Shortly after the launch of Obsidian's newest RPG, , the game's director shed some light on the game's troubled development in a new interview.
After it was first revealed in 2020, took five years to release, during which time the game shifted direction drastically from what was shown in the initial trailer — seemingly for the better, as the game has released to generally positive reviews.
According to director Carrie Patel, however, that shift in direction posed some major challenges while the game was still in development.
In an interview with Jason Schreier of , Patel revealed that went through some significant challenges while in development, including two reboots — the second of which resulted in the project being placed under Patel's leadership.
According to the article, the initial pitch for in 2018 included a full open-world environment and multiplayer elements, described by Schreier as "", and development under Patel involved pivoting away from those two aspects.