History of obsidian, part 1

During the last years Microsoft Studios has not stopped growing: Ninja Theory, PlayGround Games, Undead Labs, Bethesda… Obisidian that we are here to talk about today has been seen in many media as a media acquisition Ha! Accompanied throughout the following 2 articles to discover the History of Obisidian, where we will show you how this misnamed media study, can be one of the ones that gives us the most joy in the Xbox family.

From Black Isle an obsidian

Obsidian entertainment was founded in 2003 in Irvine (California) by Chris Jones, Chris Avellone, Darren Monahan and Feargus Urquhart, all former employees of Black Isle Studios. For those who don’t know Black island, were the creators of the Fallout saga, which we talked about very recently. As a study they also collaborated on the saga Baldur Gate, which is why they are considered one of the fathers of modern Western role-playing games.

Black island, as a studio, was born belonging to Interactive interplay, and their destinies were always united. Therefore, when Interplay suffered significant losses in 2003, it directly affected Black island. Since Reciprocal They wanted to solve it, focusing more on the console market, and for that they decided, among other things, to close the Black Isle studio, and sell the license. Fall a Bethesda.

But Black Isle had a lot of talent in their ranks, and when they re-founded the studio that same year, there was no shortage of work. The first video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords. KOTOR II, which came out in 2005, received unanimous good reviews and was an excellent bestseller. Even so, it was a straightforward sequel, which also garnered significant criticism for its zero evolution in various technical and playable aspects.

The first original game

KOTOR II he brought together all the qualities and also the faults that would make Obsidian known for years to come. On the positive side, fixing on the story and character development, and on the negative, not being your own PI and having a huge collection of bugs.

The studio continued to work with different publishers to deliver new installments of third-party role-playing sagas. From these collaborations were born Neverwinter Nights II and the one rated by many (including myself) as his best work, Fallout: New Vegas. Remember that the latter arrived at GamePass recently, although at the moment it is not among the winners with the FPS Boost.

It was not until 2010, 7 years after its founding, when they presented their first original game Alpha Protocol, distributed by SEGA. The game was quite experimental, with an unusual mix of role-playing and first-person spy. Its odd approach received mixed reviews, especially for its combat system, and sales did not accompany it, causing IP to be forgotten.

The return of obsidian to its origins

After this first commercial failure in the history of Obisidian, they returned to what they do best, exploiting IP or dedicated licenses. His next two works were Dungeon Siege 3 and South Park: The Stick of Truth.The second being the best received both by critics and the public.

A complex adventure, with all the humor of the original series, and impeccable graphics. The video game spawned a later sequel, not developed by Obsidian, which, surprisingly! it has received lukewarm reviews and is almost unanimously considered inferior.

While it looked like Obsidian was going to be left alone as a third-party licensing development studio, they didn’t give up. In 2012, they presented a fundraising campaign for their second and most famous IP to date, pillars of Eternity. An aerial view and a medieval fantasy world were the references with which they tried to sell us their new work. It suits you? Head over to your website next week to continue delving into Obisidian history.