Avowed takes Skyrim's approach to combat and evolves it, allowing players to "build the character they want to play who fights the way they want to fight"

If what you've seen of upcoming RPG Avowed and its first-person combat reminds you of something, you're not alone. We praised the look of its apparent Skyrim-like workings last year, but after sitting down with game director Carrie Patel and gameplay director Gabe Paramo, the similarities are down to Obsidian's intent on expanding and improving upon the feel of certain genre titans.

Skyrim proved a useful jumping-off point for Paramo. "We've looked at games that were a master class in their sense of hitting and their weightedness, and tried to really improve upon just that feeling: feeling good to hit characters." This focus on player experience is just one core tenet of Avowed, and with it comes an experimental approach to build-crafting and combat.

Keeping it classy 

"This is a classless system," explains Patel. "There is a ton of freedom that players have in mixing and matching the combination of skills and weapons, and so I think players are going to have a really wonderful time pursuing their fantasy of their character in this world – whether it's a very traditional recognizable archetype, like a sword-and-board warrior, a two-handed weapon wielder, or something a little crazier like the gunslinging mage."

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If you're like me, the lack of a combat class system in an RPG of Avowed's size might sound daunting. It's the bread and butter of games like Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, and many other fantasy RPGs, giving us an opportunity to play to our strengths from the get-go. But all of this speaks to Avowed's determination to deliver the ultimate magical fantasy, one that incentivizes players to switch up their builds on the fly without something as restrictive as a preordained gameplay class holding them back.

In evolving the classic Skyrim-esque combat experience, Paramo also cites a desire to switch up funnelling mechanics that force players to get around a combat problem in one way. "Like, hey, here's a character that's blocking, you need to power attack that," he uses as an example. In Avowed, however, there are other ways to break an enemy's blocking stance.

"I can use 'Pull of Eora' that gets them out of the block," Paramo says, "Or I can use charge. So there are other sorts of abilities and mechanics that funnel into a singular concept. That's a little bit more interesting than just hacking and slashing and being able to get through every combatant just by pressing one button."

These mechanics and abilities could be tied to the skill tree. Avowed's progression system is a points-based one that rewards you for progressing and playing through the game. Your companions and their own skills and abilities will also be upgradable, making them "better and more efficient in combat" according to Paramo. But how exactly do companions work in Avowed? 

"If you go into an encounter, they will follow you and they'll fight alongside you," Patel explains. "And they'll draw some of the aggro with you. But yes, you can absolutely make use of their specific abilities, which are all tied to their combat roles if you want to exercise a little more control." Combat roles here sound suspiciously similar to combat classes after all, but with Avowed prioritizing a more trial-and-error approach to build re-speccing, perhaps these roles will be player-determined rather than categorized by the game itself.

At the end of the day, Obsidian is committed to innovating how players view and experience combat in a fantasy RPG. That's down to its innovative synthesis of player choice, build-crafting, and familiar game mechanics. When asked how Avowed compares to the likes of Skyrim in terms of combat variety, immersion, and dynamism, Patel says the game succeeds across the board. "I think it's both the promise of the player fantasy and getting to build the character they want to play, who fights the way that they want to fight, but also having those choices however the players decide to spec [their character]."

Avowed is yet to receive a concrete release date outside of the broader "fall 2024" window, but it's certainly one upcoming Xbox exclusive for RPG fans to keep an eye on. "I'm just excited about being able to be more transparent as we slowly reveal more throughout the rest of the year," says Paramo. "The internet's the internet: you're gonna get positive feedback, you're gonna get not as positive feedback, and that's fine. I'm just happy that we're able to iterate on that feedback and keep polishing stuff up before we release [it] later this year."

Here's an at-a-glance look at all the new games for 2024 on the way, from Star Wars Outlaws to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.