Avowedis the upcoming game from Obsidian Entertainment that has manySkyrimfans wondering if the studio’s new RPG could spiritually succeedThe Elder Scrollsseries. If the trailer is anything to go by, the new game will share many features withThe Elder Scrollsfrom its first-person perspective to its sword-and-sorcery gameplay.
Avowedwill be set in the Living Lands, an ecologically diverse northern frontier in Obsidian’s world of Eora, first seen in the twoPillars of Eternitygames. While Bethesda is working onThe Elder Scrolls 6,Avowed’s setting has an underrated advantage over the nextElder Scrollsgame’s most likely locations.
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Eora And Tamriel
Avowedwill be set in the Living Lands, described as a “lawless land where communities band together, fall apart, and fight petty wars with eachother constantly.” The twoPillars of Eternitygames were set in Dyrwood, a warring kingdom, and theDeadfire Archipelago, a distant chain of islands populated by pirates and outcasts.
One of the reasons Obsidian is moving itsPillars of Eternitysetting to a first-person RPG format is financial. As well-received as thePillars of Eternitygames were, it is hoped that moving the RPG series to a more recognizable format will help draw new players. This, in turn, would help further establish Obsidian Entertainment as Microsoft’s RPG powerhouse (especially considering the Bethesda acquisition).
However, the fact thatPillars of Eternityisn’t nearly as well known asThe Elder Scrollscould be Avowed’s biggest advantage. For many fans,Skyrimwas their first introduction to the world ofThe Elder Scrolls, making uncovering the strange lore and secrets hidden within its world all the more rewarding. Almost a decade later, fans have seen far more of Tamriel. While placed like Elsweyr and Black Marsh were once distant-feeling and intentionally alien in their descriptions, they’ve now both been depicted in modern detail inThe Elder Scrolls Online.
To make matters worse, the long wait for news aboutThe Elder Scrolls 6has had many fans deep-diving the lore in search of hints about the next game’s potential setting or story. Simply put, ten years after the immensemainstream success ofSkyrim, Tamriel isn’t nearly as interesting or unknown for many players as it was in the franchise’s past.
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Avowed’s Opportunity
Avowedhas the opportunity to take advantage of a familiar format and broadly known fantasy tropes while still taking place in both a world which fewer players have explored before, and a part of that world which has never even been seen in aPillars of Eternitygame. WhileElder Scrollsfans got to explore all of Tamriel’s provinces inThe Elder Scrolls:Arena, the game’s old graphics left so much to the imagination that the potential to explore those areas in a futureElder Scrollsgame was still exciting. However, many of those areas have now been depicted inThe Elder Scrolls Online, and Tamriel is feeling much smaller than it once did.
Most fantasy fans also have far fewer expectations when it comes toAvowed’s lore and what they might expect to find inthe Living Lands. While players ofThe Elder Scrolls 6might find exploring Dwemer ruins less exciting and more familiar than it was when they first playedSkyrim,Avowed’s players are far less likely to know about aspects of the lore like the ancient Engwithan ruins running underneath Eora and their connection to the world’s backstory.
Open-world games need their worlds to feel immense and unexplored at the start of the game. There’s an argument to be made thatThe Elder Scrolls 6could still achieve this - after all,Skyrimwas able to create a world that felt worth exploring despite previous games likeThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. However, whileOblivionsold under 10 million copies,Skyrimsurpassed 30 million sales all the way back in 2016, and could risk being a victim of its own success, unable to capture the sense of originality players felt in the last game.
Not only have far fewer players had a chance to interact withthe world ofPillars of Eternity, but its inhabitants are just as weird and wonderful as those inThe Elder Scrolls. It isn’t known whether or notAvowedwill have multiple playable races yet, but alongside Eora’s more standards fantasy Elves and Dwarves are the Orlans, a diminutive race of fur-covered people, the Godlike, whose bodies are radically changed when they’re “blessed” by a deity, and the large semi-aquatic Aumaua.
As much asAvowed’s gameplay resemblesThe Elder Scrollsbased on what little has been revealed so far, exploring its world doesn’t risk revealing too many more similarities. The world of Eora has a huge amount of lore that far fewer players have come into contact with thanThe Elder Scrolls’ story. From the fact that many of its nations are recently liberated colonies to the idea that the gods of Eora were artificially created usinganimancy- the science of souls -Avowed’s world could be just as rich asThe Elder Scrolls’ with the advantage of being far less familiar.
The Future For Avowed And The Elder Scrolls 6
It is possible, of course, thatThe Elder Scrolls 6will not take place on Tamriel. Descriptions of other continents on the planet of Nirn from the monkey and snake people of Akavir to thelost land of Yokudasuggest that Bethesda could find a fruitful new landscape to explore if it leaves the series main setting behind. However, most rumors point towardsThe Elder Scrolls 6being set somewhere in the west of Tamriel, with many claiming that it will be in Hammerfell. If so,The Elder Scrolls 6will be set in a province already seen inArena,Daggerfall,Redguard, andThe Elder Scrolls Online.
All things considered,Avowedmight have more than just time on its side. The game is almost certain to release beforeThe Elder Scrolls 6, with lower expectations, a less familiar world, and original fantasy races. Whether or not that will be enough forAvowedto be consideredSkyrim’s spiritual successorremains to be seen.
Avowedis in development for PC and Xbox Series X.
