Obsidian Entertainment has nonchalantly revealed a must-have feature for any RPG fan is coming to Avowed – third-person perspective. Not only will we get to enjoy Eora up close and personal on Xbox, but keeping with genre mates such as Starfield, Fallout 4, and Skyrim, we’ll also have the ability to explore the world with our characters in full view.
As part of a new Xbox Podcast Avowed deep dive, the team chats with game director Carrie Patel. As we head into the Party Camp – the main narrative and upgrade hub – we can see the perspective seamlessly shift from first to third person. By the looks of things, the RPG game will let you toggle between the two without having to hunt through the menus, which is a big W as far as I’m concerned.
Typically, I like to enjoy my story beats in first-person for maximum immersion – you simply can’t feel as connected to a game’s NPCs if the camera’s floating behind your character. However, in the best games in the genre where there are lots of cool particle effects going on, especially in combat, then the ability to pop out into third-person and survey them in their full splendor has always been a must-have. Thankfully, it looks like we’ll be able to enjoy both when the Avowed release date lands.
This is also a significant shift for Obsidian considering The Outer Worlds never had an active third-person camera. Though there were points that you’d zoom out from your character, these were only during cutscenes and other moments where you weren’t in control of them. With The Outer Worlds 2 release date set to arrive at some point, Obsidian has shown with Avowed that it can add true third-person to the space game sequel. Whether or not it will remains to be seen, of course, but here’s hoping.
For more of the latest on the best Xbox games in the land of RPGs, check out why Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ stealth is giving me my Splinter Cell fix. Meanwhile, peep the RPG that we were surprised to not see at the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase – you can probably already guess what it is.