Obsidian confirms next big RPG Avowed will be playable in third-person

Obsidian Entertainment’s next big open-world RPG Avowed, which is the company’s first title back in the RPG genre since 2019’s The Outer Worlds, will be playable in third-person as well as first-person.

Avowed game director Carrie Patel confirmed during an official Xbox deep dive of the upcoming game that there will be a third-person option alongside a first-person one: “A lot of the footage we’re going to see today is first-person, but we do have a third-person option for players who prefer it.” The game’s official account on Twitter/X confirmed the news as well, with a straightforward message: “Third. Person. Gameplay.”

This is the first time in a while that Obsidian is putting out an RPG with third-person capabilities. The previously mentioned The Outer Worlds was only playable in first-person, and the company’s successful Pillars of Eternity games, which share the same universe as the upcoming Avowed title, used a top-down isometric perspective. While some fans were disappointed with the lack of third-person options in The Outer Worlds, the game still sold well and was received well by critics, and a sequel is in the works.

Avowed will also be the first game from Obsidian that will get a day-one release on Game Pass. While the rest of the Obsidian catalog is available on Microsoft’s flagship gaming subscription service, Avowed marks the first time a game will launch on the service. Obsidian was acquired by Microsoft in late 2018, and The Outer Worlds was the first game released after the acquisition, though it had been in development since 2016.

While an official exact date has not been confirmed, Avowed is penned for a 2024 release on Xbox and Steam, though the studio may have accidentally leaked the release date in a recent blog post.