"We Want Players To Experiment": Avowed Developers Explain How Combat Is All Up To You

The game director and art director of Obsidian's upcoming have spoken more about the game's focus on player freedom when it comes to combat, and the myriad of options fans will have in battle when the game launches later this year.received a new trailer during the Xbox Games Showcase as part of Summer Game Fest 2024, offering up a new look at what's to come from the highly-anticipated fantasy RPG.

Speaking exclusively to, 's game director Carrie Patel and art director Matthew Hansen discussed a little more about the game's combat and the fluid approach the team has taken when it comes to experimenting with melee, magic, and firearms. Patel told:

Avowed is a classless game. We have a range of weapons and also a range of abilities that players can choose from, and by design, those things are flexible. We wanted to encourage players to experiment, and we wanted to encourage them to really find and define their identity in the world through the way that they choose to play.

A number of exciting fantasy RPGs are on the horizon, but Avowed has a particular edge when it comes to the weaponry at players' fingertips.

As seen in trailers — including the new trailer revealed during Xbox Games Showcase — will allow players to use almost any type of weapon imaginable. Whether fans prefer ranged attacks, magic, melee, or even firearms, there's seemingly no end to the many options for combat. As expected from an RPG, the game will also feature skill trees, but the creative team at Obsidian are side-stepping one of the most frustrating parts of a skill tree: forced point spending on unwanted attributes. Patel told:

We've got ability trees based around your traditional warrior archetypes, your traditional ranger archetypes, your traditional wizard archetypes, and you can mix and match freely between those. One that Matt [Hansen] and I were talking about earlier is, if you like your dual pistols, like I do, you can shoot at guys from a medium distance, charge on in to close the