Opinion - Obsidian is becoming Bethesda

The Escapist writes about Obsidians apparent desire to take Bethesda's mantle.

Ever since Obsidian released Fallout: New Vegas back in 2010, fans have linked the studio with Bethesda, which owns the Fallout franchise. It's a reputation that isn't entirely fair, since up until that point most of Obsidian's catalogue had consisted of follow-ups to BioWare titles, including Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2, and an aborted attempt to create Baldur's Gate III. But then Obsidian released The Outer Worlds, which borrowed the Fallout series's role-playing systems and satirical retro-futuristic style. It became clear that Obsidian has taken quite a liking to Bethesda's specific brand of open-world RPG.

That's not just idle speculation, either. Obsidian devs openly welcomed the comparisons to Fallout in press interviews -- which isn't surprising, because some of those devs have been part of the Fallout series since before Bethesda even touched the franchise. This connection to pre-Bethesda Fallout was, of course, seen in The Outer Worlds' emphasis on player choice and dialogue options -- something that was more than welcome after Fallout 4 pushed those elements to the wayside.

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Only without the budget and the shitty PR.

Maybe 'Bethesda done right'? Obsidian seemed to be on the brink of going under for so long I think their present success is deserved. They continued releasing RPGs during a time when they were out of fashion and now their finally hitting paydirt - Good for them!
Success has lead to games companies losing their direction *Bioware* or becoming stagnant *Blizzard*. So the best I can hope for are a couple of truly great Obsidian games before it all comes tumbling down!

Obsidian only HARMED the gaming industry: they should burn in hell along with Larian and their guts & insides should turn into Black Rotting Goo!

Originally Posted by Nereida
Only without the budget and the shitty PR.

Don't know about the PR at the moment but now they are owned by Microsoft.. so budget shouldn't be an issue anymore.

I'd be tempted to take this observation a step further and suggest that RPG's are becoming FPS/3PS's.

I don't think we're going to be getting much more of that hopelessly lost feeling you get when rolling your party in future games.

I don't think we'll be getting lost in dungeons and forced to walk back with 2 of the front rank dead while all out of spells in the back, only place you can save is in town.

Nope. It's all loud mouth companions and quick travel from here.

Text should be as rare as magical items to make it exciting to discover. Not this slog through cinematic dialogues.

More like Bioware honestly

…then RIP

So according to Escapist future Obsidian games will be utterly broken.

If that's so, lemme agree with @porcozaur
RIP

How about another question. Why every open world game made by Obsidian compared to Bethesda games? Seriously I know the answer just tired of reading the articles.

Anyway fingers crossed Avowed turns out half as good as the leaks suggest.

Originally Posted by Nereida
Only without the budget and the shitty PR.

As noted Obsidian are owned by Microsoft now so the PR should be up to par. If not it wont just be their fault as usual this time. Put that money to good use Obsidian.

I wonder what inXile's unannounced RPG under Microsoft will be also?

Didn't Obsidian make Grounded too? That game also gives me the Bethesda vibes a bit. I'm not paying $30 for early access, not even for full release unless it's hundreds of hours long. Don't see how it could be since it takes place in a backyard.

I like never-ending survival games….

What? No.
It has Fortnite vibes.

Originally Posted by joxer
What? No.
It has Fortnite vibes.

Grounded is nothing like fortnight, jesus how do you come up with this crap.

I prefer to think of it as Obsidian becoming Microsoft. Both Obsidian and Excel use pixels.

The only obsidian games I’ve really like was their NWN 1&2 stuff. POE was ok but I’ve still yet to finish it. Didn’t really care for the watcher stuff though.

Given their last couple games I’d say Obsidian is becoming a developer that doesn’t make games I’m interested in.

Bethesda became a money grubbing, microtransactions loving type of developer, so hopefully Obsidian won't fall down that far. If we hear news that their new game is focused on being an "ongoing service", and/or stuffed full of microtransactions, then we can count one more rpg developer that lost its soul and turned into a Call of Duty-esque type of developer, but for rpgs.

I guess this article thinks "Obsidian becoming Bethesda" is a good thing? I saw the title and figured it was intended as an insult.

Well..since Bethesda is no longer themselves, I don't see why Obsidian can't move into the void. It's been 5 years since Bethesda Softworks made anything worth playing.

Yeah, I'm happy to see what they can do in this style with a proper budget. I think almost all their past productions have been up against it, one way or the other. If MS is funding them to make a tentpole game for their platform, as Sony does, I'm keen to see what they can do.

I would be all for two bethesda's - more open world great games is a good thing.