Avowed dev responds to concerns from Xbox Games Showcase trailer

Avowed is still in a pre-alpha state, an Obsidian developer has confirmed while responding to player concerns regarding the Xbox Games Showcase trailer. "Art will be refined" and "lighting will change."

Following the Avowed reveal at the Xbox Games Showcase, some players have voiced their concerns about the quality of the game's graphics. An Obsidian developer has now responded to the "misconceptions," confirming that "the game has not entered Alpha yet."

Avowed gameplay trailer

As spotted by Klobrille on Twitter, an Obsidian developer by the username Briar Diem has responded to players on RPG Codex, who have voiced their concerns about the graphical quality of Avowed's gameplay reveal. According to Diem, "the game has not entered Alpha yet," and while the overall designs won't change, "art will get refined in various ways," and "lighting will change." A little later on in the thread, Diem points out that previous projects at Obsidian have sometimes had alpha periods as short as "just a few months long." Still, Avowed is expected to be "the longest we'll have for Alpha/Beta period for any game at Obsidian by a longshot."

"Codex always gives a good, wild ride! This thread is bonkers but 100% warranted. The trailer fails to show much in its two-minute run time. To clear up misconceptions though I'll say this, the game is big and open, it is unfair to compare it to Outer Worlds (I think Feargus is trying to keep expectations down just in case), which I think is nothing alike," Briar Diem says.

"The studio that did the trailer did some compression of colors and image editing, the screenshots that have been released are much more representative of what it looks like just running through it (they also appear to be totally random shots from the game, I'm not sure why these were chosen out of all the things, probably to keep spoilers at minimum). A lot of the game is being kept hidden right now, I think you will have to wait until the next trailer or some sort of presentation to really see it, but it is safe to assume it is very Obsidian. No, the entire game isn't all bright and happy town, no it is not all so indistinct visually. There are lots of characters, quests, conversations, various game mechanics, a big story, etc."

Diem adds, "development is going well right now, MS is allowing Obsidian free license to do as they will, and if it is success or fails it'll be on Obsidian's own terms."

Last week, a PC Gamer interview with Obsidian CEO Fergus Urquhart revealed that Avowed was initially pitched as the studio's "own Skyrim," but has since been shifted into a different direction and won't be as huge as an Elder Scrolls game.

What did you think of the Avowed gameplay reveal? Drop a comment below and let us know!

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Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.