It's a great time for fans of traditional open-world, quest-rich RPGs, and much of the current excitement boils down to just one studio: Obsidian. Most recently, the developer announced a medieval fantasy epic called Avowed, announced during July's Xbox Games Showcase, and one that bears more than a fleeting resemblance to 2011's The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, given the perspective, the similar background. in first person and dual use. of swords and spells. Obsidian has a proud history of medieval fantasy, however, having released the D&D-inspired Neverwinter Nights 2 in 2006, when the studio's founders originally worked together at Black Isle Studios on Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale. , as well as the original. Never winter nights. Obsidian also developed the isometric RPG Pillars of Eternity and its sequel Deadfire, which actually lends its settings to Avowed, making it something of a spiritual successor (although it ditches the isometric perspective). Basically, there's every reason to believe that Obsidian will offer much more than just an Elder Scrolls clone, and also to give Obsidian credit for the medieval fantasy RPG formula we're so used to today. But Avowed's announcement begins to show a pattern in Obsidian's game development timeline that can't be discussed in isolation from the fortunes of its longtime collaborator, Bethesda.
![La mascota Pip-Boy, de la serie Fallout de Bethesda]()
The Pip-Boy mascot, from Bethesda's Fallout series (Image credit: Bethesda)
Obsidian vs. Bethesda
Bethesda Softworks is the development studio responsible for the Elder Scrolls franchise and the Fallout series (well, Fallout 3 and 4). The studio tends to release alternate installments in each series, with the next title being The Elder Scrolls 6, though there is currently no confirmed release window or platform for the game. What is the link? Obsidian worked with Bethesda to create the Fallout 3 Fallout: New Vegas spin-off/semi-sequel, which used the same game engine to tell a different story with separate characters and quest lines, and was released just 2 years after Fallout. 3. So they both worked from the same model, and the comparisons were made naturally when Obsidian released The Outer Worlds in 2019, a stylish sci-fi RPG fashioned in the Fallout mold. But the game was even more notable for what it did first, coming just a year after Bethesda announced its own single-player space RPG, Starfield. Still, we wrote that The Outer Worlds could steal Starfield's thunder, and it looks like Obsidian is set to repeat that round with Avowed.
![Starfield: pocos pero un logo para continuar]()
Starfield: Little more than a logo to carry on (Image credit: Bethesda) Elder Scrolls 6 isn't coming anytime soon, especially when we're learning about a slew of next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X games launching in 2021. With silence still surrounding ES6, and nothing more than an early trailer to go on, the release dates for it and Avowed could be surprisingly close, though we wouldn't be surprised if Obsidian beat Bethesda to the punch again. It certainly looks like the Microsoft-owned game studio is looking to encroach on Bethesda turf. And, given the anger directed at Bethesda in years past, that territory could be free.
The fall of Bethesda from grace.
Bethesda has had some tough times in the court of public opinion in recent years. Fallout 76, online only, was ultimately a disaster for the company, abandoning the usual strengths of the Fallout franchise (mission design, dialogue trees, world building) for all its weaknesses (combat, combat, and combat). .
![Fallout 76 (2018)]()
Fallout 76 (2018) (Image credit: Bethesda) The game was plagued with bugs at launch, and while Bethesda did a great job improving and expanding the game, it initially had a high RRP and a number of other steps in fake, including obvious attempts to leech as much as possible out of 76 extant. Playerbase: Lost a lot of goodwill among players. That said, memories can be short-lived, and there's nothing that takes away Fallout 76's flavor as a next-gen Elder Scrolls game. With an upcoming Fallout TV show coming to Amazon Prime Video, we'll soon have something new to love or hate about the Fallout universe. While The Outer Worlds was considered at launch to be a pre-emptive Starfield killer, the long delay before the latter's release - possibly still several years - means that comparisons are highly speculative and Bethesda has plenty of time to make the findings. . things differently. For now, though, Obsidian is showing plenty of confidence in its ability to make Bethesda-style games its own way, and if Avowed manages to launch anytime soon, it could really take the wind out of The Elder Scrolls' sails. 6)