In a revealing interview with Bloomberg, Carrie Patel, the second game director of Avowed, provided insights into the tumultuous development journey that resulted in the abandonment of two years of work. Initially, Obsidian Entertainment set out to create Avowed as a blend of Destiny and Skyrim, aiming to merge cooperative exploration of a vast open world with dynamic multiplayer components.
The excitement around the game surged with the release of the first teaser trailer in 2020, yet behind the scenes, the project was far from finished. Mere months after the trailer's debut, the decision was made to completely scrap the project and begin afresh. As a result, the teaser trailer now serves as a nostalgic reminder of an unreleased prototype that bears little resemblance to the game that eventually came to fruition.
After the reboot, Carrie Patel stepped into the role of game director and spearheaded a significant overhaul of the project's direction. She moved away from the initial inspirations drawn from Skyrim and Destiny, opting to abandon the open-world and multiplayer elements. Instead, Obsidian leaned into their renowned zone-based approach and concentrated on developing a rich, single-player narrative deeply connected to the lore of Pillars of Eternity.
The decision to restart mid-development posed enormous challenges, likened to attempting to produce a film without a script. Teams persevered under ambiguous circumstances while the leadership team worked to forge a unified vision. Despite these obstacles, it took an additional four years of development before Avowed was finally released to the public.
