Obsidian Entertainment brought the magical world featured in their Pillars of Eternity games to the mainstream with Avowed. The company’s unique take on fantasy brings twists to many classic concepts while introducing wholly new ones that bring intriguing potential to the genre. The most noteworthy of these are the Animancers.To talk about the Avowed DLC we want, we have to spoil the main storyline events for the Emerald Stair region of Avowed. Outside of that, of course, this is all speculation on what we could see in a probably Avowed DLC.
Animancers are a sub-group of mages with a focus on studying the soul. By combining magic essence with advanced technology, Animancers seek to unlock the full potential of creation. Animancy is a largely unexplored field, however, and one that can bring dangerous results.
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This dangerous unpredictability, along with the generally unsettling concept of someone tinkering with a person’s soul, has led animancy to be a widely rejected. This is why the Animancy community of Fior mes Ivérno was initially founded. Driven from their homelands, the Animancers made a new home for themselves in The Living Lands. Sadly, though, the hate they found in their old homes follows them to the new one.
An Avowed DLC would be best spent exploring the Animancers.
Unless the player fulfills a particular side quest, Lödwyn puts the city of Fior mes Ivérno to the torch. It is just the latest injustice done to the Animancers. The people are forced to flee, many falling in defiance of the Steel Garotte’s attack. Experiments are left running, even as the laboratories that house them burn.
The fires that consume Fior mes Ivérno can be seen across the region of the Emerald Stair. It is one of the game’s most gut-wrenching moments. If the player returns to the city after its destruction, they find all entrances to the city blocked by destroyed ruins, billowing black smoke, and red crimson flames.
Once the core game is finished, Fior mes Ivérno is mentioned again as part of the post-game wrap-up. Here, we learn that the city has become a ghost town, haunted and largely feared. This setup feels perfect for a DLC follow-up, letting players explore the city’s remains from one of two angles.
The simpler of the two would be to add a mission to the game that becomes available sometime before the point of no return. It would allow The Envoy to explore the remains of Fior mes Ivérno, learning the fates of those who didn’t make it out.
Beyond just a haunting trip into a tragedy, however, Obsidian could also use the moment to take players into potentially dark new realms of The Living Lands. All those experiments and magical elements that were left behind could cause any number of things to happen. A doorway to a new realm, a transformation of the city into some new landscape, or the creation of some startling new species of monster, the list goes on. While this feels like a promising line for the game to explore, there is another that could be even more fascinating.
A great Avowed DLC should look at descendants apart from the core campaign.
The grander approach the game could take would be for it to be a separate mini-campaign. Set decades or even generations after the core game. This DLC could follow a descendant of either The Envoy or Giatta as they return to see what has become of the city. Perhaps whatever happened within the city’s walls has started spreading, reforming the entire Emerald Stair region.
The player character could have their starting stats impacted by choices made in the original game. Perhaps an affinity for a combat style or improved stats they picked up from their predecessor. Even a particular weapon the player finished the core game with has become an heirloom with an added property or two.
Similar opportunities would also exist for other characters. Depending on when the story takes place, the game could introduce older versions of relevant characters like Yatzli, who could aid the new main character, or even other descendants could join to form a new party. However, this last option may be a bit too ambitious for a DLC offering.
Another core element of Obsidian’s world that could be brought into this option is The Wheel. The Wheel is the game’s term for reincarnation. It is established in the core game that people can get glimpses and other fleeting interactions with their past lives. If set long after The Envoy died, it would be possible for the player to have such experiences, giving the Avowed DLC another avenue to link back to the core game.
Give players an Avowed DLC that embraces and expands on The Wheel.
Now, obviously, there is the problem of how this works out if the player saved the city. Well, the easier way to fix this comes with the second option of having the DLC occur many years later. Obsidian could come up with some other cause for the city’s destruction.
This fabricated reason would play out with the same suddenness as the original plot moment, leading to the same result. A little vague wording when talking to NPCs could keep the fix from falling apart. Having the city’s ghosts refer to the destructive event as “the Calamity” or such. It’s not as strong as the main option, but it could work if done correctly.
However they approach it, Obsidian would be foolish not to explore Fior mes Ivérno after the events of the core game. There are too many opportunities present within the ruined city’s walls. Chances for emotional storytelling as the player encounters the lingering echoes of the past promise too much. As do the exciting new magical concepts that could come alongside the former.
If Obsidian Entertainment wanted, they could even let the story lean more heavily into the horror realm, further setting it apart from the core experience and the genre. No matter how the team handles it, though, this is one Avowed DLC that we think needs to be developed.
Avowed is available now on Xbox Series S/X, PC, and via Game Pass. Avowed DLC is currently a possibility but has not been announced.
