Avowed's Attempt To Fix Skyrim Cities Only Makes The Problem More Obvious

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attempts to fix a lot of the failings of RPGs, from shrinking the bloated open worlds of games like to making exploration feel genuinely meaningful thanks to a plethora of emergent moments and interesting loot. It also somehow manages to have the best first-person melee combat, something that its competitors like have failed to do for decades. There is a lot to love about, and the extremely glowing reviews reflect that, making it well worth playing, especially for RPG fans.

However, despite being one of the best RPGs of 2025, there's a lot that it gets wrong. Namely, fails to correct a mistake made over a decade ago with its cities. While many may not initially believe that cities are all that important in an RPG, both and prove the contrary. However, didn't fail due to a lack of trying, rather it was an overcorrection on Obsidian Entertainment's behalf that saw it struggle to truly nail a believable and compelling fantasy city, leaving the task still unfinished.

One offew faults is its cities. While many will likely fondly remember Whiterun, Solitude, and Riften, they never feel truly believable. Bethesda pulled out every trick in the book to make them as immersive as possible, including packing them full of interesting lore details such as the factions that inhabit them and the industries that sustain them. However, they all struggle due to their problem with scale, feeling far too small and thus making the continent of feel like a video game location rather than a real place as a result.

This was a limitation of the hardware it was running on and the engine powering it, although, admittedly, Bethesda's city design is broken even in. So, while it can make returning to a little frustrating, for the most part, it is excusable. Future RPGs have attempted to rectify this issue, with the likes of and featuring enormous cities or even being set entirely within one. However, few RPGs have managed to feature multiple cities of a believable size. That is, of course, until