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 features.
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 release, the decision was made to completely overhaul the project, rendering the teaser a mere artifact of an unreleased prototype that bore little to no resemblance to the eventual final product.
After the reboot, Carrie Patel took the helm as game director and steered the project in a new direction. She moved away from the initial inspirations of Skyrim and Destiny, opting to abandon the open-world and multiplayer aspects. Instead, Obsidian returned to their roots with a zone-based structure, concentrating on delivering a rich single-player narrative deeply embedded in the lore of Pillars of Eternity.
Restarting the project mid-development posed significant challenges, comparable to making a film without a script. Teams worked relentlessly under uncertain circumstances as the leadership struggled to forge a unified vision. Despite these obstacles, the development process extended over another four years before Avowed was finally ready for release.
