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, with ambitions to merge cooperative exploration in a vast open world alongside robust multiplayer features.
The first teaser trailer, released in 2020, sparked enthusiasm among fans, yet it concealed the true state of development: 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 artifact of an abandoned prototype that no longer reflected the game's direction.
After the reboot, Carrie Patel took over as game director and reshaped the project's vision. She moved away from the initial inspirations of Skyrim and Destiny, abandoning the open-world and multiplayer aspects. Instead, Obsidian returned to their roots with a zone-based structure, emphasizing a rich single-player narrative deeply connected to the lore of Pillars of Eternity.
Restarting the development midstream posed significant challenges, comparable to filming a movie without a script. Teams labored under uncertain conditions as the leadership worked to forge a unified vision. Despite these obstacles, it took another four years of dedicated effort before Avowed could be released to the public.
