered their assistance. Instead, the Dragonborn is treated like an average recruit and has no such options to make their actions so far in the game feel like they've made a change in the world.
Taking on Factions in Avowed
There are a few ways that Avowed can solve this problem. There should be more endings to faction questlines than simply becoming the leader. The characters and relationships formed should be the most rewarding part of the quest, not simply moving up through the organization. If the player can become the leader, Avowed's world should meaningfully react to that and treat the player character as such.
Some questlines could even end in failure and tragedy. Others could simply allow the player to become a well-known and respected member of the faction without having to take it over and spend the rest of the game wondering why they’re shirking their duties. If Avowed can do this, then its world of Eora will feel more immersive and more like it exists independently of the player character, perhaps providing the next-gen RPG experience fans have been waiting for.
Avowed is in development for PC and Xbox Series X.