Seeing Obsidian developers make the same official statement for the third time in the past year that the studio's upcoming RPG "Avowed" is not the same as "Skyrim" - with "Lord of the Rings" co-star Dominic Monaghan putting on a wig for poor Frodo It reminds me of Elijah Wood's prank interview in which he torments him by repeatedly asking him if he is wearing a wig.

Well, it happened again. Last June, after Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart said that Avowed was no longer like Skyrim. And in a January interview with PCGamesN, Patel said the game is not like Skyrim. This latest assurance by GameInformer again said that Avowed is not like Skyrim (you might want to sit down).

Asked about the comparison, game director Carrie Patel responded: I think the best comparison is The Outer Worlds. I think you can see the scope, design, and layout of the game more clearly."

She replied.

At first it seems like an effort to manage expectations (and it definitely still is), but I think this is fair enough when talking about scope - Skyrim is a big huge open world, while Avowed is Bethesda's Draugr-laden mountain would be a smaller set of interconnected zones with a more idealized density. In terms of quest structure and narrative structure, it is much closer to The Outer World," Patel adds.

In terms of the actual story atmosphere, Patel notes that it is closer to Pillars of Eternity: she says it is closer to "Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire" with "a very grounded, serious political story. Underneath is a very strange and esoteric, metaphysical and sacred story. There are many serious moments, but there are also peaceful moments that counteract the seriousness of the story.

My colleague, director Gabe Paramo, continues (perhaps after some form of sigh) that he "doesn't like" the line people are trying to draw in terms of comparing the games. In my role, I have learned that by comparing two games, even if it is for a team (forget about the player for a second), it is difficult to say, "Use this this way." Many players can take what they like from these games and say, 'I have this, this, and this. You better explain what our games are doing.'"

That is also plausible. Yet, in the words of Obsidian's CEO, in the early stages of development "we were originally, in essence, pitching our 'Skyrim'"; looking at The Outer Worlds, one can't help but smell a whiff of "Fallout, but in space."

Avowed is set in the world of Pillars of Eternity, which spawned two crunchy CRPGs that are about as far removed from Skyrim as your grandmother and her bicycle.

Paramo is dead on about the fact that no game, especially an RPG, is one-note, and "Avowed" will probably feel quite different from its predecessor, "The Elder Scrolls." Unfortunately, it will not escape the "Skyrim" suspicion that it may be released this November.