Does Avowed have co-op multiplayer?

Avowed, the upcoming action role-playing game by Obsidian Entertainment, is set to launch sometime in 2024. Even though we don’t know exactly when the game is coming out, we do have plenty of details. Here’s everything we know about multiplayer in Avowed.

Will Avowed have co-op multiplayer?

No, Avowed will (probably) not have co-op multiplayer. According to Obsidian’s 20th Anniversary documentary, the game was initially supposed to have multiplayer, but the team ultimately decided to make it a single-player game instead.  

Why won’t co-op multiplayer be possible in Avowed?

According to the documentary, when the idea for Avowed was pitched to the publisher, the concept of multiplayer added a lot of value to the project. During early development, multiplayer was heavily pushed. But head of development Justin Britch decided the team should focus on what they know best, which is making single-player games.

“One of the things where I really pushed was that Avowed was going to be multiplayer, and I kept on that for a long time,” says Justin Britch. 

Obsidian is no stranger to making co-op multiplayer games. Games like Grounded and Neverwinter Nights 2 had decent multiplayer mechanics and were critically well-received. But Obsidian is best known for its single-player games like The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, and especially Fallout: New Vegas, so making Avowed a single-player-only game makes more sense in the long run. 

Will Avowed have multiplayer post-launch?

At the time of writing, Obsidian Entertainment hasn’t said anything about adding co-op after the game launches. While it would be great to have some sort of multiplayer option available, I’m not going to hold my breath. Looking back at past Obsidian games, adding multiplayer to single-player games isn’t something the company has ever done.

That said, given early development did focus on multiplayer, we may be able to play Avowed with a friend sometime after the launch, if the stars align. We’ll just have to wait for the game to release and see what happens from there.