Obsidian’s RPG Avowed has ‘multiple ability trees’ and won’t lock players to one build

Leading developers at Obsidian have today shed light on the character class and build systems they’ve been working on for the studio’s next first-person RPG, Avowed, with the modern take on abilities marking a shift for the company.

Avowed is apparently looking to shake off its predecessors’ classic (and often complex) cRPG design elements in favor of something more approachable. In an interview with PCGamer, Avowed‘s gameplay directors Carrie Patel and Gabe Paramo lifted the lid on what Obsidian is going for in terms of classes in their upcoming title. With hopes that it will switch things up, the devs suggested Avowed will be a “classless” game that gives players multiple ability trees to level up, quite like what we’ve seen in Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls and Starfield recently.

“There are multiple ability trees,” Paramo said in the interview, before then confirming: “It is a classless game. The player will be able to kind of pick and choose their abilities as they level up and progress, and you will be able to respec.” Players will go down the classic RPG route in choosing an archetype as their starting point, he explained, but the game won’t bind players to any particular choices or builds. Being a first-person game akin to some of Obsidian’s previous endeavors like New Vegas and Outer Worlds, it’s totally understandable why they would create a more streamlined experience this time.

It also makes sense considering Baldur’s Gate 3 mega success. Larian’s blockbuster award-winner has recently proven class-based and D&D-style RPG elements are still hot even after all these years of supposed game evolution, so while I wouldn’t call these changes necessary, they will certainly make the game more open for a general audience in 2024 and beyond. Avowed is geared to launch in Fall and we’re likely to hear more of it soon.