Xbox Games Showcase Deep Dive | Avowed

PRESENTER: Ratings for games in this podcast are Pending.

[THEME MUSIC]

MALIK PRINCE: Welcome back to The Official Xbox podcast, the only podcast coming to you from inside Xbox. And all this week, we are diving deep into games you've seen at the Xbox Game Showcase. If you want to watch the other episodes, definitely check them out at youtube.com/xbox, Spotify, or wherever you download your podcast.

And I have a very special guest co-host, I should say, with me today. The fans love her. The viewers love her. It's Tina Amini.

TINA AMINI: Hello.

MALIK PRINCE: Tina, how are you?

TINA AMINI: I'm doing great. So excited for this kickoff of a really incredible week that you are hosting for us, so thank you.

MALIK PRINCE: I'm cracking my knuckles. I'm getting ready. This is going to be a tough one. But I'm so excited--

TINA AMINI: A fun one.

MALIK PRINCE: Exactly. To your point, though, this is going to be an exciting week. We just came off the game showcase and now, we're going to learn a little bit more about games. But we have a special guest with us today.

TINA AMINI: We do. And even more special guest. And one of my personal faves is Carrie Patel, game director on Avowed. Welcome back, Carrie.

CARRIE PATEL: Thank you so much. It's great to be here.

TINA AMINI: Oh, man. You have been to the studio several times now.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, exactly.

TINA AMINI: It is such a treat that you spend so much time out here with us. We had you on extended showcase last year. We did an interview. This was after one of the very first forays into Avowed, so that was very exciting. And then we actually had you on this podcast with a slightly different visual design.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, the cheese set is gone.

TINA AMINI: The cheese couch is gone. Yes, exactly. Jeff is very happy about that. We got some podcast mics now, which I'm very excited about.

- Very professional.

TINA AMINI: Yes. But yes, you were here to go deeper into some extended gameplay following Developer Direct, which was earlier this year. Incredible show, incredible viewing from the team. And it was so fun to get this deeper dive. So now we get to do that again, but following showcase. So man, you are spoiling us in the audience.

CARRIE PATEL: [CHUCKLES]

MALIK PRINCE: That's right.

CARRIE PATEL: It's great to be here, and I'm definitely excited to show off what the team has been working on and excited to take a deeper dive into story today.

MALIK PRINCE: Ooh. Well, let's talk about that. So as Tina mentioned, after the Developer Direct, we had you on the podcast. And I just got to make a call back, like, that was received so well. It was just great watching the comments, and everyone like this makes me want to play the game. And so kudos to you and the team. I'm curious from your perspective and the team's perspective, since then, what's been going on? I'm sure as you get closer to release date, a lot of things are coming into play. So tell us a bit about that time.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, it's a really exciting part of the development process because you've got so much that's so far along. Your content, your gameplay, your systems, and you're really just investing those final touches, that final layer of polish, like pushing everything to be as good as it possibly can, trying to make smart decisions, not crazy ones.

But yeah, it was great to see the reception after Developer Direct. One of the things that I know folks called out that we spent a lot of additional time on was refining that sense of hitting, which we're going to see some of in our footage today. So yeah, it's really just taking everything that's almost there, and pushing it over the finish line, and really getting to turn this into the game that we all, on the team, want to play, as well.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, and I just want to build off of that a little bit because we were talking about you before you all came. We were talking behind your back.

CARRIE PATEL: Uh-oh.

MALIK PRINCE: But in a good way.

TINA AMINI: Only good things.

MALIK PRINCE: But I feel like, to your point, Obsidian has this [FRENCH] to use my little French that I know. Very little.

TINA AMINI: It was that one statement. That was it.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, that's literally all I know. But no, it's like this something special that you all have where not only do you have the community aspect who love games grounded, Pentiment, all these great games. But also just the team, the cohesiveness. I got to visit the studio a little bit late last year and just walking through the office, it was very evident why your games always come together and are just so great. It's just because you have that cohesive unit.

So it's great that time that you spent since then has been used just polishing the game, like you said, and making it awesome. So I'm excited to play a little bit later.

TINA AMINI: Oh, yeah. Me, too. But before we jump into the deeper dive gameplay, do you want to just set up for us both what Avowed is, just in case anyone out there doesn't know, but also what we just saw at the Xbox Game Showcase with the new trailer?

CARRIE PATEL: Sure. So Avowed is an upcoming fantasy action RPG for players who are familiar with the Pillars of Eternity games. This takes place in the same universe, but it is not a sequel. The style of gameplay is obviously very different. The cast of characters is mostly different, but we'll get to that. But yeah, it's basically just bringing our players to the world of Eora with a really immersive action forward, really fun, fresh take on the Pillars world.

And from the trailer we just saw now, we've met a few of our key characters. So part of what we wanted to do with this trailer is really set up for the player, the world you're stepping into, and the role you're stepping into, and also the choice that's in front of you for how you want to inhabit and live out that role in the game.

So the very first voice that we hear from at the beginning of the trailer is the emperor of Adayar, your boss, essentially. He's sending you to the Living Lands to get to the bottom of this soul plague called the Dream Scourge. Find out what's causing it and find a way to stop it. The next person we hear from is Inquisitor Lodwyn, who I'm very excited to have playing such a big part in Avowed. Players from Deadfire might remember her as a side character in one of our very interesting side quests. But in Avowed, she's pretty central.

And her whole belief is that the Dream Scourge is really just symptomatic of larger problems, a larger sense of chaos and disunity and destructiveness at the heart of the Living Lands, and in the world of Pillars of Eternity, souls and essence, which is the stuff of souls, it manifests physically. And so she might be on to something.

And then the very last person we hear from is Giatta, who's one of the companions that we'll meet in our journey. And she's taking a different perspective. She's saying this chaos is part of who we are. It's part of what makes the Living Lands special. Don't try to tame it. Don't try to end it. Embrace it and cherish it and kind of nurture and tend to it.

So again, what that really sets up for the player is, this is a big world. It's got adventure and danger, and it's also got a lot of choices to make. And it's going to be up to you to decide what it means to be the envoy of Aedyr in the Living Lands, and what it means to set things right in this place.

TINA AMINI: Yeah, so to your point, that kind of Obsidian formula, that player choice, and some of that moral intrigue, too, like what decisions are you going to make in a moment by moment?

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. And I think that's what players, as you said, that's what players really want. They want to feel like they have some agency. They are going to be able to interpret the story that you all build and act on that. And so, let's get into the gameplay because just like a little bit after Developer Direct, you've brought some new gameplay for us to watch. And so let's check some of this out. Tell us a bit about what we're seeing here.

CARRIE PATEL: So we're going to start out in Emerald Stair, which is one of the regions you'll get to explore over the course of the game. We're not too far along, but we have here a lovely nighttime scene. I think this region in particular looks fantastic at night.

MALIK PRINCE: Very stunning.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, thank you. And here we have some sporelings attacking Yatzli, who is going to be one of our other companions.

TINA AMINI: And you were charging up your bow and arrow there. And then you're also trying to slice your way through what looks like some very thick, top, top heavy sporeling armor here.

CARRIE PATEL: And you're right, we are struggling a little bit.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, they're giving you a run for your money here.

CARRIE PATEL: We'll fix that. So part of the problem is we've just transitioned out of an earlier region. And so we haven't upgraded our gear yet. So if we look like we're struggling against these little mushroom guys, it's because we haven't upgraded our weapons so that they're really up to par with the enemies we're going to face here. So there's a lot of hacking and whacking, but we'll fix that in short order.

WIZARD: Oh, fantastic people. [CHUCKLES] I was about to lose my wits. You wouldn't happen to have a ladder on hand, would you?

TINA AMINI: So this is still fairly early into the game to the setting of Emerald Stair.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. Nice. And then we have Yatzli.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, she's a wizard. She's very fun. She's a little risque in a way that I think makes her a lot of fun to talk to. She's got some very good banters with the other companions. But yeah, she's just a little lightning ball of a lot of personality.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. You see the options here, by the way. Also, one of the great things about your game is, of course, dialogue options. Tell us a little about how that's playing here.

CARRIE PATEL: So you noticed with a couple of those that we had a little symbol at the front of those options? So as this is an Obsidian game, some of the options available to you are dictated by choices you make at character creation, choices you make as you level up your character. So some of them are tied to specific attributes. Some of them are tied to specific backgrounds that you choose at the beginning of the game. And a lot of those will really, in different cases, either add some different flavor, personality, or possibly, a different outcome to that conversation.

Here we're really getting to know her as a character. And so we're just kind of choosing the tonal direction of this conversation. She's a little--

MALIK PRINCE: She says you're tall, striking, and well-toned.

TINA AMINI: It is like she's flirting with us.

CARRIE PATEL: She is.

TINA AMINI: What would happen if we pass the conversation check for the flirtation option, which I assume is this first one?

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah. Well, you'll have to see in a bit, but yeah, if you flirt with Yatzli, she will flirt back.

TINA AMINI: She seems like a flirtatious type.

MAN: If you keep encouraging her, she's going to climb you.

WIZARD: [CHUCKLES] Careful, darling. I already have a lover. A good one, skilled with his hands. He always carries a ladder.

TINA AMINI: She rebuked me.

MALIK PRINCE: Oh, no Well, you know what? Maybe yeah, maybe we keep trying, but no.

CARRIE PATEL: Dialogue check.

TINA AMINI: Yeah.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. But no, visually speaking, I think this is the first time you all are also showing gameplay at night, right?

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah. So we do have a dynamic time of day. And yeah, our environment--

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah nice.

CARRIE PATEL: --have some very lovely looks at different times of day. We've definitely shown a lot of daytime footage. We've shown some golden hour footage. But again, Emerald Stair looks really stunning at night. It's very colorful, very lush. We've got all the fungi. And then one thing we're going to see as we come over the hill here is, all of this equipment that the animancers of the town of Fiore have made.

And so animancy in the world of pillars of eternity is basically soul science. It's about studying and manipulating the essence that makes up souls and the essence that is ambient in the Aedyr.

TINA AMINI: Quite controversial in the world.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes, it is, which is something we get into in this region. But yeah, so this is a little enclave of animancers who are free to study outside of the watchful eye of any larger authority here in the Living Lands. But yeah, what it means aesthetically is they have this really lovely equipment with this wonderful purple glow that just looks great at this time of evening.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, 100%.

TINA AMINI: And so they are also impacted by the Dream Scourge, as well?

CARRIE PATEL: They are. Yes. They've discovered something wrong in the Aedyr And you're coming here to see what the animancers have figured out.

MALIK PRINCE: All right. And now I'm looking at this. It looks like we're heading into the party camp. Can you tell us a little bit about what this area is and its significance for the player?

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, so party camp is one of my favorite spaces in the game. It's both your narrative hub and also your upgrade hub. We can see here, I'll just call out--

MALIK PRINCE: Third person, yeah.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes, we do have third person. A lot of the footage we're going to see today is in first person, but we do have a third person option for players who prefer it. But yeah, in party camp, that's where you'll get to know your companions better. You can get to know their backstories and get to know them better as individuals. You can also hear them getting to know one another through their banters at camp, which is always super fun to eavesdrop on. And it's also where we can upgrade our gear.

So we've got our party stash where we can stow a lot of extra equipment. We've got our upgrade screens. And here's where we're taking some of our older gear that we've picked up in the previous region, and we're going to upgrade it so that we're better equipped to fight the enemies here.

TINA AMINI: Yeah, sporelings.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

TINA AMINI: Watch out.

MALIK PRINCE: We're coming back.

CARRIE PATEL: Oh, yeah.

MALIK PRINCE: We're going to be way better. But I want to touch back on what you said around the banter around with your companions. I've always found that in those kind of camp areas in games, just in general, that's where I love. And I love that you all are including banter between the other companions because that makes it feel more alive, like you're just listening to the banter. But is there a conflict between some of the companions?

TINA AMINI: Yeah, they have different takes on the Dream Scourge, and what you should do with it?

MALIK PRINCE: Exactly. So what can we expect to hear when we're listening, eavesdropping in on the banter?

CARRIE PATEL: So you'll hear a lot of different things. One thing we really wanted to create with party camp was this sense that you're adventuring and exploring together through this big wilderness, all of these different landscapes, and party camp is this quiet space where you can all huddle together, share a moment of respite. And the pace and the tone of everything is a lot slower and quieter.

So some of the banter is going to be kind of quirky and fun as these characters get to know each other and dig into their different personalities, their different eccentricities. Some of it is going to be a little more somber as they reflect on different events that you all have seen, different things you all have gone through together. And then, yes, as you get to harder decisions in the game, there are going to be moments of conflict where they disagree on what the right course forward is, or they disagree on maybe actions that you've taken up to this point and they're hashing it out with one another. So it's really just where these characters get to come to life a lot more.

TINA AMINI: So you're going to be judged the whole time.

MALIK PRINCE: Good. Because I'm a controversial king. We're going to be picking some controversial decisions. So I'd love to see that.

TINA AMINI: I love that kind of banter, too, because I know in my heart the decisions I want to make. But absolutely, the more connected I get to certain companions or characters, they can totally influence by their judgment.

MALIK PRINCE: That's a good point.

TINA AMINI: Cool judgment. Yeah, so I'll, sometimes, start to actually take that into account. I love the party camp moments, sitting by a campfire, and certainly getting stronger.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah.

TINA AMINI: Which, my understanding is, we're picking up some-- not just upgrading some of our weapons, but also picking up some new skills which you can do in this party camp kind of downtime, too.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, so you can upgrade your skills and abilities anywhere as you level up throughout the course of the game. That's one of the things we're doing right now. So on certain level-up milestones, we'll get to upgrade our attributes, which we just did. And on every level-up milestone, we'll get to pick a new ability.

So in this playthrough, it seems like we've got a couple points sitting in reserve. So we're spending these on different abilities and our different trees. And one of the really fun things about the way these are set up is you can really mix and match freely between them. So if you want to be all wizard, you can build entirely throughout that skill tree. If you want to mix and match, make a battle mage, or make someone who can be a little stealthy in certain moments and a little more aggressive in others, you have a lot of freedom to do that.

TINA AMINI: Sounds like me. I like that one. I'll take that one.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah. Yeah.

TINA AMINI: So we've seen a lot of Tanglefoot in previous trailers. And I think we just unlocked Fan of Flames, which will help us get through these brambles, right? So we're not only stronger, but now we can actually progress in the environment in Emerald Stair with a little bit more skills that are at our hands.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, we wanted to try to, as much as possible, give the different abilities that players can pick up. Obviously, solutions in combat, but also solutions in exploration. And so there's almost always more than one way through a particular barrier. But you'll have weapons, your own abilities, spells, weapon enchantments, sometimes even your companions who can use their environmental abilities to help you get through barriers like that, again, as you build the character you want to play.

TINA AMINI: OK, so now that we're coming out of the camp, we've upgraded our equipment, we've upgraded our swords, so theoretically, these guys should be easier now.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes. And you'll notice it's taking fewer hits to bring him down. Yep, they're flying.

TINA AMINI: Look at him. He barely stood a chance.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes. We've got some nice blood effects as we're slicing through them.

TINA AMINI: Yeah, so is that like new animation, as well? New sound effects and animation as you're upgrading your swords and other items?

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, we want to make sure that players are getting clear feedback as to when their gear is effective, and when, maybe, they need to go back to camp. So it looks, it feels, it sounds different when you're playing with appropriately leveled gear.

TINA AMINI: And this guy is a little different looking. What's his deal?

MALIK PRINCE: Spikes.

- So this is a caster. So all of our enemy families will have different unit types among them. And we've seen a lot of these little melee sporelings who just run at us. And it's very cute, actually. It's one of our favorite little animations on the team. But you also have these caster units that can obviously attack you from a distance, do quite a bit more damage. And we have a few other unit types who we haven't met yet, but we're going to try to take this guy out because he's a little more dangerous than the small guys.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, taking a few more hits than them.

CARRIE PATEL: So when you build up enough stun on an enemy, you can cue up an attack like that does a lot of extra damage and will also, if it doesn't take them out outright, it'll at least give you some distance from them. So those are great to get if you can.

MALIK PRINCE: Nice. And a little bit more traversal here, which I love to see, adds that verticality that we love that allows players to, I guess, discover new things in the game and maybe some hidden things.

CARRIE PATEL: Exactly. Yeah. It's a very fun mechanic to be able to build content around because like you said, you can really reward your curious players by hiding a lot of secrets, a lot of fun, a lot of storytelling in nooks and crannies throughout the levels.

TINA AMINI: And we did just pick up that Godless Vase, so we've got our item that Yatzli been asking us for.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes.

TINA AMINI: So can you remind us, too, as we're-- it looks like we're approaching her now, actually, so what we're going to be exchanging here.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, so Yatzli is a Scholar of the Godless, and the Godless are the ancient people who used to inhabit the Living Lands. They have been gone for many, many, many, many years, but we see their ruins throughout the different regions of the Living Lands. So Yatzli studies them. They are called the Godless because they are not recognized as worshiping, in their art, any of the gods of Eora that people know of.

So we're giving-- she wanted this artifact as part of her studies, so even without a ladder, we were able to fetch it for her.

TINA AMINI: And we just saw a quick flash of ourselves, actually, and we are-- actually, if you could explain, too, because we are a Godlike.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes.

TINA AMINI: We are almost the opposite of Yatzli in that way. So what does that mean in the world of-- the universe in general, and why we look the way that we look here.

CARRIE PATEL: Sure, so in the world of Pillars of Eternity, a Godlike is a member of any kith species whose soul has been touched in some way by one of the gods. You can play as a Godlike in Pillars one or Deadfire. In Avowed, you are definitely a Godlike, and being a Godlike will manifest in a number of different ways. But one of them is you usually have a unique physical appearance that manifests in some way on your face and/or head.

Now, with Avowed, you can choose exactly what that manifestation looks like. This lichen-like growth is one of your options, but you will have some that are a lot bigger and more dramatic, and you'll also have some that are a lot subtler.

But either way, you have a connection to one of the gods. The thing that's unique about you is you don't know which one, and most Godlikes of Eora, it's very well known which god they share a lineage with. For you, it is a mystery, and that's one of the things you'll get to explore in your journey through Avowed.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, and I love the customization because I think, just generally speaking, people love to customize the character they want. So maybe, again, you go a little bit more obvious here, or maybe you go a little subtle. Are we going to see players-- or not players, but other people in the world reacting to your Godlike appearance?

CARRIE PATEL: You will because it is very unique, and there aren't many Godlikes left in the world of Eora, so you're doubly unique in this case.

MALIK PRINCE: Ooh, nice.

TINA AMINI: Oh.

MALIK PRINCE: I'm going to be showing it off and be like, yeah, I'm a Godlike. All right? So treat me as such.

CARRIE PATEL: Well, some people think that's very cool. Some people think it's very spooky. So different cultures and individuals have different ways of relating to Godlikes, so you might get some-- you'll get a number of reactions.

TINA AMINI: And that's the thing, is Godlikes are quite rare, so they are kind of intrigued by it when they see you, and they recognize that you are different.

CARRIE PATEL: Correct.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. Now Yatzli is sending us somewhere else.

CARRIE PATEL: So we've gotten her vase. She's going to return to her studies. She will join our party at some point, but not right away.

MALIK PRINCE: OK.

CARRIE PATEL: So this is a quest that takes place along the path at Emerald Stair, so you can tell we're still in the same overworld region. So we're working with one of the animancers in the town of Fiore, and he's going to help us-- he's going to try to help us diagnose what's going on with the Living Lands. But in order to do that, he needs the heart of an adragon, and an adragon is essentially a nymph with the skin and appearance of Adra. And he needs the heart for the essence that it contains.

So he's sent us into this glade to go retrieve this heart. This glade is inhabited by a bunch of delemgan who, as you can see, are a lot more dangerous and a lot more aggressive than the sporelings we encountered. Delemgan, in the world of Pillars, are fairly territorial, so we're kind of bringing this on ourselves.

He did warn us that they wouldn't take kindly to us just marching through their territory, and we might have an easier time of it if we can avoid conflict. But conflict's also fun, so in this case, we're just swinging our sword and going on in.

MALIK PRINCE: And you're right about them being a little bit harder to take down. We are definitely having to utilize everything in our arsenal here to take them down.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes, yes, and you're seeing a few different unit types here. We've also got casters. These have some very long whippy arms that they can get us at a medium distance with, and a little area of effect attack. But they do eventually go down, but like you said, it takes more work.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. Now, we're approaching what I'm assuming is a very special character. Can you tell us a little bit about?

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, so this is the delemgan queen. She has the adragan heart, and I'm sure she'll be super cool with how we just mowed through her followers. What could go wrong?

MALIK PRINCE: We had to do what we had to do.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah.

TINA AMINI: She's queen of no one now.

MALIK PRINCE: We'll take everyone out, right? Let's see what she says.

TINA AMINI: Uh-oh, but wait, no.

CARRIE PATEL: Yep, she can sense what we've done, and she's not happy about it.

QUEEN: So many of my kin are dead by your hand. The time for words has passed.

CARRIE PATEL: It's a good thing we like fighting because we're going to fight some more now.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

CARRIE PATEL: Yep.

TINA AMINI: Hello.

MALIK PRINCE: The backup forces have arrived, and now, we are-- yeah, we're in trouble, but we're going to leave that a little mystery, I'm assuming. You don't want to give everything away. So what are we looking at here? This is us kind of respeccing how our character plays.

CARRIE PATEL: Yes, so if you find that you want to try out a new suite of abilities, if you want to approach a particular piece of content like this one in a different way, you can respec, and you might have seen, popping up at the beginning of the screen here, there is a cost to doing so, but if you're willing to pay it, you can try out a whole new set of abilities.

So what we're doing now is we're speccing into a lot of ranger related abilities, and I think a couple of wizard ones as well. So the most important one of these is Shadowing Beyond, which is a level 5 ranger ability, and what that does is it gives us the ability to essentially kind of open up a rift in the Here, which is the physical world, and travel through the Beyond, which is kind of the invisible spiritual world, in order to move through the environment.

So what this means is that, as long as we don't engage them, these characters can't see us, and as long as we keep our essence meter up, this ability will remain active. So this one is constantly draining our essence, which is the soul energy that we use to power our special abilities and our spells.

You can see we're passing some cover grass as well, so if we wanted to be a little more conservative with our power usage, we could duck into that grass, kind of watch the patrols, and avoid using this ability quite as much. But in this case, we're going to use it to get to this little safe nook right here.

TINA AMINI: So if you're an expert stealther, you could possibly do this section in stealth without that ability.

CARRIE PATEL: If you're good.

MALIK PRINCE: Sneaking around.

CARRIE PATEL: Challenge accepted. Right?

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, and here, we're re-upping on our potions so that we can build up essence.

CARRIE PATEL: Exactly. So, yeah, we're going to continue, and we've also found a little side route here. So again, we like to offer different ways for players to approach our content, especially big potential fights, like the one in the glade here. So this is a little side path that you can see. Still has some enemies in it, but for a player who's very careful, and either willing to use that cover grass or willing and able to use Shadowing Beyond, they can get through without causing a ruckus.

TINA AMINI: So if you fight this sporeling, will the others be alerted to it? Or could you get away with one kill and then--

CARRIE PATEL: It depends how close they are. So they do have a shout radius, but it is not infinite. So if there isn't anyone close by, and if you're pretty fast, you might be able to get away.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, like--

CARRIE PATEL: See, there's one right there.

TINA AMINI: You never know who's hiding in a little nook.

CARRIE PATEL: Exactly.

MALIK PRINCE: I'll kick that one off the cliff. It's like, get out of here. But I'm excited to see players, how they tackle it because I'm sure there are going to be people who decide not to use the essence at all and really want to show their mastery of that stealth aspect. And so here we are, heading--

TINA AMINI: It's always a trade-off.

MALIK PRINCE: It is.

TINA AMINI: Do you want to loot all the dead bodies, or do you want to take the peaceful path and possibly open up some other dialogue options, which tends to be how I play?

QUEEN: Ah, a welcome visitor. It has been so long since one of your kind has walked in this grove.

CARRIE PATEL: In this case, the delemgan queen has recognized that we haven't killed all of her followers, and so there's a little more of an opportunity to talk with her. She recognizes that we are a Godlike. She might even recognize what kind of Godlike we are. But yeah, in this case, she will give us the heart willingly, and she'll allow us to leave the Glade peacefully because we chose.

TINA AMINI: And she's quite an ancient being, so there's a lot that she knows. You mentioned that she might even know where we come from.

CARRIE PATEL: She might, yeah, yeah. Of course, The thing is, delemgan are, like you said, they're very ancient. They're not really part of kith society, so it's hard to get too many straight answers out of them sometimes.

TINA AMINI: Yeah, there are some vagaries in there, but enough to pique our interest.

MALIK PRINCE: But then she gave you the heart, and she said, take it and go in peace.

CARRIE PATEL: Yeah, exactly.

MALIK PRINCE: There you go.

TINA AMINI: We came in peace, and we left in peace.

MALIK PRINCE: Boom.

TINA AMINI: Look at that.

MALIK PRINCE: Peace rules sometimes.

TINA AMINI: Well, I think that's all the gameplay that you and the team brought out here today. Thank you again so much. That's been so insightful and such a fun opportunity to walk through it all step by step with you.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, I mean, we talked about it a little bit after the Developer Direct, but the trailers that you all make are always so great, but then getting to talk to you and see what the team has built and deliver, especially for the Xbox podcast, is always great to see and dive deeper into those details. Dialogue options, how you tackle a game, all those things are so important for us to see how we're going to be playing the game.

TINA AMINI: Yeah, so much detail and intricacies, but is there anything else that you want to leave the audience off with before we sign off on this episode?

CARRIE PATEL: Well, really excited for players to experience this game for themselves. Again, the team's been working really hard to just really put the rest of the experience together, get it all polished, get it across the finish line, and we're all really stoked to see how players fill that player shaped hole at the middle of our game and what kind of role they choose for their envoy and how they choose to solve the conundrums in the Living Lands.

TINA AMINI: Us, too.

MALIK PRINCE: I know. Cannot wait. Carrie, thank you so much for stopping by. Please give the team our best, and excited to see the game a little bit later on. And with that, that wraps up today's Avowed episode of the official Xbox Podcast, but of course, we've got a lot of other very special episodes for you to check out later this week.

Here's the schedule, and we're looking forward to welcoming more guests and developers from around Xbox. So make sure to join us back here tomorrow, and in the meantime, check out anything you may have missed on youtube.com/xbox and on Podcast Services by searching for Xbox Podcast. Thank you so much, and we'll see you tomorrow.

TINA AMINI: Thanks all.

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