Obsidian Entertainment has done all it can to find the right “balance” with ‘Avowed’s companions.
Avowed
The upcoming RPG will feature plenty of different characters that players can team up with on their adventure, and the game’s director Carrie Patel has now said the studio focused on ensuring the companions were “more present in conversations” and the story as a whole.
She told GamesRadar+: “One thing we wanted to do with companions in ‘Avowed’ is give them a little more interactivity and reactivity based on the events and conversations and quests that you're encountering in the game.
“So we wanted them to be a little bit more present in conversations, and we also wanted them to have a little bit more to say about the adventures that you're experiencing together.”
Patel added the team didn’t want the title to “feel like someone is backseat driving and second-guessing all your choices”.
She explained: “I probably liked ‘Starfield’ more than most, but that game definitely felt like it was restricting how much you could roleplay when your companions would treat you like a plague if you leaned ever so slightly into 'evil' territory, so I'm glad that ‘Avowed’s crew seems to be a little less judgemental, while still hopefully pushing back on me.
“But it can also feel weird for players like me, who really do get invested in companions, to think you've been on this adventure with me this whole time, and you're not saying anything about it.
“So we've written a lot of content for these characters for their engagement in the story with one another, with the player.
“A whole lot of it is opt in, however. And so for players who go back to party camp, you know, they might hear their companion say a thing or two, but it's really going to be on them to have that conversation, to kind of really dig into that perspective and get to know their companion a bit better.”