Avowed Is Trying to Sell You the Story Too Hard Because by Ditching an Open World for Defined Zones

Obsidian Entertainment is preparing to launch its very much-awaited title Avowed after more than five years of waiting. Launching on February 18, 2025, this new fantasy RPG has had a long time to cook in the oven and Obsidian recently shared some details regarding the game’s development.

One big decision that the devs made for the game was to go for structured zones instead of a traditional open-world design. Obsidian argues that this approach will lead to tighter pacing, more meaningful choices, and a better story. But we aren’t going to be convinced till we actually see it. As one of 2025’s biggest releases, there’s a lot hanging on this game.

Obsidian’s decision to ditch a fully open world is a bit of a surprise given the recent trends. Games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto V, The Witcher 3, and Red Dead Redemption 2 led the charge to an era where a lot of games that come out have been open-world. So Obsidian to risk it with high stakes is bold.

Instead, Avowed features distinct, self-contained zones connected by a linear progression system. According to Narrative Designer Kate Dollarhyde (via Xbox Wire), these defined zones make it so that the developers and the game know exactly where the player is, in terms of our progression. This in turn will allow the developers to approach the story’s pacing and depth accordingly.

Pacing is tough in open-world games. So having these zones that happen in sequence means we always know what content you’ve just come from on the critical path. Maybe not what side quests you’ve done, but we always know you’ve just had this [core] experience.

By dividing Avowed into distinct, explorable regions, Obsidian can carefully design each area and linearize how the player experiences each area. The knowledge of where the player has been helps to add details that will make the game feel more sequential and coherent.

The zones in Avowed are designed to offer the best of both worlds. We the players will have both the freedom to explore and a story that is cohesive and feels natural. Region director Berto Ritger further talks about the omission of an open world. It seems like the focus is on polish and not a feature list.

I think it’s a good pacing mechanism (for those choices). We know roughly what you’ve done before you’ve gone to the next thing. It’s still a very open structure within those zones, where you can do whatever you want for the most part, but it’s not one contiguous area where you could be anywhere at any moment.

One of the hallmarks of Obsidian’s design philosophy is player choice and consequence, which Avowed takes to the next level. According to narrative designer Carrie Patel, every decision we the players make can have either immediate, medium-term, or long-term consequences.

Short-term choices might affect an NPC’s reaction or the progression of a quest, while medium-term ones could determine the outcome of a story arc. Long-term choices will apparently influence the age and your relationships with characters in such a way that no two playthroughs are the same. Not a concept we haven’t seen before but we can assume that Obsidian will do it well.

Patel also talked about how players will hidden details and branching paths saying that it will be a part of the game’s replayability. The developers are okay with the fact that some content will go unnoticed by many players. The mystery of finding out is what will keep players coming back. At least that’s the claim, we’ll be the real judge of that when the game comes out.