Highlights

  • Avowed and No Rest for the Wicked are challenging traditional RPG norms by eliminating character classes for more player freedom.
  • Skill trees and classes have long been RPG staples, but newer titles like Avowed aim to redefine gameplay through skill-based customization.
  • The shift towards a classless system in RPGs like Avowed and No Rest for the Wicked may signal a new era of player-driven role-playing experiences.

Historically, the allure of role-playing games has had its roots in the gameplay diversity offered by letting players be something different in each playthrough. This holds especially true in titles where a protagonist doesn't need to conform to a particular style for their story to shine. For instance, despite its perception as a niche product, Dungeons and Dragons is the origin of several ideas in modern RPGs, and the variety of its character classes was (and is still) a major driving factor behind its commercial success. However, trends are always subject to change, and the likes of Avowed and No Rest for the Wicked could be laying the foundational blocks for a paradigm shift in the premise of the action RPG genre.

Skill trees and character classes as a unit form the nucleus of the role-playing experience, and it's not uncommon to see titles that find ways to incorporate both mechanisms within their gameplay. While this may not be the case for Avowed, stylistically speaking, character classes often go hand in hand with skill trees to ensure that playthroughs are customizable to a higher degree, and this phenomenon has produced stellar results in the industry for years, a trend that Baldur's Gate 3's sales figures exemplify. Nevertheless, change is constant, and newer titles like Avowed seem open to purposefully eliminating the need for character classes in favor of a less boxed-in feel to their design.

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Avowed's Class-less Approach Could Create New Opportunities

While the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" axiom sounds a warning against changing a winning formula, every developer tries to go in a different direction to keep things fresh. Sometimes this identity building can birth polar opposites even in the same microcosm of the gaming industry. For instance, Baldur's Gate 3 went full throttle in its character subclass gimmick, and games like Path of Exile 2 seem ready to adopt the same vast expanse of classes hoping to yield similar results. On the flip side, others seem to be diverging from the path entirely, with Avowed's decision to stray from class-focused builds a major talking point ahead of its release scheduled for later this year.

Avowed's system is heavily predicated on abilities in the absence of classes. The reasoning behind Obsidian's stance is that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to conquering the upcoming game's story, and Avowed's developers are harping on putting the power of combinations in the hands of the players in a pronounced form. Removing the barriers that usually divide multiple classes is an intriguing concept, as the mix-and-match possibilities that ordinarily wouldn't be on the table could be a game-changer if all goes to plan for Obsidian.

No Rest for the Wicked and Avowed Could Usher in a New Era of Gaming

Similarly, No Rest for the Wicked - while still in its Early Access roadmap - seems to be toeing the line of unfettered access to multiple skills by eliminating the class constraint. Moon Studios elected not to feature any class presets to encourage individual player choice, a decision that deviates from the status quo in the action RPG scene where developers dictate how playstyles work. This new approach of putting the power to define a character's ability in players' hands could signal the dawn of a new era in gaming - even if it's likely to face some opposition from hardcore fans of the genre.

CRPGs thrived on the unique playstyles of their classes, and the very idea behind role-playing games was for players to conform to fantasy roles. With the passage of time, it's become more acceptable for characters to access some forms of other types through more dynamic skill trees, but the divide is an essential part of the genre's identity. Eliminating this natural barrier in favor of a crossbreed approach goes against the fabric of what makes RPGs tick, so the road is tricky for Avowed and No Rest for the Wicked to follow. However, the increased diversity and freedom of such a premise might be enough to catapult the gimmick to popularity in the coming years.