Microsoft acquired Obsidian Entertainment back in 2018, a studio known for its past work on Fallout: New Vegas and the Pillars of Eternity franchise. Now, Obsidian Entertainment is hard at work on several new titles that may have never seen the light of day without this acquisition.
Whether it’s Obsidian’s “Big Two” on the horizon—Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2—or its smaller games in some stage of development—continued work on Grounded or the development of Josh Sawyer’s RPG—there’ a lot coming from Obsidian in the next few years. Of course, that builds a lot of hype, but managing expectations even out of great studios is always a wise move.
Obsidian Entertainment: Grounded
While some will always think of Obsidian as a house of RPGs, Grounded is a survival game set in the backyard dealing with bugs and other critters. It was released in game preview/early access in mid-2020. Thankfully, due to this nature and Obsidian’s online feature board, fans can have some pretty clear expectations for the year. First, Grounded is expected to have its full release in 2022, leaving its game preview/early access state.
Obsidian is currently working on Termites and some generalized Quality of Life/inventory management features. In the planned stage, not being worked on actively quite yet, is a ton of features: Act 1 of Grounded’s story (and eventually a fully completable story); improvements to graphic options, storage management, birds, and other interactions; additional crafting stations, BURG.L quests, and weapons; the Ant Queen and Ant Pheromone control; insect pet enhancements; and higher tier armor, weapons, and tools.
Obsidian states that these are roughly a few months off but may likely serve as the first major update of 2022. Future goals and considerations include a ton of base blueprints, more control in options and settings, additional crafting materials, backyard changing events, weather, and more creatures, insects, and environments. There’s little doubt that, by the end of the year, Grounded will be a more fleshed-out game; beyond that, fans will just need to wait and see what Obsidian has cooking.
Obsidian Entertainment: Pentiment
Thanks to Jeff Grubb and Windows Central’s Jez Corden, fans know that Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity’s Josh Sawyer’s mysterious secret project is an “indie-style effort” and “narrative RPG adventure” known as Pentiment. Players are said to take on the role of a 16th-century European investigator looking to solve a murder. Supposedly, Pentiment is influenced by Disco Elysium and will feature investigations, accusations, branching narrative designs, and severe consequences.
According to Grubb, the murder mystery RPG Pentiment is aiming for a 2022 release, but the keyword there is “aiming.” Still, if that’s the case, then Obsidian and Sawyer fans can expect news, trailers, and more for Pentiment to begin dropping sometime this year. It may not receive as much care, attention, and news releases as something like Avowed, since it is a smaller “indie” level effort by Obsidian, but it’s something fans should keep an eye on—for news, trailers, and more this year.
Obsidian Entertainment: The Outer Worlds 2
Even though Pentiment is unannounced, there’s reason to believe fans will learn more about it this year than The Outer Worlds 2. The game was first announced at E3, with a hilarious trailer that suggested it was in early development. However, reports since then have suggested that The Outer Worlds 2 has been in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S since 2019. As such, it’s not impossible that more information on the game comes out this year, but fans shouldn’t expect too much.
Depending on a ton of factors, including development team size and the pandemic, it’s not unlikely fans get a trailer at one of the bigger events, but expecting more than that wouldn’t be wise. Some have pegged The Outer Worlds 2 as a mid-2020s title (crudely around 2025) in Xbox’s RPG pipeline, with titles like Starfield and Avowed dominating the next year or two.
Obsidian Entertainment: Avowed
Now, Avowed is probably the biggest question mark. There is some expectation that it is the "next up" in Xbox’s RPG pipeline, following Starfield this year. This would suggest Avowed is a 2023 title, and given the sheer hype behind what little is known, it’s likely a Fall 2023 title to capitalize on the holidays. What’s more, Josh Sawyer has also hinted that Pentiment, The Outer Worlds 2, and Avowed are all in playable states—though to what degree is questionable but one could assume Pentiment and Avowed are further along than Outer Worlds 2.
With all of this in mind, it’s possible Outer Worlds 2 takes a silent year and lets Avowed do all the talking. It is honestly safer to expect more out of Avowed than The Outer Worlds 2, and a stronger cinematic trailer for Avowed sometime around Summer 2022 is reasonable. Starfield and Avowed may be Xbox’s biggest showcase for the year. More news and information is likely to follow that, but it may be more restrained in scope. As 2022 winds down and 2023 picks up, though, it is reasonable to expect more out of Avowed.
Obsidian Entertainment: Maybe a Surprise or Two?
There is a clear and strong RPG pipeline for Xbox in the works. Following Starfield is, in some order, Avowed, Fable, Inxile’s new RPG, The Outer Worlds 2, and The Elder Scrolls 6 (which reasonably will remain a ghost for quite a few years). Obviously, though, Xbox is working on more than just RPGs, including some of its studios. As games like Redfall, Grounded, and Pentiment are more exclusive and unique titles spread out between major releases, it’s not impossible that following Pentiment and Grounded that Obsidian has something more in the wings.
It wouldn’t likely be big, but Obsidian has proven itself to be a major powerhouse for Xbox: Grounded, Avowed, Pentiment, and The Outer Worlds 2 is a lot. Grounded and Pentiment, however, may begin winding down at the end of this year, while Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 pick up. What this could suggest is another smaller project emerge, but fans—if anything—should only expect to learn of its existence, if it exists, this year.
At the end of the day, it’s reasonable to expect great things out of Obsidian at a good, reasonable pace. Surprises are welcome, new games are welcome, and still Obsidian Entertainment knows eyes are on its big RPGs.
Source: Windows Central