In one particularly intriguing quest, I found myself dealing with a group of xaurips who’d pushed a local settler from her home. This mission offered a range of paths to pursue: I could dive head-on and battle the xaurips in her dwelling, or opt for a sneakier approach by scouting around and reporting my findings. But, true to Obsidian’s style, there was more beneath the surface if I chose to dig deeper. It led me to uncover a surprising, somewhat spiritual link to the xaurips that caught me off guard. This perfectly aligns with Obsidian’s core philosophy: the more you dive in, the more the game reveals to you.
“As a designer, I always aim to leave as much as possible for players to discover for themselves,” explained Narrative Designer Kate Dollarhyde. “If everything is spoon-fed and too easy to grasp, a lot of the intrigue fades because there’s less left to find. We strive to make the content understandable so players can follow the quests and grasp what’s happening, but the right solution shouldn’t jump out at you every single time. It’s a bit like a dialogue between us, the creators, and the player. We offer you a stage to talk back to us. We aim for you to be as engaged in this dialogue as we are. We equip you with the tools but leave the freedom for you to explore and play as you wish.”
When crafting choices, the narrative team considers short-term, medium-term, and long-term ramifications. Short-term decisions, made during dialogues, might lead an NPC to drop new hints, open an alternative quest resolution, or result in a negative reaction. Medium-term decisions impact the quest’s conclusion. Meanwhile, long-term choices can shape events over multiple quests or influence the entire game. “When we brainstorm the main storyline, regional plots, and side quests, we consistently think in terms of these varying choice impacts,” Dollarhyde continued. “It can get a tad complex working out how everything meshes together, but luckily, design is an iterative process.”
