Avowed - Was originally co-op

[HiddenX]

Eurogamer reports that Avowed was originally planned as a co-op game:

Obsidian says Avowed was originally co-op but it just wasn't Obsidian enough

"We realised that we weren't focused on the things that we're best at".

As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, Obsidian Entertainment has been airing a documentary series digging into the studio's history, and the newly aired final episode has a little to say about its future too, sharing a few details on the upcoming Avowed, including the revelation it started life as a co-op experience before pivoting to a single-player RPG.

"When I look back at 20 years, there's decisions of mine that I feel really good about, there's decisions that I feel not so good about", studio head Feargus Urquhart admits at one point in the documentary. "One of the things where I really pushed was that Avowed was going to be multiplayer, and I kept on that for a long time."

Urquhart says his insistence on multiplayer came from the belief it would make Avowed more interesting to publishers. At the time, the studio was independent - its since been acquired by Microsoft - and Urquhart reasoned, "When you're asking for 50, 60, 70, 80 million, you've got to have something interesting to talk about and multiplayer made it interesting."

"I know, in the end, it was the wrong decision to keep on pushing on it," Urquhart admits, at which points Obsidian head of development Justin Britch takes over the story, shedding more light on the tangle Avowed's early multiplayer focus was getting the studio in.

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Thanks Couchpotato!

More information.

 

[Couchpotato]

Co-op rarely works in certain games so kudos to them. Seriously though this game has had so many revisions and reboots over the last few years. I'm worried.

 

[Redglyph]

Me too, I'll watch it carefully once it's released. I wasn't really convinced by the trailer, but it didn't give away much so who knows.

 

[JDR13]

I think it was a good choice on their part to not follow through with it being co-op. They might have a gained some new fans, but they would have alienated others.

I'm surprised it was Feargus Urquhart that wanted to do it, but I understand his reasoning.

 

[Carnifex]

Not a fan of co-op myself, so I'll call this a good, sensible decision. Maybe it could pop up later as an expansion option should initial sales prove worthy of such.

 

[Andrew23]

Not being focused on things they are good at is usual Obsidian problem, no? Good they finally found out. But only till next game, right? Hopefully this one is not completely spoiled already.

 

[Silver]

It sounds like they are paring down the game to something manageable for them. Why through? With Microsoft money and resources surely they should be looking to be more ambitious?

 

[Couchpotato]

It sounds like they are paring down the game to something manageable for them. Why through? With Microsoft money and resources surely they should be looking to be more ambitious?

Simple based on leaks many staff has been fired and replaced due to internal strife on the project. The new lead took over and development was rebooted to what it is now.

It went from a Dark Skyrim clone with Co-Op to a fantasy version of The Outer Worlds

Inxile looks to be going the same route with its BioShock inspired RPG.