"It Was Honestly A Challenge": Avowed Took Six Years And Two Reboots To Get Where It Is Today, But There's More To Come

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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.

As revealed by the interview, evenat the time of 's initial reveal in 2020, the game's development was in dire straits, enough so that it was rebooted for what would be the second time in January of the following year, placing Patel in charge.

This reboot, according to the interview, came with significant challenges and resulted in the decision to more heavily emphasize the game's shared narrative elements with, and a shift away from an entirely continuous open world, instead opting for the separate open areas that are present in the final release.

Though Obsidian is notable for having achieved an uncommonly high rate of release at a time when many other major developers are slowing down — , set to launch later in 2025, will be the studio's sixth game within a seven-year period. The development struggles revealed by Patel's interview with highlight the difficulties that the studio still faces when developing these larger titles. As of right now, however, the trouble that 's development team went