Avowed, the lovely new game from Obsidian, took 6 years, 3 vertical slices, and 2 reboots. I spoke to director Carrie Patel about the long road to completion, her inauspicious start on the project, and what's next. This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet... - ThreadSky

jasonschreier.bsky.social • 1 day ago

Avowed, the lovely new game from Obsidian, took 6 years, 3 vertical slices, and 2 reboots.

I spoke to director Carrie Patel about the long road to completion, her inauspicious start on the project, and what's next. This week's column: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-02-21/new-xbox-game-avowed-took-six-years-two-reboots?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc0MDE2MDg3MiwiZXhwIjoxNzQwNzY1NjcyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTUzFPT0xUMVVNMFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.FhUrXseBBb83k69Ovuo9PgY3sOuBdW-owuWeanAYc5o

Comments

gorknmork.bsky.social•7 hours ago

Like another said, massive pillars fan as well. I was really worried that the switch to fps action rpg would take us away from what made pillars pillars. And it has not. I'm very invested and it still feels like pillars. Love obsidian, love this game.

katakan17.bsky.social•1 day ago

还好，我并不期待一款多人在线RPG

dfsp1.bsky.social•1 day ago

Reading this kind of reinforced my thinking that comparing this to, say, KCD2 and BG3 is really unfair. They might be owned by Microsoft, but they had a notably smaller development team and, considering the reboots, a shorter development time.

zetra3.bsky.social•1 day ago

i question why are we comparing unalike games.

These are all RPGs but extremely different RPGs.

dfsp1.bsky.social•1 day ago

Sadly, I've seen a few reviewers actually doing that comparison and truly can't understand it either.

jasonschreier.bsky.social•1 day ago

I think every game should come with a little tag saying how much it cost to make

amb91.bsky.social•1 day ago

I'm hoping Patel's words that the team's happy with sales is not just PR speak. This game, and the studio, deserve recognition and I am sad and angry that it has been yet another target of incel chuds hate campaign.

Looking forward to playing more, as well TOW 2 later this year (or the next!).

mattjwells.bsky.social•1 day ago

Open zones was a great choice and I hope it gets adopted elsewhere. You feel a sense of progression and each zone feels like its own manageable open world.

ferago42.bsky.social•1 day ago

Use open zones where it makes sense, use open world where it makes sense as well. And by that, I mean it aligns with the goals of the game. The graveyard of videogames is filled with games replicating the one feature that happened to be successful in one game, because it was trendy at that moment.

tabzy.bsky.social•1 day ago

Going to start it later I think 👏

saleemnoorali.com•1 day ago

It almost sounds like the process is the new process for AAA games. Games take way longer to develop, with multiple slices and reboots. Might be why some games are not shown early because it is not what it will end up being.

thegoddamn.icu•1 day ago

first, find the fun systems. then, polish a prototype. is it still fun? If not, back to skunkworks and iteration. jake solomon’s x-com: enemy unknown took a similar long road of small scale iteration before hitting its stride.

saleemnoorali.com•1 day ago

I think "fun" is relative for an industry that largely has been based on trends. What might be fun now, might not be fun 6 years from now. It is weird but that happens so much.

Also, with these companies "fun" does not equal money. The system is broken.

mattburris.bsky.social•1 day ago

Game made me forget lunch yesterday.

keener.me•1 day ago

Really enjoying it. It takes me back to when I played Oblivion for the first time

bigwiggwhatup.bsky.social•1 day ago

I felt the same way about the first zone, but it really falls off after that :|

I wound up skipping almost all the side quests in the final zone bc I was ready for it to be over

segagamer.bsky.social•1 day ago

I don't understand how you can be done with the game so fast?

bigwiggwhatup.bsky.social•23 hours ago

I was sick last week and bought the "5 days early access" edition - finished around 40 hrs.

The formula for every zone never changes: new companion, small hub town w/ ~5 bounties, totem, relatively short main quest

Probably skipped 5+ hours of side quests in the final zone but 100% the others

giulianosse.bsky.social•1 day ago

They most likely didn't. It's one of those chuds who unironically has meltdowns over "terminally online leftists".
Prolly just regurgitating the opinion of their favorite anti-woke grifter.

segagamer.bsky.social•1 day ago

Ah, so someone who doesn't actually have an opinion worth taking seriously then.

Nevermind then.

dogauthier.bsky.social•1 day ago

Repetitiveness and boring cities. The visuals are amazing, the gameplay is okay and the rest is not good.

segagamer.bsky.social•1 day ago

That goes against what everyone else is saying about the game. Are we talking about the same game here?

What's your gamertag?

dogauthier.bsky.social•1 day ago

You're in an echo chamber then

zetra3.bsky.social•1 day ago

Sir. Friend. Compandre. Unless you were B-lining the entire game non-stop sense early access. You physical can't be done with it

bigwiggwhatup.bsky.social•22 hours ago

I laughed at "compandre"
https://bsky.app/profile/bigwiggwhatup.bsky.social/post/3liq3evjuhk2h

zetra3.bsky.social•22 hours ago

I guarantee you skipped most of the game.

bigwiggwhatup.bsky.social•22 hours ago

There's not that much to skip lol idk what to tell you, although I just checked an apparently it was closer to 50 hrs

coffee-videogames.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’m still sad that we will never get to play the version from the 1st trailer, but this is a huge ex. of way showing a game that early is a bad decision. PS’s 4-18 month strategy of trailer to release looks better every day. I lost all interest in Avowed after trailer 2 unfortunately

michaelb1397.bsky.social•1 day ago

It was much darker, gloomier. That was the version I was interested in as well. This one, such teal and purple.

gamingsnob.bsky.social•1 day ago

Oh no! Color!

coffee-videogames.bsky.social•1 day ago

Colour would have nothing to do with it if they weren’t trying to sell the game as part of the pillars franchise. It should have been a completely new IP.

gamingsnob.bsky.social•1 day ago

It is very firmly in the Pillars universe.

coffee-videogames.bsky.social•1 day ago

How to say you’re never played a pillars game without saying it. The first trailer had pillars all over it from an aesthetic perspective. But what they launched does not. If I was originally shown what was shipped & they said brand new ip in a brand new universe, I wouldn’t care that your choices

michaelb1397.bsky.social•1 day ago

Color, like any choice an artist makes, isn't done in a vacuum. It is chosen to convey a message or be read as part of the whole project in some way. By switching palates from the gloomier tones of the initial trailer, what's being suggested by the artist?

fintang.bsky.social•1 day ago

The natural world is alive! I think that's a pretty clear message, which colour helps to carry through, making exploration so much more enticing. Deadfire already established more sunny colourful vibes. Paradis really reminds me of Neketaka. Would you have preferred a more demon's souls palette?

michaelb1397.bsky.social•1 day ago

No, lol. Never Demon's Souls for me. I want to understand why they changed it is all, and why the palette runs parallel to Veilguard's. What's the shift in art direction that has games looking like they took a trip to a color run? Definitely takes the grit and grime out of the setting.

coffee-videogames.bsky.social•1 day ago

It literally made me think Skyrim Fortnite. If they are trying to claim it’s in the Pillars universe, what they released isn’t it. It should have been it’s own game, cause the tone and asthetic does not match

sofajockey.bsky.social•1 day ago

Pete Hines’ ‘rule of one E3’ was a good one (even if the event no longer exists).

msrangers999.bsky.social•1 day ago

around 5hrs in and loving it,it's taken me away from KCD2 (40hrs) never saw that coming.

alex1872.bsky.social•1 day ago

An amazing game, loving it so far ❤️

moldiver.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’m enjoying it but 4 crashes in two nights, I’m playing but always expecting it to crash. Seems I’m not alone with the “Fatal Error” crash.

nickostrem.swifties.social•1 day ago

I think that for most games, the smaller more focused maps are way better than a Skyrim/BotW/GTA style single map and I’m glad Obsidian made TOW/Avowed the way they did.

ferago42.bsky.social•1 day ago

I don't understand why so many reviewers and outlets are saying the game doesn't have choices and consequences. Glad to see I'm not going crazy.

gamingsnob.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's like I'm playing a different game than half of the people giving reactions and reviews. It's not a 10/10 game, but I think it's an awesome achievement and so refreshing. Having an absolute blast with it.

youmaddbro.bsky.social•1 day ago

Is it any good?

sansnompersonne.bsky.social•23 hours ago

Hello Jason,

What would you say is the difference between what Carrie Patel describes here, about the game coalescing at the eleventh hour (not something unusual for the studio apparently), and the concept of "Bioware Magic" that was so derided when it was brought up ?

siren1101.bsky.social•1 day ago

Beat it yesterday with every collectible and side quest completed at 67 hours. I'm a massive Pillars fan (like 700 hours across both games) and I absolutely loved Avowed. Thanking Patel for shifting focus BACK to the rich Eora lore, because it was delicious in Avowed and I have THEORIES

grinningserpent.bsky.social•1 day ago

How does the lore interact with Avowed being classless? Does something happen to make it so that the player character can be every class at once, in terms of lore? Because like sure, maybe everyone can swing a sword or manage a simple cantrip but stuff like Ciphers seemed intrinsic, not learned.

sansnompersonne.bsky.social•1 day ago

Cipher abilities aren't part of the package. If we take Deadfire into account, and considering the Envoy's use of grimoires, they're clearly a wizard multi-classed with something else.

siren1101.bsky.social•1 day ago

Narratively if we *must* assign the envoy a class, then yes I'd say some wizard multiclass. The game will acknowledge you as a wizard too at certain points (Yatzli at least called me a fellow wizard, and I had only invested points in the wizard tree). Not sure about others.

grinningserpent.bsky.social•23 hours ago

Thanks for the information. I hope we get more stuff to do in Eora in the future. Avowed ain't my kinda game but I do like the setting.

exavold.bsky.social•1 day ago

Started playing it after seeing your posts, world feels a little static so far (I've been exploring and barely did any quests, fog of war triggers my reptile brain) but I'm HOOKED on the combat.

Also the visuals are great (if your device can handle it).

ricbr.bsky.social•1 day ago

Nice interview.

jadaphoenix.bsky.social•1 day ago

It’s an accomplishment for sure. I think it’s a superb game. Lots going for it. Well done to the team at Obsidian.

grinningserpent.bsky.social•1 day ago

Not gonna lie, seeing them shut down any idea of being mod friendly in interviews back in January completely killed any interest I had in the game. Outer Worlds had deep flaws, but mods could have fixed it. I feel like Avowed is in the same boat. Mods can give so much life to games

z3bru.bsky.social•1 day ago

After the intitial quick impressions by SkillUp,I was kind of hyped for this game. I never managed to get into skyrim,but seeing the joke videos of players putting a bucket on the shopkeepers head and robbing them blind made me hopeful that similar sandbox would be available in Avowed. Disappointed.

mryuntu.bsky.social•1 day ago

God I hope this game is succesful.

hotpotsot.bsky.social•1 day ago

Great read!

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