"RPGs can be divisive": Obsidian chats all things Avowed – how it overcame the Skyrim comparisons, why there's no Baldur's Gate 3-style romance, and what's next for the 2025 gem

Nearly a year has passed since I wrote my Avowed review, dubbing the new Obsidian Entertainment gem a title that "fills a first-person void within the fantasy RPG genre" – a statement I still stand by. Rather than trying to match Skyrim's vast world or open-ended exploration-based loop, something comparisons presumed it would do thanks to its POV and fantastical setting, Avowed boasts its own unique identity. For that, I continue to love it.

However, it hasn't quite reached fellow genre stans the same way it's reached me. It currently sits with "Mostly Positive" reviews on Steam, and while that's no bad rating by any means, it pales in comparison to some of Obsidian's other wins this year (I'm looking at you, Grounded 2) and Pillars of Eternity – the 2015 CRPG that Avowed shares its world and lore with. The developers are no strangers to players' issues, though.

I sit down with gameplay director Gabriel "Gabe" Paramo and discuss all of this – what makes Avowed so special, how the endless Elder Scrolls comparisons affected development, what Obsidian has planned for the RPG in the future, how the studio has taken feedback on board, and much more. I can already feel myself itching to hop back into the vibrant world of Eora for more talks with Kai, treasure hunting, and to, of course, stop a fire along the way now that I'm older and wiser.

A fruitful future

I can't help but ponder Avowed's future. I know all about the roadmap and the recently delayed fall update, which is now set to arrive "around the anniversary of the game's release next February" with New Game Plus, a photo mode, a new weapon type, the ability to change appearance at the party camp, and more. But "beyond the roadmap," Paramo tells me, there are sadly "no new DLCs or anything like that planned."

As someone with nearly 100 hours in Avowed, I'd love to see the story expand. But, as he explains, there's still plenty to look forward to. One of the major highlights is a new weapon type, the quarterstaff. Pillars of Eternity fans know this one well, and as a magic-oriented player, I'm thrilled to learn it's coming. Why is it only arriving this winter, so long after Avowed's February 2025 launch, though?

"The weapon types you can wield didn't really have enough wizardy vibes," Paramo admits. "So I wanted to make sure that there was a quarterstaff, which is the Gandalf kind of, 'you shall not pass,' staff set up." I'm curious about the combat flexibility, something Avowed absolutely aces, and what players did with it. Was there a certain combination Obsidian took note of?

"I think for me the funnest part about it was watching people discussing in comments what their loadout is," Paramo recalls. "Someone's wielding just a one-handed pistol, and people are like, 'Why aren't you wielding a dual pistol?' The dude's like, 'I want to be a single pistol-wielding, Clint Eastwood character." And why shouldn't he? That's what Avowed is all about. Playing "your way," as the director puts it.

So much to do, so much to see

Something that really stood out to me about Avowed – aside from its twist on the usual RPG combat formula – is its treasure-hunting, and the parkour often accompanying it. According to Paramo, Obsidian included these optional hunts to add to the "explorable space." Sure, the game isn't "open-world" by definition, but you never truly feel restrained by any borders while you're playing, and this capacity for exploration is a big part of why.

Every corner has its "nooks and crannies," and each discovery carries with it a sense of reward. "We made a big map, and we wanted to make sure it was filled with a bunch of treasures and things for the players to collect," describes Paramo. Striking the balance between allowing for players' exploration and having them keep up with the storyline at the same time was "pretty challenging," but hey – I'd personally say that's one area in which Avowed shines.

There's another feature – or, more accurately, lack thereof – that struck me about Avowed before I even played it, too. Romance. We do live in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 world, after all, and in it, expectations of full-blown romance in RPGs are undeniably on the rise. It's something we saw with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and a topic that was on fans' minds prior to Avowed's release.

Sure, there's a heartfelt conclusion with Kai, but there's no traditional romance in the game – no smooching-filled camp cutscenes, if you catch my drift. Paramo explains it "always comes down to time and scope," apparently. "We wanted to make sure the companions were fleshed out," he continues. Romance also isn't for everyone – "it's a divisive thing," as he says.

Fus Ro Nah

I move on, hoping to address the elephant in the room – the one that plagued any and every discussion about Avowed prior to its launch: Skyrim, and the seemingly endless ways eager fans tried to connect the first-person Bethesda classic from 2011 to Obsidian's new game, with its similar POV and fantasy backdrop. I'll admit, when I saw the first trailer, I struggled to push back against the comparisons in my own head, too. With no Elder Scrolls 6 in sight, these sorts of thoughts were amplified tenfold.

It's no secret that the RPG community has been dying for another studio to pick up Skyrim's torch. But Avowed doesn't, and it was never meant to. I ask Paramo how all the comparisons to Bethesda's 2011 banger – and the expectations from fans that came with them – influenced development, or any considerations for future content. "It's super important when you're making a first-person camera, hands-in-front-of-your-face RPG, that you're able to just know that that comes with expectations," he replies.

Obsidian learned that such games are "just going to come with expectations of something – maybe more than we were planning," and that's precisely what happened with Avowed. "I do think a learning point is to just be transparent, show more gameplay earlier, and get more feedback earlier from actual players." As for what actually inspired abilities, combat, and the like, it was mostly Pillars of Eternity – but "it's hard not to compare it to the Skyrim system as well."

Ultimately, Paramo says the team emulated "something Skyrim did really well" in post-launch patches. Namely, fixing how tedious the weapon upgrading loop felt to some people: making it "not really feel like the player was forced to have to use these systems, but if they wanted to they could engage with it more so." Unsurprisingly, you can still find Steam reviews citing Skyrim as what they figured Avowed would be like – but, as one points out, it in fact "plays like a first-person version of Pillars Of Eternity."

To Pillars of Eternity and beyond

Pillars of Eternity came first, so it's no shock to me that much of Avowed's player base is familiar with it. Not everyone is, however, so I ask Paramo if Obsidian took this into account during development. Were devs hoping to reach newcomers and those with experience in Eora? "The goal was always both. I think the goal was always, 'How do we make sure there's enough of Pillars?' We're following the lore. We're following the rules."

He continues: "If we decide to break any of those lore rules, we're doing a good job explaining it." At the same time, as Paramo details, Obsidian had to grapple with establishing Avowed as "a different game" – one that doesn't follow the CRPG formula, doesn't lean as hard on numbers, isn't as "deep" with its systems, and is "a little bit more forgiving" with "a lot more focus on the action, that faster-paced gameplay."

Avowed was set up so that people could learn about its world and become interested in it, but there were still "a bunch of nods" from Pillars of Eternity for fans. This rings especially true regarding abilities. Obsidian's aim was to "convert" them "from a top-down CRPG into what it would feel like if it were actually in your hands and you were doing it."

Looking back, then forward

As we get closer to wrapping our conversation up, I consider Avowed's mixed reception. It's got "Mostly Positive" reviews on Steam, but that's not what I expected to see after enjoying it myself. Evidently, it didn't land with every player. As an RPG that has resonated with some fans more than others, what has Obsidian made of the overall rating and feedback surrounding Avowed since its release?

"For me, it's just managing players' expectations," admits Paramo, "but I would say every update we do has revolved around the community sentiment. I'm very happy it's not universally hated; RPGs can be divisive. There are just systems in it that people either really liked or they don't like." Some "universally hated" features, as the gameplay director puts it, have taken more of a priority.

One example is the upgrading system, and so Obsidian patched it up. There are plenty of other points of criticism the team continues to fix, from more ability tree points to customizable key bindings. "We do really listen to the community, and we work with our community team, and they do a great job basically providing that data for us," Paramo says. Regardless of devs' efforts, though, one fact still rings true.

"You're going to get people who really love it and people who really don't love it," says Paramo. It's not exclusive to Avowed, or even to video games as a whole – but I can wholeheartedly say I'm definitely with the former group when it comes to Obsidian's recent RPG. The storytelling stands out to me as some of the best to come out of the industry in 2025, and I look forward to seeing where 2026 takes Avowed.

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