How Avowed Can Learn From Skyrim s Dragonborn DLC

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced back in 2018, but since then Bethesda has released little news about the game. Though TES6 ’s release date remains unannounced, it has been confirmed that the game will not release until after Starfield , the studio’s new IP. Elder Scrolls fans who are hoping that Avowed will tide them over may find one key difference between The Elder Scrolls and Obsidian’s RPG design tho


Avowed has several ways to distinguish itself from Skyrim, thanks to it spinning off from a series that already has an established setting and lore. Another way to further separate it from the Bethesda series would be to use the ship mechanic from Pillars of Eternity 2 . While it wouldn't have to be ships specifically as the mode of transport, it made traveling in Deadfire more interesting. Players were liable to be attacked by enemies while traversing the sea and altogether made for a more interesting way to travel the game world. This could work in Avowed even for land travel, with gamers risking being attacked depending on where they were journeying to and how far their destination


Obsidian’s RPGs from Pillars of Eternity to The Outer Worlds have focused on a smaller but more developed cast of secondary characters with unique lines and greater integration into the game’s main plot. Bethesda has also done this more since Skyrim , with Fallout 4 ’s follower characters like Nick Valentine having their own quests and character developm


If Avowed doesn’t figure out ways to create more dynamic opportunities in its open world, then there risks being a separation between the storytelling and the world that story is. As it stands, the classic first-person RPG formula tells a story through its quests, and presents the player with an open-world to explore. Until exploring that open world begins to create dynamic stories in its own right, it’s unlikely any new entry to the genre will be considered a worthy next-gen successor to Skyr


While Solstheim is just a small part of Skyrim ’s overall world, the fact that the open-world RPG formula's immersion fits so well into the frontier bodes well for Obsidian’s choice of setting. It’s unlikely that Obsidian would have been able to bring the large cities depicted in Pillars of Eternity to life without significantly shrinking them down, while the Living Lands provide a setting which could avoid the open-world RPG genre’s city scaling prob


Little is known of Avowed outside of some key details. It's set to take place in Eora, the same world as Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity games , and it will take players to The Living Lands. This location hasn't been seen in the developer's games before, so Obisidian Entertainment has a blank slate to work with when crafting its world. The reveal trailer has also suggested that Eora's gods will be involved in the game, as it contained prominent appearances from Woedica, goddess of law and justice. Ultimately, to avoid continued comparisons with Skyrim , there are some features that Obsidian could look at adapting from Pillars of Eternity to help the title stand


Avowed will be set in the Living Lands , a harsh but ecologically diverse frontier to the north of Eora, the world first established in Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity . The fact that the Living Lands are a harsh frontier does not mean that interactions with humanoid NPCs outside of quests should be violent by default. Avowed Beginner Guide needs to give players enough options when interacting with non-quest NPCs that their interactions can generate small but dynamic storytelling opportunit


To make matters worse, the long wait for news about The Elder Scrolls 6 has had many fans deep-diving the lore in search of hints about the next game’s potential setting or story. Simply put, ten years after the immense mainstream success of Skyrim , Tamriel isn’t nearly as interesting or unknown for many players as it was in the franchise’s p


While Solstheim has a lot of lessons to teach Avowed ’s Living Lands , the unique success of the frontier island as an RPG setting suggests that Obsidian may already be on the right track with its choice of location. What remains to be seen is whether the studio exploits all the unique opportunities its frontier setting presents, or if lets some pass it


The Pillars of Eternity titles are party-based RPG games, and this could be one of the biggest characteristics that Obsidian could bring to Avowed . It's not very often that action-RPG games make use of companions, and when they are featured, they can often be somewhat basic. A possibly clever move for Obsidian Entertainment would be to look at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire and how that game handled adventuring part


Avowed will be set in the Living Lands, described as a "lawless land where communities band together, fall apart, and fight petty wars with eachother constantly." The two Pillars of Eternity games were set in Dyrwood, a warring kingdom, and the Deadfire Archipelago , a distant chain of islands populated by pirates and outca