Borrowing One Elder Scrolls Trick Could Help Avowed Thrive As a Longrunning Series

Highlights

• Avowed is anticipated to have a 2024 release window, and its recent appearance at Xbox Developer Direct has built excitement for the game’s in-depth combat and exploration.
• With ties to the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is well-positioned for future releases, as the rich lore and complex world of Eora can provide a foundation for sequels.
• Avowed’s world of Eora is comparable in scale and diversity to The Elder Scrolls’ Tamriel, suggesting that future games in the franchise have the potential for longevity and success through exploring different regions of Eora. Like with Elder Scrolls, each game could be named after a specific region.

With the upcoming Avowed seemingly being set to keep its 2024 release window, hype around the fantasy project is reaching a fever pitch. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the depth of combat and exploration in the title already seems fascinating, with its recent appearance at the Xbox Developer Direct finally giving fans a more complete picture of what to expect.

Given the amount of anticipation that already surrounds Avowed, the concept of a sequel at some point in the future is not out of the question. While this currently seems like a faraway prospect for the franchise, the game’s ties to the Pillars of Eternity IP provides it with the perfect opportunity to take a page out of The Elder Scrolls‘ development playbook for any future releases.

Avowed Already Has a Thriving World To Pull From For Future Releases

Avowed is in a fantastic position prior to release due to its ties with the Pillars of Eternity franchise, which launched in 2015. The PoE games are characterized by top-down isometric perspectives and real-time tactical combat, being considered as spiritual successors to deep RPG franchises like Baldur’s Gate. The respect that PoE pays to more traditional fantasy RPG elements has already seen the franchise develop some rich and complex lore, with Avowed taking place in the same fantastical world of Eora as Pillars of Eternity.

More of Avowed‘s main narrative has been revealed recently, with the player adopting the role of an envoy from the Aedyr Empire who has a mysterious connection to The Living Lands, which itself is only a small portion of Eora. As things stand, it seems that The Living Lands will be the only explorable part of Eora in Avowed, yet the world actually consists of the following regions and island ranges:

• Aedyr
• Deadfire Archipalego
• Eastern Reach
• The Living Lands
• Old Vailia
• Rauatai Gulf
• The White that Wends

Avowed’s Eora Has the Same Scale as The Elder Scrolls’ Tamriel

Most of Eora has not even been explored in the Pillars of Eternity games, with each region having its own deep history and being home to a wide variety of creatures and races. From a gaming perspective, Avowed has been heavily likened to The Elder Scrolls, with the combat, storytelling, and exploration of both franchises being quite similar at face value.

These similarities of course extend to the main settings of both IPs, with Avowed‘s Eora having the same diversity and scale as the iconic Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls. Each entry to The Elder Scrolls is essentially defined by the province of Tamriel that it is set within, so much so that many games are simply named after their core setting. Even after five mainline entries and numerous spin-offs, a lot of Tamriel is still left unrepresented and unexplored, with the sheer scale of the continent giving The Elder Scrolls a serious amount of longevity.

With Eora arguably being just as vast and complex as Tamriel, any sequels to Avowed could easily take place in other parts of the world, with the sub-franchise already having a wide range of choices of where to go next. As new games explore new regions of Eora, the lore and worldbuilding of the IP will only grow, and the upcoming title could easily emulate the success that The Elder Scrolls has enjoyed with a similar strategy for its sequels.