"Avowed Blends Destiny and Skyrim Elements in Original 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, intending to merge cooperative exploration within a vast open world with dynamic multiplayer components.

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

After the reboot, Carrie Patel took the helm as game director and steered Avowed 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 embedded in the Pillars of Eternity universe.

Restarting the project mid-development posed significant challenges, comparable to making a film without a script. The development teams faced uncertain conditions as the leadership worked to forge a unified vision. Despite these obstacles, it took another four years of dedicated effort before Avowed was ready for release.