“Avowed,” developed by Obsidian Entertainment, was initially conceived as a multiplayer game akin to “Skyrim” but with cooperative elements reminiscent of “Destiny.” This vision was ultimately abandoned after two years of preproduction, leading to a significant reboot of the project.

Director Carrie Patel revealed in an interview with Jason Schreier that the original concept aimed to blend the expansive open-world exploration of “Skyrim” with the cooperative gameplay of “Destiny.” However, this direction was scrapped, and the game underwent two reboots over six years of development.

Normally if you’re stepping back and reevaluating your creative direction, putting together a new vertical slice and revised production plans, you would do that with a very small team.

We did not have a very small team at that point.

A lot of lessons we learned as we were building this game, ideally we would’ve learned on a small scale with a true preproduction.

Patel wrapped the interview with Schreier by signing off with a nod to the future of the Avowed label:

Now that we’ve built this wonderful world, and also built this team strength and muscle memory around the content and gameplay in this world, I’d love to see us do more with it.

The final version of “Avowed,” released on February 18, 2025, is a single-player action role-playing game set in the world of Eora, the same universe as “Pillars of Eternity.” It offers both first-person and third-person perspectives, allowing players to utilize magic, melee weapons, and firearms in combat. The game features large, explorable zones and a narrative-driven experience with integral companions.