Avowed is near the top, if not first on the list, of upcoming fantasy RPGs for those of us bummed by the long wait left for Elder Scrolls 6. After hunting down Fallout fame with its retro-future space RPG The Outer Worlds, the Fallout New Vegas developers have the Scrolls series in their sights. We still know so little about Avowed, but just the quick sword and magic dual-wielding teaser trailer reveal two years ago was enough to convince us that Obsidian is attempting a backstab on another big Bethesda series.
Unfortunately, it's been a bit since we've heard anything about Avowed. Obsidian had nothing to share about it at E3 2021, so we're hoping to hear more during this year's pseudo-E3 festivities. In the meantime, we’ve collected what Avowed news and speculation we do have—including details about the story, world, and gameplay. This is what we know about Avowed so far.
What is Avowed's release date?
What is the Avowed release date?
We don't know! The reveal trailer didn't hint at any window or even suggest a possible year. But given that Obsidian is finishing working on Grounded, their early access survival game, and has now committed to a sequel to their space-y RPG The Outer Worlds, it could be a while.
Will Avowed be in the summer Xbox showcase?
Avowed hasn't been confirmed for the Xbox & Bethesda showcase on June 12, but this would certainly be a good time and place to hear about it again. Avowed didn't turn up to E3 2021, so we still don't know anything more than what was said during its initial reveal in 2020.
Even so, back in June 2021 Obsidian said it is still hard at work on Avowed (opens in new tab) and will have something to share soon. With any luck, that means we'll be getting a new look at Avowed during this year's showcase. Be sure to check our full sort-of-E3 schedule if you don't want to miss any of this year's big livestreams.
Does Avowed have any trailers?
Here's the Avowed announcement trailer
Avowed was first revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase in 2020 with an ominous cinematic trailer. What we saw is brief, but it reveals a few key details—most importantly that Avowed is a first-person RPG in a similar vein to The Outer Worlds and Skyrim. Though no gameplay was shown, the trailer ends from that perspective, as the player brandishes a sword and traces out a spell in the air that charges their hand with some violet energy as an unseen enemy, presumably one that is very large and made of flames, approaches. It's cool, and it very much evokes the scene in The Lord of the Rings when the Balrog chases down Frodo and the gang.
Not much else is revealed, but the narrator in the trailer does place specific emphasis on oaths, which seems like it'll be a central theme in the story. Clever players on the Avowed subreddit have also deciphered the runes etched on the sword in the trailer, realizing that it's a language that already exists in Pillars of Eternity, to discover the sword's name is Oathbinder.
What other information is there about Avowed?
What will Avowed's gameplay be like?
Right now, all we can really confirm is that Avowed will be a first-person RPG, but rumors have long persisted that the game will mirror elements of Skyrim and other Elder Scrolls RPGs. Back in 2019, Obsidian posted several job listings that might give an indication of what Avowed will play like.
Based on its reveal trailer, and some prior job postings, we've suspected that Avowed will be a first-person melee and magic style game similar to The Elder Scrolls. A report from October 2021 gets into some early details on combat that suggest the same.
According to Windows Central, Avowed will have action-oriented first-person combat in which you can dual-wield different weapons. You might use two daggers for a rogue style character, a bow, a combination of weapons and magic, or just dual-wield some powerful spells. Weapon enchantments such as magical swords or frozen arrows are mentioned as well.
It does certainly sound familiar for Skyrim fans.
What Avowed rumors are there floating about?
Though much of Avowed is still a mystery, some self-proclaimed Microsoft insiders have come forward to share details about Avowed's development. The biggest of these leakers is Sponger, a member of gaming forum Resertera who dumped a long list of rumored gameplay features (opens in new tab) Obsidian is looking to implement in Avowed. The authenticity of Sponger's leaks was backed up by another notable Microsoft leaker named Klobrille (opens in new tab), who had also leaked some key details about Microsoft's other big games at the time.
The following are just rumors at the moment, and haven't been confirmed. Here's what Sponger had to say:
- Avowed will be "fully open world" and much larger than Skyrim, but not necessarily in total size. The world will be "denser" and "more contrasted"—which presumably means diverse.
- The main setting will be The Living Lands region of Eora, which is a northern frontier not seen directly in either Pillars of Eternity game.
- There will be a "big focus" on world reactivity, lighting, and next-gen AI systems.
- There will be a real-time weather system.
- Character creation is supposed to be very advanced and detailed.
- Mod support is planned.
- The world will have lots of factions, but they won't be similar to Skyrim's factions.
- You will be able to enlist the help of companions, but it is supposedly very different to how it works in Obsidian's other recent RPG, The Outer Worlds.
- The game will feature boss battles that happen on a very large scale.
- Two large cities are being planned, with smaller settlements dotting the map and large areas of wilderness.
- Creatures and wildlife will be based on Pillars of Eternity lore but will make new additions.
- "Dynamic presentation of dialogue"—whatever that might mean.
- Obsidian wants to make it possible to kill anyone in the game, similar to how Morrowind let players terminate the main plot by killing certain key characters.
- Around 100 people are working on the game currently, and it's been in development for two years with seven months of pre-production.
- The target release window is late 2022 or early 2023.
How does Avowed relate to Pillars of Eternity?
Aside from being set somewhere in Eora, it's not clear what connection Avowed might have to the characters and events of Pillars of Eternity or its sequel. It's very possible that Avowed is set on a different continent or in a different period of time and that the games only share minor lore references.
Over on the Pillars of Eternity subreddit, however, players have noted some interesting connections. The castle shown in the opening shot flies banners that resemble the symbol for Woedica, the god of justice and law who also goes by the name—get this—Oathbinder. That's the same name as the sword shown in the trailer, and those runes etched on it are Aedyran, the language of one of Eora's biggest empires where Woedica was primarily worshipped. Woedica serves as a kind of indirect antagonist to the player in both Pillars of Eternity and its sequel, a god who is looking to restore her influence and power to assert dominion over all of creation.
Given that information, one of the bigger rumors is that Avowed is a prequel to Pillars of Eternity and set in the Aedyr Empire. And when you consider the banners shown in the trailer and the Oathbinder sword carved with Aedyran runes, it makes a lot of sense. By the time Pillars of Eternity starts, Woedica was exiled. Avowed could explore her fall from power, which might also explain the trailer's ominous monologue about forsaken oaths.
How do you know all this Eora lore?
It's amazing what you can learn in an hour browsing a wiki.
