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Obsidian said that there is no numerical system for relationships with companions but your decisions will affect them. As for the other systems : You have attributes that modify aspects of combat (damage, speed etc), those can be increased with items and during level-ups. You have active and passive abilities, some of them are percentage bonuses (so vertical progression) but others unlock gameplay options (like parry projectiles for example). Grimoires have four spells each, when you have one equiped you can cast the spells but you can also invest a skill point to learn of the spells permanently (and so you can cast it without the need of a grimoire). There is an upgrading system, to boost damage, stun and others aspects of armors and weapons. There is an enchanting system, we've not seen much of it. There are numerous unique weapons, armors and accessories, they can give passive abilities and (I'm not sure of that because it was mentioned in only one preview) active abilities. We don't if it's like in Deadfire, with a mini-skill tree for each unique. Beyond that each companion have a skill tree with four active abilities, that can be modified further, we don't know for the passives. These companions can be used with the combat wheel. I think that's all we know for now ? But all in all pretty deep for an FP-RPG I would say, it will heavily depend of the nature of the different abilities and bonuses imo.

It's set shortly after Deadfire but pretty disconnected from the events of POE2 (confirmed in an interview with Eurogamer). As for Lodwyn it could be the new agent of Woedica ? Or even a deathguard (the eye of fire) ?

It was the best showing of the game for me. Happy to see the attributes, dexterity could be very fun. I'm not fully convinced by the skill trees, I like that each abilities seem impactful but I need to see if the ranks are not only vertical progression. And even with that the number of abilities seems pretty low honestly but we'll see. Also curious about itemization, is the upgrade system similar to POE2 with little trees ? And are unique items as interesting. The combat looks great though, appreciate the different animations.

But they are upfront about it : https://www.ign.com/articles/obsidian-explains-why-avowed-only-lets-you-pick-human-or-elf And from this technical limitation they draw a lore explanation of why you can't play other races.

I'm waiting for more informations, especially about the mechanics of the game, the gameplay trailer wasn't very exciting for me. It was only combat and heavily cutted, nothing impressive imo. I want to know more about companions, factions, ability trees, character building, reactivity, itemization etc.

My theory is that Avowed will be a mix between Tyranny, Skyrim and Deadfire. We can see a lot of factions, we are playing an envoy of Aedyr in a "colonized" land and the game seems to be focused around depth more than breadth, ala Tyranny.

Actually we can see the flag of the Watcher (Caed Nua) in the trailer, I don't think Maerwald would've sent an expedition to the Living Lands. It could be an indication of the timeline.

Hey Obsidian ! How deep Avowed and TOW2 will be from a RPG point of view ? Are you using your new resources to go deeper rather than wider ?

I don't know if we can ask questions about a specific Obsidian's game or if we need to be more general ?

Having a defined role isn't a problem for me, Tyranny is in my top 5 RPGs, if anything the initial pitch got me more excited because I can see a lot of political stories in this game (with a lot of factions in the trailer). The itemization is a good news, if it can be closer to POEII it's all good. I really hope we'll learn more about this game before 2024. Edit : Thanks for the links ! The connexion of our character with the world seems intriging.

So, I know that there will be skills trees and no classes but do we know things about : -The progression system -Skills ala POE2 with an importance for dialogues and events -The itemization I am not disturbed by the size of the game (Kotor2 or TOW) but I would like Avowed to be deeper than TOW, in both narrative and mechanics. Thanks for the replies !

I hope you're right, and so maybe we would see Avowed at the TGA, or just a little blogpost to know what the game really is.

MS clearly pushed for the announcement of Avowed I think, the entire conference of 2020 is just full of CGIs and promises.

Actually we just don't have any infos on both Avowed and TOW2, and while Grounded and Pentiment are interesting (curious about the reactivity of Pentiment) I think it is strange that we don't know anything about the works of the majority of the studio. But if they need time they take it, I think this is a much healthier situation than crunch or anything else.

The Outer Worlds was out in 2019 so yes, if you are talking about TOW2 maybe it'll be the case.

The absence of communication also let a lot of room for rumors/leaks like this, we still don't know the precise setting of the game.

Maybe it isn't a big reboot, we don't know because we don't have any infos about this game.

No I don't think so, the reboot happened at the end of 2020, when Carrie Pattel became Game Director.

Kill a dragon with a boomerang would be cool I think.

I hope we'll see it at "E3", rumors talks about a release in early 2023, so I guess we should see the game rather soon, right ?

It would be interesting to have a plot less focused on gods in Avowed, but they are so important in the universe of Eora (like religion in the modern era finally), they are present in all aspects of society and animancy ultimately also refers to the gods. So I have a hard time imagining a plot that wouldn’t focus on them, it could still be very interesting. I mean, even if Avowed’s plot revolved around some sort of secularization movement of a parts of societies, it would still refer to the gods.

This is an interesting question, can a game in Eora be interesting without a Watcher for MC ? Personally I think yes, even if the fact of being a Watcher brings a lot especially from the point of view of quest writing, writers are not obliged to place obvious clues for investigations for example, explaining why we’re the only ones who can solve them. It also gives interest to our character, explaining why the powers of the universe are interested in him. That’s why I think we’re going to play a Watcher in Avowed.

Yep (it’s me), I am disappointed that Sawyer did not answer my question but in my eyes it makes more plausible the theory of the implication of maegfolcs in Avowed. Maybe Woedica is urging Aedyr to go there because of particular Engwithane ruins left there. It also reminds me of Tyranny, we are a Tunon agent who was recruited from different backgrounds according to our choice. It could be the same case in Avowed. Also our protagonist could be a Watcher, explaining why Woedica chose us.

It is my opinion as well, and the fact that the sword in the trailer is "Oathbinder" makes me think that we will play as an agent of Woedica which "leads" the invasion of the Living Lands. (Like in Tyranny). I agree with that, but Obsidian will need to do a much better (digest) introduction to the concept of Eora than in Pillars 1, Deadfire do a much better job in that regard in my opinion. Also I think that the "monster" at the end of the trailer of Avowed is a Maegfolc. Because of this skull : https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Maegfolc_Skull. Why would the Engwithans place Maegfolcs (a kingdom) in the Living Lands, for what purpose?

This is why I don't want it to be a prequel, I want to know the consequences (at the scale of Known Eora) of the events of Deadfire.