Maybell Vansickle

Another game that was likely a longshot to be shown at E3 2021, the biggest hurdle Pragmata came up against was another lengthy delay which pushed its already distant 2022 release date a year later into 2023. Still, fans were at least hopeful to learn a little more about the intriguing game as well as maybe view another teaser trailer. While there's still a chance it appears at another event later this year, the game is still so far away that Capcom could opt to simply hold it back a little longer than it originally expec Another Microsoft game revealed last summer during the Xbox Games Showcase, Avowed seemed to be Obsidian's response to Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series. Ironically, months later Microsoft went out and purchased Bethesda, reuniting both studios and franchises. Instead of updating fans with new Avowed content at E3 2021, Obsidian instead showcased the latest update for Grounded as well as a hilarious teaser trailer for The Outer Worlds Since its creation and announcement in 2018, most of the news out of The Initiative has been regarding the talent that has been hired. Led by former Crystal Dynamics Studio Head, Darrell Gallagher, The Initiative finally revealed its first big project at The Game Awards 2020 as a reboot of the Perfect Dark franchise . The announcement came with a debut trailer as well as a developer diary sharing a few new insights on the game and what the studio is doing to revive the franch Nintendo showed off big upcoming titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 and even the long rumored 2D action game known as Metroid Dread . As exciting and surprising as the new Metroid was, it likely wasn't the announcement many expected. The rough development cycle of Metroid Prime 4 is well documented, having not only switched developers, but getting a full reboot as well. However, that announcement was made all the way back in early 2 For example, unlike first-person Bethesda RPGs like Fallout 4 and Skyrim , the player in The Outer Worlds has far fewer opportunities to interact with the environment. They can't move corpses or items, sit down in the captain's chair of their ship, or drink water from natural sources. While this might not seem like much, features like these make a world feel far more like an RPG than a FPS by giving the players more opportunities to immerse themsel Obsidian's past financial struggles were likely one of the motivations behind taking the setting from Pillars of Eternity and using it for a more mainstream, accessible first-person fantasy RPG like Avowed . While CRPGs remain a relatively niche market, Avowed was almost immediately compared to Skyrim after its announcement trai Obsidian is currently developing two major first-person RPGs, Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 . When looked at alongside smaller projects like Grounded , it certainly seems like the studio is busier than ever bef Pillars of Eternity also gets wrong what New Vegas gets right. In Pillars of Eternity the player is exposed to a cultists ritual that makes them a Watcher , a person able to read souls and see their past lives. If the player doesn't track down the cultists, they are told, their character will go ins When Obsidian returned to CRPGs with released like Pillars of Eternity and its sequel, the hope was likely to help revive and occupy a large portion of the CRPG market following the success of games like Wasteland 2 . Although the Pillars of Eternity games were critically successful, however, the studio was still struggling commercia There’s an argument to be made that Obsidian’s follower design comes with risks in an open-world RPG. While character-driven games like BioWare’s Mass Effect series are able to make the most out of well-developed companion characters thanks to the clearer characterization of their protagonists, the followers in games like The Outer Worlds can highlight just how much of a blank slate the player character is to the detriment of immers This bodes well for The Outer Worlds 2 , which was announced at E3 2021. The game's trailer parodied the early announcements of other games - particularly RPGs like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Elder Scrolls 6 - suggesting it's in very early development. In that case, The Outer Worlds 2 could be in Obsidian's back pocket, with the announcement trailer designed to keep interest in the studio's upcoming releases as it works on Avowed . In other words, the fact that both Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 are "in development" doesn't actually mean that Obsidian is dividing its resources evenly between the games, or anywhere cl Companion characters aren’t the only likely difference between Skyrim and Avowed . Based on other Obsidian RPGs , it’s more likely that Avowed Secrets will have a greater focus on its main quest than Skyrim does, and despite its open world, Obsidian’s past games suggest that it’s more likely that Avowed will block off its world after the main quest is completed, though this is far from cert