"Avowed Blends Destiny and Skyrim in Initial Design"

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' worth of work. Initially, Obsidian Entertainment set out to create Avowed as a blend of Destiny and Skyrim, envisioning a game that would offer cooperative exploration in a vast open world alongside robust multiplayer elements.

The excitement surrounding the first teaser trailer, released in 2020, was palpable among fans. However, this trailer belied the truth: the game was far from finished. Mere months after the teaser's debut, the decision was made to completely overhaul the project, rendering the trailer a mere artifact of an unreleased prototype that no longer reflected the game's direction.

Following this pivotal reboot, Carrie Patel stepped in as game director and steered the project in a new direction. She moved away from the initial inspirations of Skyrim and Destiny, discarding the open-world and multiplayer aspects. Instead, Obsidian returned to its roots, adopting a zone-based structure and concentrating on delivering a rich, single-player narrative deeply intertwined with the lore of Pillars of Eternity.

Restarting the project mid-development presented significant challenges, comparable to attempting to make a film without a script. The development teams faced uncertain conditions and worked tirelessly as the leadership sought to forge a unified vision. Despite these obstacles, it took an additional four years for Avowed to be completed and released.