Given Obsidian Entertainments pedigree and its reputation as one of the top RPG developers in the industry, its no surprise that theres always plenty of anticipation surrounding whatever it is that the studio has cooking up next.Avowedis next in line for the ever-so-busy Obsidian, and as a first-person fantasy action RPG, it has obviously drawn a lot of comparisons withSkyrim-but exactly how similar to BGS 2011 classic is Obsidians upcoming game going to be? Based on all that weve seen of it so far,Avowedlooks like its going to have a few things in common withSkyrim, but at the same time, its also setting itself apart in other key ways. Here, thats exactly what well be talking about.FANTASY SETTINGLets get things started with the most obvious and surface-level similarity between the two games- that both are modern AAA first-person RPGs in a fantasy setting.Avowedis taking players back to Eora, which is the world of thePillars of Eternityseries, though its going to be set primarily in the Living Lands, a previously unexplored part of the setting. Since its very first cinematic teaser all those years ago,Avowedhas echoedSkyrimwith its high fantasy setting in some very obvious ways, and that, of course, continues to be the case.Look a little deeper, however, and the differences begin to showAVOWED IS NOT A MASSIVE OPEN WORLDThough Obsidian originally set out to make its own version ofSkyrim i.e. a massive open world fantasy RPG the studio ultimately ended up deciding to scale down instead. Now,Avowedis going to be more in line withThe Outer Worlds-a smaller, more condensed experience. Of course, those who wish to engage in a good bit of exploration will still get plenty of opportunities to do that, but you shouldnt go in expecting a sweeping, gargantuan epic similar toSkyrim.DIFFERENT EXPLORATION LOOPGiven the fact thatAvowedsworld is going to adopt a different structure from that ofSkyrim,naturally, thatll mean the exploration loop is also going to take on a different form. Of course, how much players will want to engage with the optional content will be entirely their decision, something thats true of both games, but from a tighter structure to levels feeling more designed and handcrafted compared to the vast expanses ofSkyrimsworld, traversingAvowedsmaps will have a different flow. Making use of companions abilities and interacting with different things in the environment will also be important. Oh, and speaking of companionsAVOWED IS SEEMINGLY PLACING MORE EMPHASIS ON COMPANIONSObsidian and BGS RPGs have both traditionally been known for their companion characters, but of course, they go about that in very different ways.Skyrim,for instance, did have its own cast of recruitable companion characters, but these are entirely ancillary and completely missable parts of the game who can have little to no integration with the story, depending on how you play.Avowed,on the other hand, will be more similar to Obsidians past games, with the companion characters forming a core cast that will have a crucial role to play in the main story from beginning to end.AVOWED IS LOOKING MORE STORY-FOCUSEDAvowedsgreater focus on its cast of companion characters can attributed largely to the fact that the game is going to put more emphasis on its main story and storytelling, period.Skyrim,like all BGS RPGs, is more of a massive open world sandbox where players are free to do as they see fit. A byproduct of that, of course, is that the games main story ends up feeling relatively weaker, and by no means does it remain the main focus. Obsidian, on the other hand, has always been known for crafting narrative-focused experiences, and it looks likeAvowedwill continue that trend, with its main story very much being the primary driver of the experience.FACTIONSHeres an RPG trope thats never going to die, because why the hell should it? Populating their worlds with different factions with engaging histories, cultures, conflicts, and stories is something RPG developers have done for as long as the genre has been around.Skyrimsworld is filled with a variety of different groups and their own dedicated questlines, in true BGS fashion. The upcomingAvowed,too, will see players encountering a number of different factions as they explore the Living Lands. Then again, Obsidians greater focus on player choice will make Avowedsimplementation of factions stand out, by the look of things.CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE MECHANICSThis is an area where BGS RPGs have never made too much of a mark, the same being true ofSkyrimas well. Make no mistake,the open world epic certainly put little to no limitations in allowing players to do whatever they wanted to do, and however they wanted to do. But thoughSkyrimalways lets you make whatever choices you want, its not often that you ever actually feel the weight of any of those decisions, no matter how monumental. Successfully seeing the questlines of two rival factions in direct competition with each other through to completion shouldnt be possible, and yetSkyrim(like other BGS RPGs) lets you do that.Avowed,however, is going to be the sort of game where the choices that you make have consequences, in true Obsidian fashion, which means you can expect the story and the world to react more strongly to your actions and decisions.QUEST STRUCTURESpeaking of player choice,Avowedwill seemingly allow for plenty of it in terms of the actual moment-to-moment gameplay as well- which, of course, is an area whereSkyrimand other RPGs made by its studiodoexcel. For instance, speaking to GamesRadar, Obsidians Berto Ritger explained that nearly every quest in the game had been designed so that players would be able to begin and tackle them in a variety of ways.Skyrimsimmersive sim-esque gameplay sandbox, which lets players go about tackling objectives however they please, is one of its biggest strengths; we dont expectAvowedto be on that same level (its going for something else, after all), but clearly, its quest structure seems to be taking a few cues from the BGS design playbook.FIRST/THIRD PERSON OPTIONSHeres another way thatAvowedis going to overlap with theSkyrimexperience, and its another obvious on. LikeSkyrim,Avowedis primarily a first-person experience, and that plain and simple fact has led to countless inevitable comparisons (like this one). Also similar toSkyrim,meanwhile,Avowedis also confirmed to feature a third-person option. How well the gameplay experience will translate to that camera perspective remains to be seen-Skyrimin third-person is something of an abomination, so heres hopingAvoweddoesnt havethatin common with it.COMBAT DIFFERENCESIn spite of the similarities in their camera options,Avoweds combat still seems to be setting itself apart fromSkyrimin some unique ways. Experimenting with different kinds of spells and weapons and creating unique combos like freezing an enemy with an ice spell before using a sledgehammer to shatter them into pieces is going to be a key part of the combat in Avowed,which promises to lend the combat an interesting moment-to-moment pacing. Other mechanics such as seamless weapon switching as well as the inclusion of firearms could also spice up combat in interesting ways.AVOWED WILL BE MUCH SHORTERSkyrimis obviously an absolute giant of a game, with a main story of 30 hours but a play time that could easily extend well into the tripe digits, courtesy of its oceans of optional content.Avowed,on the other hand, is being designed as a way more contained and compact experience. Obsidian has said its going to be roughly the same in its and length asThe Outer Worlds,which means were looking at a game thatll be anywhere between 15 and 40 hours long, depending on how much of its side content you engage with.