Obsidian’s upcoming RPG, Avowed, received a lukewarm reception after its gameplay reveal during the Xbox Developer Direct showcase. While the polished combat visuals drew comparisons to Bethesda titles, fans noted a lack of “hitting and impact” feedback. It looked like Skyrim, and it hurt the opinion many had.
In response to this feedback, Director Carrie Patel has confirmed that the team is actively working on improving the combat system. According to GamesRadar, during the Dropped Frames interview, Patel acknowledged that the footage shown was “a few weeks behind” current development and emphasized that the game is still evolving.
“We showed something for a showcase last June, we showed a little bit more at Developer Direct a couple of weeks ago […] so we’re getting to share more and more, but all of that is while the game is still in progress… One of the heartening things has been seeing fans call out some of the things that we are actively working on, like the sense of hitting and impacts as you’re attacking enemies. It’s kind of nice to always say like ‘yep, they saw it, we know it, trust us, we’re working on it.”
Carrie Patel
Patel’s comments suggest that Avowed’s combat will see significant changes before its Fall 2024 release. She assured fans that the team is aware of their concerns and actively working on addressing them, particularly the “sense of hitting and impacts.”
This isn’t the first time Obsidian has responded to community feedback. Following initial comparisons to Skyrim, Patel clarified that Avowed is more akin to “Obsidian’s fantasy take on The Outer Worlds” within the Pillars of Eternity universe. This feels like just words to try and make things better. Really, the gameplay is what we’re looking at.
While the Fall 2024 release window remains unchanged, we’re hoping that Obsidian will continue to prioritize the combat. Bland combat was okay back when Skyrim was released, but that’s no longer the case.
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