Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming first-person RPGAvowedis one of the most anticipated titles for the Xbox Series X. Many RPG fans are hoping that the game could be the “nextSkyrim,” just as Obsidian’sThe Outer Worldsgave manyFalloutfans their fix after the disappointing reception ofFallout 76.
However, to succeed to the same extent asSkyrimwill not be an easy task.The Elder Scrolls 5sold 20 million copies between 2011 and 2014 and has maintained players on Steam throughout the 2010s. It isSkyrim’s modding community that has been absolutely vital to the game’s longevity, and Obsidian will need to ensure its accommodating ofAvowed’s modding community in some key ways.
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The Creation Kit
Bethesda releasedSkyrimin November 2011, but modding the game became significantly more accessible in February 2012 with the release of the Creation Kit.The Creation Kitis an external program which gives modders easy access to the game’s core mechanics, items, and NPCs, making modding far easier. Bethesda also released a Wiki with guides on how to use the kit.
This helped growSkyrim’s already large modding community. Mods were created for everything from fixing minor annoyances and bugs to expanding cities and adding huge add-on quest lines toSkyrim.Players looking to spice up their game can find hundreds of videos online categorizingthe bestSkyrimmodsand showing off their features.
When Bethesda released theSkyrim Special Edition,the developer also made sure that the new version supported modding on PS4 and the Xbox One at launch. While a lot of theSkyrimmods are aimed at PC users,Avowedwill be on the Xbox Series X, helping to launch the console. Although it will also release on PC, many players will be playingAvowedon the new Xbox, so Obsidian will need to make sure that modding is available on the console for free at launch (or at least soon thereafter).
WhenThe Outer Worldswas released on the Xbox One, modding was made available, but a Creation Kit-style program wasn’t. As a result,The Outer Worlds' modding communitynever grew as big as it could have. WhileSkyrimreleased with clunky combat and plenty of bugs, the modding community helped fix some of those most common complaints, while issues that arose withThe Outer Worldslike simplistic companion AI were harder to resolve.
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The Community
The Outer Worldsmay have provided a fresh take on theFalloutformula, but by not taking the modding community into greater consideration, the game has many of the same problems as Bethesda games while making it harder for players to fix them. For example,The Outer Worldscould have looked to theFalloutandSkyrimmodding communities and noted the popularity of mods that made the genre’s clunky combat smoother, and how those mods achieved that.
Avowedwill need to launch with a Creation Kit or release one very soon after launch in order to enjoy the same long-term success as anElder Scrollsgame. Furthermore, Obsidian should look to the modding community to include some of the innovative ways that players have increased immersion, improved combat, andmodded AI inSkyrim.
Fortunately for Obsidian, Bethesda has also failed to learn some vital lessons from the modding community. Among the most downloaded mods forSkyrimincluded those that gave players alternate introductions to increase roleplaying opportunities and slick survival modes. Despite this,Fallout 4not only gave the player character a far more pre-set backstory, but the game’sSurvival modewas not added until 6 months after release to replace the underdeveloped survival difficulty in the game at launch.
IfAvowedaccommodates and encourages modding not only will it likely enjoy longer-lasting success, but Obsidian could capitalize on the community that has been waiting in vain forThe Elder Scrolls 6’s release. Encouraging the growth of a modding community from day one could help makeAvowedthe immersive RPG experience fans have been waiting for.
Avowedis in development for PC and Xbox Series X.
