Official Thread Avowed - Fall 2024

TeKPhaN

I deal in absolutes
Sep 11, 2013
37,907
9,328
4,031
The Delaware Valley

POE connection?



"The upcoming first-person open world RPG Avowed takes place in the land of Eora, the same fantasy setting as Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Some fans have assumed Avowed is Obsidian Entertainment's attempt to make a next-gen sequel to their iconic fantasy franchise, but visual clues in the latest trailer strongly imply that Avowed is a prequel to the Pillars of Eternity games, telling a story about the rise of Eora's greatest empire and, perhaps, the fall of their greatest goddess.

Both Pillars of Eternity games drew narrative and gameplay inspiration from the Baldur's Gate franchise, an isometric Bioware-developed RPG series which adapted the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG to a digital format. Like the Baldur's Gate games, gameplay in Pillars of Eternity revolved around the tactical maneuverings of fantasy heroes in an adventuring party as they navigated the Renaissance-inspired fantasy world of Eora and uncovered dark secrets related to the nature of gods and the cycle of reincarnation.

Avowed, gameplay-wise, seems to draw inspiration from the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (and Obsidian's own first-person sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds) judging by the viewpoint character's dual-wielding of swords and magic in the trailer. The narrator of the Avowed trailer, much like in the premiere Skyrim trailer, warns prospective players about the "monsters our sins have borne" while musing on the nature of war, monarchy, and oaths. Obsidian hasn't explicitly stated whether Avowed is a sequel or prequel to their Pillars of Eternity games. However, there are many symbols and visual motifs in the cinematic trailer which hint that Avowed takes place centuries before Pillars of Eternity, if not millennia.

Souls and Divinity have always been major themes of the Pillars of Eternity games, with the core conflicts of both titles revolving around questions like "What are Gods?" and "Should we be worshiping them?" Avowed's gameplay is explicitly about the nature of oaths and vows, with the trailer's narrator alluding to a holy order of warriors that "forged an empire" with the "power of their oaths." These two themes aren't as contradictory as they seem at first glance; old-school Oaths and Vows were made by invoking deities who smiled upon the honorable and punished oath-breakers.

Additionally, the trailer for Avowed shows two symbols used by deities from the pantheon of Pillars of Eternity. The huge statue of the warrior with a wolf companion is Galawain, patron of the hunt and wild places. The fluttering castle banners display the crown of Woedica, goddess of law and justice, commonly referred to as the "Oathbinder." In Pillars of Eternity, Woedica is the patron deity of the expansionist Aedyr Empire. Juxtaposed with the "forged an empire" line from the trailer, the implication is that Avowed will be a prequel, not a sequel, to Pillars of Eternity, focused on the Woedica-worshiping heroes who built the Aedyr Empire and how their bond with their goddess was shattered by a cruel betrayal."
 
I am surprised this wasn't posted here yet. So a few weeks ago a poster on ResetEra by the name of Sponger (verified) gave a leak about this game. Tons of info. I hope so much all of this is in because it sounds amazing. Matty made a video about it recently and I highly recommend watching it.

 
I am surprised this wasn't posted here yet. So a few weeks ago a poster on ResetEra by the name of Sponger (verified) gave a leak about this game. Tons of info. I hope so much all of this is in because it sounds amazing. Matty made a video about it recently and I highly recommend watching it.


Sounds great, but much like a lot of other reveals we are seeing lately, too far away. Games 2-3 years away just do nothing for me.
Obsidian is the real deal and I’ll have eyes on this one, but it’s just way too early.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Dno69
Sounds great, but much like a lot of other reveals we are seeing lately, too far away. Games 2-3 years away just do nothing for me.
Obsidian is the real deal and I’ll have eyes on this one, but it’s just way too early.
You blasphemous mutherfvcker! You will be excite! None of this "games 2 or 3 years out do nothing for me" bulls***! Bow down to your Avowed gods with acute enthusiasm, you coward!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Swede
This is probably my most anticipated title, across all platforms. I've always wondered what Obsidian could do with a proper budget and we finally get to see that, been a long time coming.

What if....since they're using the same game engine (UE5) as Ninja Theory and they're under the same roof, NT passes some of that animation tech to Obsidian? Could you imagine the improved quality of the user experience if every character had facial animations comparable to the Hellblade 2 demo? It would be a game changer in terms of immersion for a game type that heavily relies on NPC communications.

Even if the Hellblade 2 demo wasn't possible in real time gameplay, character interactions don't require processing for physics, AI, etc and could be rendered at a really high level of fidelity similar to realtime cut scenes. We've yet to see any dev go all out in this area.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: pravus and TeKPhaN
What if....since they're using the same game engine (UE5) as Ninja Theory and they're under the same roof, NT passes some of that animation tech to Obsidian? Could you imagine the improved quality of the user experience if every character had facial animations comparable to the Hellblade 2 demo? It would be a game changer in terms of immersion for a game type that heavily relies on NPC communications.

Even if the Hellblade 2 demo wasn't possible in real time gameplay, character interactions don't require processing for physics, AI, etc and could be rendered at a really high level of fidelity similar to realtime cut scenes. We've yet to see any dev go all out in this area.

This, imo is something Sony seems to do so well. There really seems to be an effort to keep a consistent tech level between studios, and MS would be wise to emulate it.
 
This, imo is something Sony seems to do so well. There really seems to be an effort to keep a consistent tech level between studios, and MS would be wise to emulate it.

Yes it is. Spencer discussed it last year that they are sharing tech. Wasn't super specific on what. I know Rare and NT have been working together on procedural tech (likely implemented in both Hellblade 2 and Everwild). With Microsoft now tripling down on Game Stack and working towards being more of a resource to development tools throughout the industry, I'd hope that we start to see them leading in some categories with their own games. They've been weak on tech advancements outside of driveatars for a decade. Expecting that to switch around.
 
Dang Avowed and Elder Scrolls!
Wonder how close both will release?

Definitely need to be at least a year apart. They showed Skyrim in 2018 probably been in development for at least a year considering they showed off the map maybe more. I’d say 2022 for Skyrim, at least 5 year dev time, 2023/4 for Avowed. 4/5 year dev time.
 
This, imo is something Sony seems to do so well. There really seems to be an effort to keep a consistent tech level between studios, and MS would be wise to emulate it.

they have a studio in Santa Monica that’s dedicated just for that, the exchange of tech/knowledge. It’s pretty neat.

I know rare has shared tech with playground and the PUBG devs, as did the coalition
 
^not sure that Twitter gets anything right. Sometimes it seems like they just play darts and hope to land one on occasion, by coincidence.
 
Dang Avowed and Elder Scrolls!
Wonder how close both will release?
Probably not as close as I would have preferred. It sounds like Bethesda is working primarily on Starfield, while Obsidian is in full production on Avowed.

Elder Scrolls VI is likely not going to release until a few years after Starfield. But we'll hopefully get ESVI before Avowed 2.