Unlike similar first-person action RPGs,Avoweddoes not feature an open world, butthis decision ultimately makes the game better. While the world ofAvowedmay not be one contiguous map, that doesn’t mean it feels small. There are still plenty of chances to explore, and the game still offers the sense of adventure players expect from a title like this. However, by sectioning its map into smaller regions,Avowedallows for some unique benefits that similar games can’t manage due to their single-map structure.Avowed’s story in particular benefits from this decision.
Avowedis far from the first RPG to opt for a more segmented world. Obsidian’s very first RPG,Knights of the Old Republic 2, had a similar structure, with players traveling between different planets. Obsidian maintained this trend with its unique sci-fi IP,The Outer Worlds. ThePillars of Eternitygames that precededAvowedalso had players traveling between distinct areas of the world as opposed to wandering around one big map. Obsidian is a company known for creating RPGs that give players a lot of agency, and it seems like no coincidence that the company oftens avoid open worlds.
Avowed Isn’t An Open-World RPG
Avowed Is Split Into Four Regions
It’s important to make a distinction between what is and isn’t considered an “open-world” game when saying thatAvowedisn’t one.Avowednot having an open world doesn’t mean players are set on one linear path through the game. There are plenty of opportunities for exploration within the game’s regions, and players have the freedom to complete objectives within a region in different orders and in a variety of ways. The difference betweenAvowedand a true open-world game is that the entiremap ofAvowed’s Living Landsisn’t available right from the start of the game.
The above images show only a part of each map. Each overall region is larger.
Open-world games likeSkyrimorLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildgive players access to their entire maps from the start of the game (short prologue sections notwithstanding). In contrast,players will need to advance the story inAvowedto unlock new regions. There are four regions inAvowed: Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp, and Galawain’s Tusks. Players can travel back to previous regions, but they can’t go to any region they want right from the start of the game. These regions also don’t all exist on one contiguous map, instead remaining confined to their own maps.
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Having Defined Zones Allows For Game States To Be Altered Off-Screen
Although a sectioned-off world may seem more restrictive than an open one,Avowed’s distinct regions actually make it easier for the game to give players more agency. Because entire sections ofAvowed’s worlds are inaccessible from the beginning of the game, these sections can change dramatically depending on a player’s choices. Since they aren’t loaded in at all times, the game is able to adjust each region’s current state based on the choices players make before they’re allowed to go there. This is an option that fully open-world games don’t have.
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In a true open-world game, each section of the map needs to more-or-less function like it’s the first place that the player is visiting, as it very well could be. Whileit is possible to make some changes to different parts of an open-world game based on a player’s choices—Skyrim’s Stormcloak Rebellionis a good example — there’s more of a limit on how big these changes can be. This is because there’s no easy way for a game to make major changes to its world state when the entire map exists in one instance.
In contrast,Avowedknows that players won’t see the Emerald Stair until they’ve completed certain quests within Dawnshore.This allows the game to account for any decisions made in the first region and load them in when players first visit Emerald Stair. Later regions can account for even more player choices, as they can work with decisions made in any of the previous sections of the game. Galawain’s Tusks, the final region players can visit, can therefore look different based on choices made in each preceding region. This allows the game to be shaped more distinctly around player choices.
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Because players need to load into each region individually,this also allows choices made in a subsequent region to then affect a previous region. This can end up making a world feel real despite being segmented into distinct levels because it feels more alive and able to be interacted with. Fora choice-based RPG likeAvowed, this can be a better choice than a truly open world.
Avowed Prioritizes Detailed Choices Over Open Worlds
Avowed’s Development Team Chose To Focus On Player Agency
Avowedincludes aspects of exploration, butthe game’s main priority is its role-playing. In an interview withXbox Wire, the game’s developers made it clear that they opted out of an open-world model specifically to give players’ choices more weight. Both Region Director Berto Ritger and Narrative Designer Kate Dollarhyde described how splitting the game into different regions helped pace the game’s story better and shape the world around different decisions. It’s not thatAvowed’s team didn’t consider an open world, or couldn’t make one, it’s that they knew not having one was a better fit for their game.
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By prioritizing choice,Avoweddoesn’t just create a more individualized experience for players but also makes the game highly replayable. Providingthe ability to make big changes to the world of the game and the flow of its story will inevitably make players curious about the outcomes of other choicesthey could have made. While an open-world game allows the freedom to replay a game in a different order and ignore certain quests the next time around, the individual story beats will stay largely the same each time.
It’s no coincidence that RPGs that put a higher emphasis on story choice continue to use this model. As of now, having individualized sections of a game world as opposed to one big map makes it easier for developers to incorporate branching choices into a game’s story. AlthoughAvowedis an action RPG similar to open-world titles likeSkyrim, it’s clear that the developers wanted its story to skew closer to something likeBaldur’s Gate 3,where player choices have a large impact on the story from one section to the next.
