The 7 best open-world fantasy RPG games like Avowed
Obsidian Entertainment has cancelled its planned sequel to Avowed to pivot development toward a new Fallout game, according to Bloomberg reporting this week. The shift comes amid significant organizational turbulence at the studio and its parent company Xbox, following Microsoft’s announcement of 1,600 immediate layoffs with an additional 1,600 cuts planned. The decision represents a major shift for Obsidian, which had begun early development on the Avowed sequel following the commercial success of the original fantasy RPG released last year.
Avowed offered players a unique action-RPG experience set in the Eora fantasy world, the setting previously explored in Pillars of Eternity and its sequel. The game allowed players to switch between first- and third-person perspectives while exploring the richly detailed world.
The pivot to Fallout is particularly significant given Obsidian’s history with the franchise—the studio developed Fallout: New Vegas, widely considered one of the finest entries in the Fallout series. Many fans have hoped for a proper sequel to that game for over 15 years, making the announcement a long-awaited victory for the RPG community.
However, the situation remains fluid. Reports suggest there’s still a possibility that Avowed 2 could proceed after the new Fallout project, with a skeleton crew at Obsidian continuing preliminary work on the fantasy sequel. The scale and timeline for both projects remain unclear as Xbox navigates its restructuring.