Obsidian’s Avowed does actually include some contributions from respected RPG game designer Josh Sawyer, which had been a lingering question mark among fans. Speaking with VG247, Gameplay Director Gabe Paramo revealed:
From my standpoint, on the gameplay, Josh has more than poked his head in! He’s definitely – like, he’s a great collaborator. I’ve worked with him in the last year or so, maybe even more… just trying to do exactly what you’re talking about. Look at the game, assess it from more of a Pillars standpoint and then go, ‘that was a good try on those things, but I think it would be more Pillars if we, I don’t know, added wands.’ Stuff like that. Like, how do we translate that?
Grimoires and how they turned out – there’s a lot of Josh’s imprint on that as well. So definitely he’s a great collaborator in trying to make that work, and trying to make sure that we’re really being respectful to the IP in that regard.
Sawyer is somewhat of a star within the Western RPG space, having worked on games like Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol, and Fallout New Vegas. He was also the Project Lead and Game Director on Pillars of Eternity and its sequel, Deadfire, creating the world of Eora in which Avowed is set. Following the unsuccessful sales performance of the latter game (despite its high quality, certified even in Wccftech’s review), Sawyer suffered a bit from burnout and decided to focus on a smaller passion project of his, which turned out to be the award-winning adventure RPG Pentiment. Fans had been wondering whether Avowed actually featured any contributions from Sawyer, and now we have our answer.
Of course, which game project he’s going to lead next is another ball game entirely. He commented in late 2023 that he’d love to make a Pillars of Eternity 3 with a high budget akin to Baldur’s Gate 3; the question is, would Microsoft give the green light for a triple-A cRPG? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
Meanwhile, Avowed is slated to launch in Fall 2024 for PC and Xbox Series S|X.
