Avowed's Anniversary Update is out now, adding a new weapon, quality-of-life features, updated skill trees, a New Game Plus mode, and most excitingly, playable races to Obsidian Entertainment's RPG. But whether you choose to play as a chubby dwarf or a furry orlan, the fantasy game won't give you access to "unique dialogue choices" based on your race.
Avowed's gameplay director Gabe Paramo tells RPG Site that letting folks pick between roleplaying as a dwarf, elf, orlan, aumaua or pre-existing human "was actually quite difficult" to pull off in the new update. "It took a ton of work from our gameplay engineers and character artists to make sure all of the character customization options worked across the new races, and that our in-world interactions all synced up properly regardless of the player's height or proportions."
However, Paramo also explains that the post-launch team working on the Anniversary Update was "primarily made up of people focused on the PS5 port and gameplay, without dedicated narrative people available," which is likely why the studio "weren't able to add unique dialogue choices based on the player's race."
Avowed does feature tons of unique, personalized dialogue options depending on which background you've chosen for your character, so it seems a little odd that NPCs would react to your facial mutations and history, say, but not your race. But I guess more options can't hurt, right?
Plus, the new races aren't purely cosmetic. Paramo says each race has their own stat bonuses, "so there's still a meaningful mechanical distinction tied to that choice."
Still, in-depth reactivity based on your race seems like the kind of feature that would be added in a potential Avowed 2. When asked about a sequel, Paramo simply said that Obsidian Entertainment is a studio "that loves to build on what came before" and the team loves the shared Pillars of Eternity universe. Make of that what you will.
Avowed missed sales goals, but Obsidian's RPG still beat huge games like Silksong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in daily Xbox player count last year
