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Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Obsidian became Xbox's most prolific studio: "There's not a lot of studios at Microsoft that have an entire external developer making the whole game for them"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. 2025 is the year of Obsidian Entertainment. Formed 22 years ago, the legendary RPG maker responsible for Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas, Alpha Protocol and countless other video games is on something of a hot streak. Microsoft Gaming purchased Obsidian in 2018, folding the team into the Xbox Game Studios group. Since then it has wrapped production of The Outer Worlds; released Grounded, supporting it through years of early access and regular content drops; released Pentiment in 2022, and Avowed in 2025 following a short delay; and managed to bring Grounded and Pentiment to PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch as part of Microsoft's multiplatform initiative. If that weren't enough, it also has The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2 set to release this year. It's a lot, particularly for a first-party studio operating within the Xbox ecosystem. I was keen to understand how the studio has managed this flood of new releases, and thankfully the teams at Obsidian Entertainment were only too happy to answer. When Xbox revealed Grounded 2 at the Xbox Showcase, it announced that "Obsidian and Eidos Montréal have joined forces to bring you the next chapter with even more depth, danger, and discovery to experience." The way development responsibilities have been split between the two award-winning teams says a lot about the flexibility Obsidian has been afforded by Xbox Game Studios. "Grounded 2 is actually a good example of our growth as a developer. We could not do what we're doing right now if we didn't have great development partners and co-dev partners," says Feargus Urquhart, studio head and CEO at Obsidian. "That's one of the big transitions for us" Urquhart says that it has long been his ambition for Obsidian to scale beyond the boundaries of a traditional studio, simply shifting from one project to the next. "With Pillars of Eternity 2, we signed up a publisher late because we really wanted to start publishing games ourselves. We didn't really have the people internally, so we hired some people in but it didn't really work out. So unlike CD Projekt RED, BioWare, and others who were on the cusp of becoming publishers we weren't getting there." "We wound up talking to Eidos about some other stuff and it turned out that they had a small team who absolutely loved Grounded" Chris Parker, game director "This isn't me saying that Microsoft is allowing us to become a publisher," he laughs. "It's more that the acquisition has allowed us to become a more multi-faceted developer, which is what I've always wanted to do." This is a key component behind how Obsidian has been able to scale so quickly, and maintain such a rapid-fire release schedule. Urquhart adds: "It's allowed us to sign up external teams. There's not a lot of studios at Microsoft that have an entire external developer making the whole game for them." Grounded 2 has been in development for just under two years, meaning it entered production around a year after the release of Grounded 1.0 and a year before the survival-adventure made its way to PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. Around this same time, Obsidian was juggling development of Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2. Grounded attracted over 25 million players into the backyard, it's popular and there were demands for more; but how could Obsidian have possibly squeezed in a sequel? "The Grounded team was relatively small, it maxed out in the 20s," says Chris Parker, Obsidian co-founder and Grounded 2 game director. "When we started thinking about doing Grounded 2 it was fortuitous how it worked out, actually, because we wound up talking to Eidos about some other stuff and it turned out that they had a small team who absolutely loved Grounded. They were almost pitching us on the sequel." From there a "significant team up at Eidos" and a "relatively large group at Obsidian" came together to push Grounded 2 through production. Grounded 1's game director Adam Brennecke, its lead programmer Roby Atadero, art director Kazunori Aruga, along with six other principal leads and a small internal steering group at Obsidian joined Parker to collaborate closely with Eidos. "We are constantly at each other's offices. We're talking about stuff daily. It's a really healthy relationship. And because they actually love the game at Eidos, it's not like this dispassionate contractor that we've hired. They are bringing all their own stuff to the table," says Parker. Grounded 2 producer Miles Winzeler adds: "Obsidian and Eidos have similar design goals as studios. We mesh really well together. It's also the difference between the two of them that's been a big strength. It means Grounded 2 will feel like its own piece, as they are able to flex what they're best at, too." Urquhart uses Voltron as his point of reference to describe how external teams join together with Obsidian to create something bigger, more powerful. He tells me that before the 2018 acquisition into the Xbox Game Studios group, Obsidian largely handled work in-house outside of VO, QA, and localization departments. But support from Xbox has allowed the studio to expand here in all areas of design, and reconnect with friends and former developers from across the years. Obsidian is collaborating with Aspiring Unicorn, UI and UX experts working across The Outer Worlds 2. There's a relationship with Digimancy Entertainment, founded by Obsidian veteran George Ziets, and with Beamdog – co-founded by Trent Oster of BioWare, who Urquhart first encountered while working on Shattered Steel at Interplay two decades ago. Urquhart is quick to shout about these relationships (and plenty more of them). Both as an example of the ensuring legacy of Obsidian and how the studio is able to grow the scope of its projects without growing the studio too quickly. "The idea is not to be doing way more than what we're doing right now" Feargus Urquhart, studio head and CEO Still, I wonder whether an increasing reliance on co-dev and outsourcing risks diminishing the identity of an Obsidian game. Urquhart says it's better to think of it as augmenting. With the right people in place, scaling this way is only to the benefit of the games coming out of the studio. "The person in charge of the day-to-day collaboration with Eidos Montreal is Chris Parker, right. He was the producer on Baldur's Gate 2 and he has this length of experience working with external developers. It comes back to this question of, 'What are our strengths?' 'Do we have the people who do these things?'" "The idea is not to be doing way more than what we're doing right now, but I think we've hit a really good size and a really good amount of things we can do. I can still be involved in all of it too, and not lose my mind – at least no more than I already have," he laughs. "You know, Obsidian was founded by three producers, a designer, and a programmer. The intent was always to do this with our projects. Back then it was a little bit more for survival, now it's because I think it makes us better game makers." Working with external development partners is one piece of the puzzle, but not the entire picture. One way Obsidian is able to unleash Avowed, Grounded 2, and The Outer Worlds 2 within a single year is partly because of its ethos as a group: "Perfect is the enemy of the good," says Urquhart. "Our job is to make amazing games, not perfect games." In a world where six-to-eight years is threatening to become the standard timeframe for AAA, first-party game development, seeing Obsidian become so prolific has been great to watch from a distance. Taken at an individual level, the studio is delivering exceptionally fun titles that share a consistent quality – they aren't necessarily changing the video game industry in a fundamental way, but then I suspect that they aren't supposed to. "We've made sure to never lose the muscle memory of having multiple teams, and of having the teams build off of each other" Justin Britch, executive producer "There was a big push for a long time of everything needing to be bigger, better, and perfect, and 'ahhhh'," screams Urquhart, before chuckling: "hey, you know what 'ahhhh' means." What he's saying here is that this need for first-party studios to be operating on a level above the rest of the industry "can lead to trying to move on too many fronts at once." He adds: "That's the biggest thing for us, identifying what we are good at, what we can do with the time that we have, and then just focus on the content that we're creating – because that's what the player actually plays!" The sentiment that "our job is to make amazing games, not perfect games" feels like a healthy outlook to have. The industry is in a bit of a difficult position right now. The cost of video game development is spiralling, with some of that cost starting to come back on the consumer – The Outer Worlds 2 will be Xbox's first game priced at $80. The playerbase is increasing, albeit focused on a smaller selection of titles thanks in no small part to the live-service explosion in 2017. And it seems like we're barely able to go a month without some prominent, legendary development studio suffering layoffs (something the Xbox Game Studios group hasn't been immune to either). Is there not a pressure to deliver "perfect" in this environment? "Nobody at Xbox is putting that pressure on us," says Marcus Morgan, executive producer of Grounded 2. "But it's there in the back of our minds, right? It's something we think about, and something we talked a lot about early on. There were even some moments of like, teenage years, growing through becoming a first-party studio where we wrestled with that pressure." "In one of the first meetings that we had with [Matt Booty, president of game content and studios] and the rest of Xbox after the acquisition, they asked us to continue being true to who we are and they have given us the space to do that. We've made sure to never lose the muscle memory of having multiple teams, and of having the teams build off of each other. We haven't lost that rhythm post-acquisition," adds Justin Britch, executive producer of The Outer Worlds 2. "Every studio has its own role to play in the industry, and its own role to play within the organization that it's in… We want to make games that we're really proud of and get them out into the world. That's our role, and we've been really fortunate to be able to do that within the Xbox ecosystem." Both Morgan and Britch point to Obsidian operating with multiple teams shifting between projects as a point of pride. "We've always been a multi-project studio," says Morgan. "We always have multiple teams working on multiple games, which is somewhat unique – especially in the first-party ecosystem." This way of operating, Britch tells me, intersects directly with another focus for Obsidian: "We have a principal at the studio about building on past success. Some of the studios who I really admire have this iterative approach and keep building on a formula. We try to do the same. We try to keep pushing things forward while recognizing what really worked well; we don't need to reinvent the things that really matter." "That's a component of how we're able to ship multiple games and keep shipping them, because we're so focused on building on our past successes, making them better while making sure that we aren't throwing everything out and starting over every time, because that can make it take a really long time to bring out new games," he adds. "We're just becoming what we've always wanted to become" Feargus Urquhart, studio head and CEO at Obsidian "Another major thing is that you learn when you ship," says Urquhart, speaking to Obsidian's dedication to shorter development cycles. "Not only do you learn because you actually finish a project, but you learn because your game goes out there and people tell you what they really think of it. The longer you go between those cycles, the less you're learning." At this point Urquhart points to Baldur's Gate 3 as an example, something that happens countless times during our conversation – clearly the Larian RPG is on the veteran RPG maker's mind. "The only reason Baldur's Gate 3 can exist is because Divinity Original Sin 2 existed. If Larian took 10 years to develop Original Sin and then 10 years to develop Original Sin 2, then there's no Baldur's gate 3. That's what's super important to me. The idea is that when we ship, we learn; the pursuit of perfection leads to not shipping." A phrase that Urquhart likes to wheel out is "constraints breed creativity." What's interesting here is that, for Obsidian, the constraints seem self-imposed. There's a strong impulse to continue iterating on its foundations, rather than rip them up to try and build something more audacious. A desire to work with external developers and partners rather than grow too quickly, a mind-share of expertise internally and across the industry. And it's in the combination of all of these things which has allowed Obsidian to become the most prolific studio within the Xbox Game Studios group. "Remember, even the work that's done outside of Obsidian comes back inside the building, and that builds on what we're doing" says Urquhart. "There's technology from Grounded that's in Avowed, technology from Avowed that's in Grounded 2, and so on. I'm super thankful that Microsoft has allowed us to build out this group of developers and support networks, and that it just lets us be… Obsidian. We're just becoming what we've always wanted to become, which is this more well-rounded group who is able to take on a lot more of the stuff that we've always wanted to do." The upcoming Xbox Series X games lineup includes Grounded 2, which launches into Game Preview, Game Pass, and Steam Early Access on July 29, 2025. It is followed by upcoming Obsidian game The Outer Worlds 2 on October 29, 2025 where it will release for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Game Pass. Avowed launched on PC and Xbox Series X on February 13, 2025. Exclusive | Inside Xbox Play Anywhere: As Xbox Play Anywhere takes center stage, the future of Xbox has never been clearer. To learn more about the initiative, we spoke to leaders from across Xbox Game Studios: "Our plan is to keep making amazing games and have them reach as many players as we can"Gears of War: Reloaded campaign preview: If playing this classic campaign co-op with one player on a PS5 and the other on an Xbox Series X is wrong, then we don't want to be right. This is shaping up to be the terrific and loving re-release that builds on the success of Gears' 2015 Ultimate of War: Reloaded multiplayer preview: Both the best and worst thing we can say about returning to the multiplayer mode that once defined our lives is – it's still Gears of War. Chunky, uneven, and punishing. It's a tricky proposition in 2025, but we're so glad Gears is back in Gaiden 4 hands-on preview: It's clear from slicing and dicing waves of enemies that, yes, the joys of the best 3D games in this series are back (and yes, we did manage to beat the boss fight). Talking to the devs, we reflect on the evolution of the action game genre over the last Gaiden 4 interview: Team Ninja and PlatinumGames say that "Soulslikes have kind of taken center stage" since the last installment to the Ninja Gaiden series, but the devs promise that "we are going against the trend in that way" with the upcoming 2025 release of Ninja Gaiden 2 hands-on preview: 30 minutes with a survival game like Grounded 2 is just scratching the surface, but we are already hooked. Talking with the devs, they explain why now was the right time to jump into a full, numbered Grounded 2 an Xbox exclusive? Obsidian won't rule out bringing Grounded 2 to PS5 and other platforms in the future (just as its predecessor did in 2024), but says that this initial release is "all about being in Game Preview and Early Access"Grounded 2 player count: Everything is bigger in Grounded 2, but Obsidian never considered stretching beyond four-players. Speaking to GR+, the studio says doing so "would have undermined what Grounded was really about."Grounded 2 roadmap: Obsidian is targeting updates every "four to five months" after the studio learned the hard way: "When we started with Grounded 1 in early access we were trying to do monthly updates – that was a hassle and it didn't work"ROG Xbox Ally X hands-on preview: With its first handheld, Xbox's 'Play Anywhere' strategy is coming into sharper focus. And I'm not saying I regret buying a Nintendo Switch 2 at launch... but the ROG Xbox Ally X is almost everything I want from a new Xbox Outer Worlds 2 hands-on preview: This sequel feels like one of our favorite RPG devs (they also made Fallout: New Vegas and Avowed) finally got the resources to make a new sci-fi adventure with the scope they deserve. Full of details, choices, and great action, this is shaping up to be Outer Worlds 2 exclusive interview: With The Outer Worlds 2, Obsidian Entertainment is dedicated to making sneaky playstyles truly viable in its upcoming sequel: "We have a strike team going room-by-room to see if we can stealth properly through each location"The rising cost of video games: The Xbox Showcase confirmed that The Outer Worlds 2 will be the first video game out of Xbox Game Studios in 2025 to cost $80. Obsidian Entertainment says we don't set the prices for our games" and wishes "everybody could play" its new RPG.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Outer Worlds 2 director says not every RPG is "for every single person," so Obsidian is "not going to make a game for literally everybody" because "it waters down the experience a lot"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It's no secret that The Outer Worlds 2 stands apart from the RPG genre with its unique story and systems – features that game director Brandon Adler says Obsidian Entertainment wouldn't give up to cater to all flavors of players rather than a niche, because "sometimes you have to pick a lane." Speaking to RPG Site in a recent interview, Adler, whose background includes genre gems like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, explains what makes The Outer Worlds 2 different than other games more modern players might be familiar with. Between its New Vegas-inspired perk system that lets players "build out really crazy combinations of stuff and get these fun gameplay effects going" and no respec ability, there's a lot. That's right – Obsidian, the company that now proudly stands as Xbox's most prolific studio, won't "allow" fans to respec in The Outer Worlds 2, even if many "love respec" overall. "I personally want the player to understand their choices are permanent – they matter – and then they think more about their choices." With respec enabled, lots of players don't do so (and I, admittedly, tend to be one of them while playing RPGs). "There's a lot of times where you'll see games where they allow infinite respec, and at that point I'm not really role-playing a character, because I'm jumping between – well my guy is a really great assassin that snipes from long range, and then oh, y'know, now I'm going to be a speech person, then respec again, and it's like… for me, it's not wrong that people like to play like that," describes Adler. Not wrong, but not right for The Outer Worlds 2. "Look, if we're going to do The Outer Worlds 2, I want to make sure that the role-playing is really strong," admits the lead. "I want to make sure that you're building your character and really doubling down – making sure that role-playing comes through the whole experience." If that means that the pool of potential players is smaller, Adler says that's all right. Catering to literally everybody just is "not as important" as making the game developers want. "It's probably not a popular thing for me to say," states the director. "But, like, that's just not as important. That doesn't come into the calculus of the cool, fun game I want to make." The lead says developers "want to respect people's time, and for me in a role-playing game, this is respecting somebody's time." In an RPG like The Outer Worlds 2, it's all about the decisions a player makes and how much they matter throughout the game. "Saying your choices matter, so take that seriously – and we're going to respect that by making sure that we give you cool reactivity for those choices that you're making," explains Adler, "that's respecting your time." It may not be for everyone, but it'll certainly be for someone. "You've got to be clear with people early on what the experience they're getting is. If that's not for them, that's understandable." The director concludes by reaffirming his points: "We hope that we can convince you that it is – but I'm also not going to make a game for literally everybody because then I feel it waters down the experience a lot. I mean, yeah – we want to make a game that people want to continue playing for a long time, obviously. But I'll tell you, not every game is for every single person. Sometimes you have to pick a lane." That you to know more about one of the most exciting new games yet? Check out our The Outer Worlds 2 preview to read our thoughts on the RPG sequel.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Xbox's Latest Big Single-Player RPG Was Originally Pitched As Skyrim + Destiny
Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed is a wonderful single-player RPG featuring large fantasy zones to explore and chatty companions. But that wasn't always the plan. In fact, it was originally designed as an online game similar to Destiny. According to a new Bloomberg article, Avowed—out now on Xbox, PC, and Game Pass—started life back in 2018 as something the then-independent Obsidian could present to prospective buyers. The game was planned to be the Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity studio's magnum opus and was going to be an online fantasy RPG mashing together Destiny and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The ambitious pitch called for players to adventure together online in a huge open world. Later in 2018, Microsoft bought Obsidian and work continued on Avowed. But the game struggled to come together, and by the time Xbox announced Avowed publicly in 2020, Obsidian had cut the multiplayer out entirely. Then in January 2021, Obsidian scrapped that version of the game, which had been in development for two years. Carrie Patel took over as director and she implemented two big changes. The first was to focus more on the world and lore of Pillars of Eternity, and the second was to replace the Skyrim-like open world with large 'zones.' This was the same approach used in The Outer Worlds, Obsidian's sci-fi RPG from 2019, and it helped the team build different, varied locales and skip over a ton of technical hurdles. 'With any game you think, 'OK, we can't climb every mountain — which ones are really worth the effort for us?'' Patel told Bloomberg. 'We knew from The Outer Worlds that we could build a really great game with 'open zones,' and that also adds some advantages in terms of letting you really theme your areas more distinctly and intentionally, and provide a sense of progression as the player's going from one environment to the next.' All that hard work and the messy development cycle, including multiple vertical slices and reboots, paid off in the end, as Avowed has received near-universal praise from critics and has proved a hit for Xbox's Game Pass service. 'I feel like I've learned so much over the past four years that I wish I'd known at the start of this process,' admitted Patel. 'It's definitely been a job where the highs are really high and the lows are really low.' As for what's next? Patel says she'd 'love' to do more with the Avowed team in the Pillars of Eternity world. But for now, Obsidian won't say what's next for the Xbox workhorse studio. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Avowed review: Elder Scrolls? I don't know her
Sorry, beefcakes, but this review isn't for you. All the fighters and rangers out there will still get a sense of how phenomenal Avowed is, the lushness of its environments, the clarity of its combat systems and the depth of its conversation trees — but at its core, this is the review for Avowed players who want to spend their time in the Living Lands learning how to become a master of mushroom-powered magic. This is the Avowed review for wizards. And, sure, all of their friends. To be clear, I would happily play Avowed as any mixture of classes, and I'm likely going to boot up a new campaign and do exactly this very soon. But in my first runthrough, I wanted to see if the game would let me live out my fantastical spell-slinging dreams, and it absolutely did. Avowed is a first-person, open-world RPG from Obsidian and it's a spin-off of the studio's Pillars of Eternity series, but it introduces an entirely fresh storyline and map, and doesn't require any existing knowledge of that universe. You are the envoy to the powerful Aedyran empire and you've just landed on the shores of the Living Lands, a lawless region occupied by outcasts, criminals and refugees from the wider world. Aedyr and its goon squad, the Steele Garrote, are making inroads in this land and attempting to wrest control of its settlements in the name of law and order. You know, classic colonizer shit. However, that's not why you're here — you're on a mission to uncover the source of the Dreamscourge, a rapidly spreading illness that consumes the minds of people and animals, covering their bodies in bright fungal growths and turning them into rabid killing machines. It's kind of like cordyceps in The Last of Us, but with rainbow face mushrooms and rambling spiritual breakdowns preceding the full zombie phase. Advertisement The Dreamscourge's growths look eerily similar to markings on your own face, but you've carried yours since birth and they signify you as a godlike, someone who's been touched by one of the many deities of this world. This is a rare and special status, and part of your journey involves uncovering the identity of your god, a mystery that's haunted your entire life. What's more, as you interact with aquamarine pillars of spiritual power called adra, a booming voice interrupts your thoughts and dreams, begging you to trust it and claiming it can help cleanse the world. Avowed This complex foundation forms a tapestry of twisting, interlocking narrative threads that span politics, military strategy, religion, occultism, science, trust, relationships, duty and identity over 45 hours of playtime. That's for a fairly focused run, too — I skipped plenty of sidequests in the interest of finishing the game before my deadline, and a full, leisurely playthrough could easily have tacked on 20 more hours and oodles of narrative intrigue. The lore runs deep in Avowed and each of its storylines is handled with supreme care, as are all of the notes, letters, poems and plaques scattered across the Living Lands. There are thousands of completely optional pieces of writing to find here, and each one is delivered in its own voice, serving its own purpose. Avowed is full of life and its history was written with a deft hand. After creating my character with purple and pink hair, yellow freckles and big coral mushroom paddles across my eyes, I chose to be a Court Augur — the most mystical option — and started building out my interpersonal and mana-generating stats. Mana in this game is called essence, and you also have health and stamina gauges. Leveling up certain characteristics unlocks their associated dialogue options in conversations, and throughout my playthrough, I focused on Perception, Intellect and Resolve because I hate being made to look a fool. Also, as the game progressed, I realized I needed as much stamina and essence as I could get. The Living Lands comprise four main regions: Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp and Galawain's Tusks. Their landscapes range from lush, water-logged forests dotted with iridescent fog and glowing mushrooms, to blackened, craggy spires and bone-like structures in a hellish volcanic wasteland. Each area is gorgeous in its own way and packed with people to help, bounties to secure, secrets to unravel and so very many shiny items to pick up. As someone who absolutely can't resist a glowing outline or the tinkling of a nearby lockbox, Avowed is a buffet of delight. The game encourages you to pick up absolutely everything in sight, and though there is an encumbrance limit, it's generous and never caused me any real problems. There also seems to be no such thing as 'stealing' with your character, no matter how destitute or hostile the surrounding NPCs may be. Avowed The dialogue system offers ample opportunity to forge a distinct personality and apply it to every scenario, whether you want to be a hardline government simp, religious zealot, socialist vigilante or some combination of all three. The choices you make in conversations with townsfolk, your companions and the voice in your head ripple across the campaign, altering the outcomes of major narrative points in tangible ways. Treat each decision as if it really matters, because in this game, it probably does. Advertisement Avowed let me live out my anti-colonization, pro-contraceptive, magical underground rebellion fantasy, but I found it just as enjoyable to talk to kith — the humanoid creatures of the Living Lands — just for the sake of talking. My favorite dialogue moments happened while standing around the fire of my party camp, learning more about the lives of my companions, shaping my own personality and swapping scary stories. Also, the way the firelight glints off of the slick turquoise scales of my companion Kai's chest is endlessly mesmerizing. Ahem, speaking of — there is no romance in Avowed and I have to say, I didn't miss it. Horny characters abound in the Living Lands, so there's no shortage of flirty dialogue options if you care to partake, but there's enough happening at all times that a roll in the hay never feels like top priority. Your party maxes out with four companions: the aforementioned Rauataian nomad Kai, the mountain dwarf and tracker Marius, the defiant animancer human Giatta, and the talented wizard-in-training Yatzli, a hearth orlan with pink hair and big, fluffy ears. I know who I would start a romance with — Giatta and I had some lovely fireside chats — but more than anything, I'm happy to have these characters as my friends and reinforcements throughout the game. Avowed Advertisement Some of Avowed's best storylines are sidequests about your companions' lives, fleshing out their personal demons, helping them find closure, and providing context for their behaviors and beliefs. Kai's sidequest involving his old friend, Tama, stands out as a particularly moving vignette. Play it when you see it. You can take two companions at a time on your adventures, and the campaign touches on their backstories in turn, making certain party members more useful in specific missions. Kai is a tank with a fire-starting gun; Marius has a bow and shadow-step assassin ability; Giatta heals, shields and buffs; and Yatzli uses magic to control crowds and deal devastating damage. Once I realized that playing as a wizard meant I didn't have to use a grimoire to cast spells, I was completely committed to maxing out that class tree, ignoring the fighter and ranger skills entirely. There's also a godlike ability tree that fills up as you discover memories of your past lives in hidden locations around the Living Lands. Godlike moves include things like passive boosts, area-of-effect spells and attacks. Finding one of these is a treat, because it triggers a moment of introspection between your character and the voice in their head: A beautiful, hand-drawn image of an ancient event fills the screen and the voice asks how you acted in past moments of extreme tragedy and triumph. These conversations nurture your relationship with the voice and help establish your personal history, and they're quietly, deeply satisfying. Avowed In combat, I ended up with two main loadouts: A wand and one-handed staff as my main, and a flaming sword and pirate-y gun in the other. Every now and then I swapped my secondary loadout for a bow, which takes two hands to fire but never runs out of arrows, and I had a lot of fun landing headshots from afar. I upgraded my chosen weapons and armor at the party camp throughout my adventure, and added enhancements to the objects that could handle them. Upgrading and enhancing is its own little game, and this feature made me feel less insane as I ran in the opposite direction of my waypoint marker, compulsively picking up every single shiny thing on screen. This is for upgrades, I whispered to myself while gathering my 166th twig. Yes, yes, upgrades. Advertisement The action wheel was also a critical tool. Opening it during combat pauses the scene, allowing you to browse consumables, godlike abilities and, most importantly for a young wizard, spells. I mapped health and three spells to the D-pad, but the rest of my magic abilities were added to the wheel as I unlocked them. It became second nature in the heat of battle to pull up the wheel, down some wild mushroom stew and then pick a spell to fling at incoming enemies, whether ice, fire, lightning or pure magic damage, laser-focused or area-of-effect. And then, I'd watch my foes fry. Truly, I loved being a wizard. Managing my stamina bar, essence meter and health gauge was the trickiest part of combat, but I quickly fell into a groove of stabbing, dodging and spell-slinging that worked against a range of enemy types. My overall combat tip is simple: Kill the healers first. By the end of the campaign, I really did feel godlike. Avowed Enemies in Avowed don't level up relative to your own experience. This means those level one lizard bros in Dawnshore will always be level one, and the level five beetles in Galawain's Tusks will always be level five. I appreciate this approach because it's immediately clear when you need to spend some time grinding, and it's easy to plan future raids and sidequest runs. That said, I'm a fan of grinding (hey-o), so this choice plays into my open-world RPG preferences nicely. My time in the Living Lands wasn't without bugs, of course, and I'm not talking about the giant spiders. I played on Xbox Series X and experienced four hard crashes in 45 hours, and three of these were in the same area, which happened to be a big boss fight, so that definitely wasn't ideal. I restarted the game each time and didn't lose any real progress. There were also consistent animation issues with close-up dialogue scenes, where it seemed like the game had trouble rendering characters based on how much hair they had — Yatzli was particularly stuttery from a visual standpoint. The flame animation on my Fan of Flames also cut out sometimes, but the damage kept spewing out, so this wasn't a huge deal. None of these issues ruined the game and none of them are above further optimization from Obsidian, hopefully in a day-one patch. But honestly, by the time the end credits rolled, I'd forgotten that any of these things had happened. I simply felt warm and fulfilled, like I'd just completed a fantastic game. Advertisement The third line in my review notes says, 'I would like to be a mushroom witch pls,' and Avowed let me be exactly that. I played the game as a kind and self-righteous chaos demon, but if I'd wanted, I could've been a staid enforcer of colonial expansion, a hubristic wannabe king or something in between. The Living Lands easily support all of these realities, thanks to a universe filled with fabulous writing, exciting secrets, breathtaking views, intriguing characters and smooth mechanics. Though Avowed is set in the world of an existing franchise and it's yet another entry in the stacked genre of open-world fantasy RPGs, it feels like the start of something new.
Washington Post
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
The biggest twist of ‘Avowed': Great in fighting, not the writing
For the first several hours of 'Avowed,' I was properly transported to its world of artificial gods and colonial strife. Obsidian Entertainment, one of gaming's most celebrated narrative houses, was meeting high expectations. Then I noticed something I've never felt before during a game made by Obsidian, the studio that made 'Fallout: New Vegas' and the Pillars of Eternity franchise, all writerly role-playing games focused on character-driven narratives that react to player choices. I stopped caring about the characters. My story choices didn't matter much, either to the narrative or, more fatally, to myself.
