When the Avowed teaser trailer dropped, fans were quick to point out similarities between the apparent styles of Obsidian Entertainment’s first-person fantasy RPG and The Elder Scrolls franchise. The first-person shot of a hero wielding magic in their left hand and a sword in their right was extremely reminiscent of Bethesda’s flagship franchise, leaving many to wonder if Obsidian was aiming directly at taking over a key area of the market.
However, while news about Skyrim‘s sequel is still a long way away, there is one big disadvantage that Avowed has because of The Elder Scrolls 6 that could still give Bethesda the edge, especially when it comes to each games’ longevity.
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Avowed is one of the most hotly anticipated titles coming out on the upcoming Xbox Series X. Set in Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity world of Eora, the game has many RPG fans hoping to get their fix of first-person Elder Scrolls-style fun. Not only that, but Bethesda has had some high-profile disappointments in the years since Skyrim released. Fallout 76 in particular reduced faith in the company, leaving many to wonder if it could be trusted to deliver on The Elder Scrolls 6.
However, there’s one big disadvantage Avowed has. Obsidian has never been as good at Bethesda at fostering the modding community for its games. When the studio’s last big RPG title, The Outer Worlds, was released, it didn’t have many available tools to make modding easier and accessible.
Skyrim’s Creation Kit, on the other hand, was released just a few months after its retail release, giving modders almost complete access to the game and undoubtedly contributing to Skyrim‘s longevity. If Avowed is going to reach anything near to Skyrim’s long-term success, it will need to be as accessible to modders.
If the game is as inflexible to modding as The Outer Worlds, it is likely that many people in the modding community will simply hop ship to another game with better opportunities when that releases, rather than sticking with Obsidian’s Avowed like many did for years with Bethesda’s Skyrim.
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The Elder Scrolls games are designed in part with the modding community in mind. There are very few unique humanoid NPC models, for example, which allows modders to create any imaginable character in the world using the character creation provided by the game. The Outer Worlds had far more unique character models like Phineas Welles, making this more difficult.
For Avowed to be truly successful, it will need critical and commercial success at launch but will also need to retain the modding community, and a community at large, long beyond that time. Skyrim’s Steam sales are still impressively steady for a game nearly ten years old, but after Avowed releases in 2022-2023 (the current approximiate), it could be only three years until The Elder Scrolls 6’s rumored 2025 release date. If Obsidian hasn’t been able to stick the landing with a strong modding community in the first few years, then Avowed could be overshadowed and forgotten thanks to the next Elder Scrolls game.
Ultimately, the developers which will define the direction of RPGs on the next generation of hardware remain to be seen. However, if Avowed is accessible to modders to the same extent as Skyrim, then players could have a greater incentive to stick with the game even when the next Bethesda title releases.
Avowed is in development for PC and Xbox Series X.