Since its announcement back in 2020, there have been no new updates on Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming fantasy action RPG Avowed, and though there’s every chance that we’ll be seeing the game soon at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase next month, it seems a key detail on it (or at least its development) may have emerged prematurely.
A significant portion of the industry – especially AAA developers – has shifted over to Unreal Engine 5 for the development of future games, and it very much seems like Obsidian is among those developers. As per the LinkedIn profile of Aaron Dubois, who’s lead VFX artist at the studio, Avowed is being built on the newest iteration of Epic’s engine (screencap below). Until now, Obsidian hasn’t provided any official communications regarding them.
Interestingly, in August of last year, job ads seemed to suggest that fellow upcoming Obsidian title The Outer Worlds 2 will also be using Unreal Engine 5. Of course, given Obsidian’s recent history, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, what with Grounded and the original The Outer Worlds both having been built on Unreal Engine 4.
Avowed is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC. There’s no word yet on when the game will launch, but leaks have claimed that it might launch in the first half of 2023.