Avowed Game Director Talks About Uncertain Physical Edition and More
In a rapid-fire interview, Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel covered many topics. An Avowed physical release is uncertain and will it come to PS5?
In a rapid-fire interview posted by MinnMax on YouTube, Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel answered a flurry of questions about the upcoming Obsidian game. MinnMax founder Ben Hanson had plenty of ridiculous questions to fill in the gaps, but also asked some engaging questions about Avowed’s branching narrative, companions, the uncertainty of a physical release, and most importantly, what the story is behind that excellent key art.
Avowed Game Director doesn’t know if the game will have a physical release, plus more from a rapid-fire interview
Avowed is the next RPG from Obsidian Entertainment (The Outer Worlds, Fallout: New Vegas, Grounded). The game takes place in the same universe as Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity series, but puts the player in a fist-person (or optional third-person) perspective as they explore the fantastical Living Lands, looking for the source of the Dreamscourge. Avowed arrives on Xbox and PC later this month on February 18th, though the Premium Edition allows access five days earlier on February 13th.
The interview covered a lot of ground, from basics like how Avowed open-zone is rather than open-world, and how many companions players will have. On that last question the answer seemed to mostly be four, but also six because of a few temporary companions. But of course, an important question was about the fantastic key art for Avowed. Apparently, this key art was created by a group called Skylight. When asked about what it is supposed to represent, Patel said “I like to think it is a composite of the Living Lands and also our primary antagonist.”
Patel was also expectedly tight-lipped about a certain question, if you can call it a question. Hanson at one point said “If [Avowed] is coming to PS5 some time just breathe at some point throughout the rest of the video.” I tried watching the rest of the video like a hawk, but it was hard to tell if Patel breathed or not. Jokes aside, the prospect of this Xbox exclusive arriving on the “rival” console appears more and more likely. Recently both long-time Xbox exclusive series Forza and Age of Empires have made the jump to PS5, with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer talking about Xbox’s intent to support other platforms.
Regarding Avowed’s narrative, this interview did confirm that the game will have multiple endings and it uses the same branching dialogue development tool that Obsidian has been using for over 15 years. Patel also mentioned that the player makes several impactful choices, including betraying the empire that sent you to the Living Lands, siding with the antagonist of the game, and “you can be a pretty sassy little jerk,” regarding the game’s options for players to be a “jerk” in dialogue exchanges with NPCs.
Perhaps one of the most interesting responses of the entire interview was Patel’s response to the question: “Do you think there’s ever going to be a physical version of this game?” Patel responded simply with “I don’t know.” This is certainly a sign of the times in gaming. Digital sales continue to grow as physical sales continue to drop. At the time of writing, Obsidian and Xbox have not announced any plans to release a physical version of Avowed, and this does not inspire confidence in the possibility. Perhaps this is a surprise waiting to be revealed, or maybe Xbox is waiting to see how well this game sells before promising a physical version.
This is a great interview, with far too many interesting questions and responses to cover in this short article. But as a last note, Patel mentioned a few interesting gameplay mechanics. Enemies in Avowed do not scale with your level, which means that rather than the world adjusting to your current level of challenge, some areas will be too challenging while others will eventually become easy pickings for a higher-level character. When Patel was asked what a “broken build” would be, she first thought of dual-wielding maces, before realizing that Hanson was asking for a good build. She then said max out your dexterity. But I am now extremely curious about the double maces build and what she meant by that.
A few more rapid-fire details for you. Avowed will “maybe” have DLC. There will not be a new game plus. There will be a “point of no return” shortly before the end game. There will be no microtransactions, and there will be at least more than three cameos from Pillars of Eternity characters.
Avowed launches on Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam on February 18th. Pre-orders are available now, and with the Premium Edition you can play the game five days early on February 13th.
