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Obsidian explain why Avowed features open zones instead of Skyrim-like open world

Published: 17:24, 01 February 2024

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Avowed does not feature a traditional open world, instead, Obsidian opted for open zones design, which allow them to create a more focused RPG experience

Key Points from the Article

The game director, Carrie Patel, discussed the open zones structure of the game, stating that it works better for an Obsidian RPG compared to a vast open world like Skyrim.
Each region in Avowed will have a unique atmosphere, aesthetics, and local conflicts that will contribute to the larger story.
The Shatterscarp region, showcased in the developer direct, is comparable to the biggest Outer Worlds zone, Monarch.

Avowed does not feature a traditional open world, instead, Obsidian opted for open zones design, which allow them to create a more focused RPG experience

Obsidian explain that open zones allow them to create more nuanced storytelling and a sense of distinctness as every region in Avowed features unique aesthetics.

Obsidian Entertainment recently revealed new details about their highly-anticipated action RPG Avowed, which is slated for release in Autumn 2024, on PC and Xbox Series X|S.

The dev team revealed new biomes, characters and in-depth combat mechanics at the Xbox Developer Direct 2024, followed by various interviews where they provided additional context on some of these features.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel talked more about Avowed's open zones structure, which was one of the main design decisions that the team made early in development.

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Patel explained that open zones work better for an Obsidian RPG instead of a vast open world like Skyrim. She states that open zones allow the team to create a stronger sense of place for the players, making them feel like they are journeying through portions of a much larger world.

"Open zones allow us to create a strong sense of place in each of our environments," Carrie Patel said. "All of our regions have distinct aesthetics and atmospheres as well as unique local conflicts and narratives that build towards the larger, grander story that the player is at the centre of."

Each region in Avowed will feature a unique atmosphere and aesthetics but it's not all about the looks. Regions will also have local conflicts and narratives that will build this big story that takes place in the Living Lands.

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Avowed - One of the regions in the game

As to how big these open zones actually are, Obsidian already confirmed that the Shatterscarp region we've seen in the Developer Direct is comparable to the biggest Outer Worlds zone Monarch.

Now we're not saying that we don't believe Obsidian here but the gameplay footage they provided recently makes Shatterscarp look a bit bigger than Monarch, at least from what we've seen so far. It could be the case of just having a very good presentation or it's the fact that Shatterscarp looks much more varied in terms of environments, which can give a sense of a bigger scale.

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All in all, be it open world or open zones, I'm always open for more Obsidian goodness, especially in the epic fantasy genre. Hopefully, the team will put these nine to ten months until the release to good use and improve some of the aspects of the game that didn't really impress, like the combat, which felt just a tad bit stiff.

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