Avowed's Party Camp Feature is Begging for a Classic Fantasy Trope (2024)

With its upcoming game Avowed, Obsidian is bringing its stellar role playing chops to a more typical fantasy adventure. As such, Avowed’s party camp opens the door for an excellent trope in the fantasy genre.

Avowed may be charting new waves with its combat system, but in other areas, Obsidian is embracing the tried and true features of RPG and fantasy games. One fan favorite feature of both is the party and companion system, which has been confirmed for Avowed. It has also been revealed that the player will have a base camp for non-active party members to rest at. The camp will likely be a location where the player can rest and upgrade weapons while their party members interact with them and each other. Attached to the idea of a restful base camp comes another trope that Obsidian might want to lean into; the familiar twist of an ambush at camp could be the perfect addition to Avowed’s story.

In Fantasy RPGs like Avowed, A Rest Stop Isn’t Always Restful

Many RPGs, especially ones focused on fantasy, will offer players an area to rest between quests or major story missions. These bases or camps are typically non-combat areas where the party doesn't have to worry about enemies, and can instead socialize, furthering companion side stories, upgrade or change gear, or decide where to go next. Most base camps also grow based on the characters the player allows to join them.

But on occasion, developers like to use these locations to lure the player into a false sense of security. By having enemies ambush the player when they feel safe, it adds a twist to the gameplay that fans are sure to remember. This is also a good way to up the steaks towards the end of the story. After all, if the player isn’t safe in their own home, they can’t be sure they’re safe anywhere.

One game that has used its base camp to great effect is Baldur’s Gate 3, which includes multiple story twists that players might encounter. Towards the beginning of act 3, players encounter a little girl named Yenna who has lost her mother, and have the option of allowing Yenna to stay in their camp. If they do, there is a chance they will return to find that she has been kidnapped, setting them on the path to recover and defend her. This is an example of how base camps can be used to offer further stories, but the game also includes a more intense camp encounter. Later in Act 3, there is a chance that vampires will ambush the camp while the player is asleep as part of Astarion’s questline. This leads to an unavoidable combat segment within the player’s safe haven.

Why An Ambush Could Help Avowed

In Avowed's story, the player will be a chosen envoy from a distant land who has come to investigate unknown lands. This gives the game a great excuse to hold the player's hand a bit at the beginning, which might enforce their need for companions to join them. The idea of a stranger coming into unfamiliar territory might also become an inciting incident for enemy factions. Over the course of the game, the antagonistic threats might need to find them and prove their strength. If the enemies are against the player exploring their lands, it would stand to reason that making a base camp in their territory would draw their ire. In this way, the camp ambush would not only raise the stakes, but also play into the major themes Avowed might be exploring.

With Avowed’s heavy emphasis on combat, the more chances the game has to force players into battle, the better. Playing a pacifist run may not be an option in Avowed, so the game needs to work doubly hard to give players meaningful combat experiences. Forcing them to defend their camp and their companions gives emotion to this particular battle. Self-defense is the perfect way to encourage even peaceful players to take up arms.

Though sometimes seen as a negative, with the proper implementation, tropes can become a powerful tool. Avowed has plenty of opportunities to use tropes like the party camp ambush to its advantage as it pushes players into unfamiliar territory. So long as the game doesn’t feel stale or overly familiar, popular fantasy tropes could be a welcome inclusion among Avowed’s inventive new systems.

Avowed

Franchise

Pillars of Eternity

Platform(s)

Windows , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

2024-00-00

Developer(s)

Obsidian Entertainment

Publisher(s)

Xbox Game Studios

Genre(s)

Action RPG

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