Obsidian has revealed that it won’t be possible to do a pacifist run in their upcoming action RPG, Avowed.
In a new interview for Windows Central, Creative Director Carrie Patel explained that combat is an inevitability, but that doesn’t mean have to fight every single time. In her words:
“It’s not going to be possible to do a completely pacifist run — you will have to engage in combat at times.
There are certainly scenarios where you can avoid it completely; in some cases, you can talk certain enemies out of an encounter; in certain cases, you’ll get an additional encounter as a consequence for how you handled someone somewhere else.”
Of course, everyone is looking for and asking about a pacifist run for a reason. Perhaps introduced in Deus Ex, the idea of a pacifist run is intriguing in action games for several reasons. If action games give you the feeling of a power trip when you beat many enemies, there are players who may feel that this feeling is shallow. There are also players who genuinely have a disposition against violence.
Developers can make thrilling games where the player literally does not commit any violence, such as the Portal games. But there’s something intriguing about the idea of making a game with a power trip fantasy at its core, and stepping all over that to find a nonviolent way to complete the game.
We mentioned Deus Ex, but perhaps the most famous and beloved game to run with this idea is Undertale. Deus Ex gave players an alternative storyline as a consequence of the choices you make in playing it as a pacifist. Undertale takes it one step further, as many players consider the pacifist run canon and the most rewarding, for how much narrative and character development is squeezed out of each boss as you talk them into becoming your friend. You can also unlock even more layers from the story with a second pacifist playthrough.
So Obsidian is really going against the grain by making some combat and violence necessary in Avowed. But really, this goes in line with Avowed’s connections to the Pillars of Eternity franchise. The specifics of the factional conflicts in the Pillars of Eternity universe make it necessary that characters will fight. Or maybe this is all really just an excuse so that the game isn’t too boring.
But Obsidian does add enough player choice in their games, so that players will feel that they were at least mostly pacifist, or perhaps pacifist until it isn’t possible anymore. Rather famously, Pillars of Eternity has an achievement called Relative Pacifism. Earning this very real achievement requires starting a second playthrough, and an existing familiarity with the game, so that you can minimize the kills and conflicts you have to get into.
Ultimately, Obsidian wants players to have a complete experience, or at least that’s how they like to put it. Again quoting Carrie here:
“Combat, dialogue, exploration, these are all big parts of the experience that we want players to enjoy.”
Avowed is releasing in 2024 on Xbox Series X|S, and on Windows via Steam. It will also be Day One on Game Pass.
