Confirmed to be like Outer Worlds - not a single fully open world, but rather a series of interconnected open zones.

Fine by me, so many open worlds gets a bit overwhelming, hubs are far more manageable, Dead Island 2's interconnected hubs were so much better than a single open-world, plus it allows Obsidian to properly focus on their best aspects and Unreal Engine isn't the best with large open-worlds. And Living Lands is kinda wild geographically, Lol.

While you do not need it to play Avowed. I strongly recommend Pillars 1 and 2. The second one even have a turn based mode. Gameplay, universe, classes and abilities etc are quite unique and fun.

Towerborne looks really great.

Isaac Torres is Combat Designer on it, he was a Designer on Killer Instinct.

Hubs and size similar to Outer Worlds is fine, I just hope they'll make the world more interesting to explore. OW felt a bit hollow I think.