Avowed Was Originally Designed as a Blend of Destiny and Skyrim

In a candid interview with Bloomberg, Carrie Patel, the second game director of Avowed, provided an in-depth look into the tumultuous development journey that resulted in the abandonment of two years' worth of work. Initially, Obsidian Entertainment set out to create Avowed as a unique blend of Destiny and Skyrim, envisioning a game that would offer cooperative exploration within a vast open world alongside dynamic multiplayer elements.

The release of the first teaser trailer in 2020 sparked enthusiasm among fans, yet it concealed the true state of the project: the game was far from finished. Mere months after the teaser's debut, Obsidian made the tough call to scrap the entire project and begin afresh. Today, that initial teaser serves as a mere memento of an early, unfulfilled prototype, which shares little to no resemblance with the game that eventually saw the light of day.

After the reboot, Carrie Patel stepped in as game director and took the helm, steering the project in a new direction. She moved away from the earlier inspirations drawn from Skyrim and Destiny, opting to abandon the open-world format and multiplayer components. In their place, Obsidian adopted a zone-based structure, a hallmark of their development style, and concentrated on delivering a rich, single-player narrative deeply embedded in the lore of the Pillars of Eternity universe.

The decision to restart mid-development presented significant challenges, akin to attempting to produce a film without a script. The development teams faced the daunting task of working under unpredictable circumstances as the leadership struggled to solidify a clear vision. Despite these obstacles, it took an additional four years of dedicated effort before Avowed was finally ready for release.