Avowed

The first AAA RPG since Microsoft's acquisition of Obsidian Entertainment is Avowed. Although the first footage seemed a little generic, the fantasy action RPG has plenty of the usual Obsidian qualities and more.

Avowed takes place in the Living Lands, a mysterious island in the fictional world of Eora first introduced to players in Pillars of Eternity, but Avowed can be played independently without knowledge of the previous two CRPGs. This land faces a menacing threat - a mysterious fungal plague that defies nature and reason, spreading chaos across its wilderness. As an envoy of Aedyr, the player is sent to investigate this 'Dream Scourge' and the player's character's connection to the land. The protagonist is not a 'normal' person, but a godlike one, a denizen of the world chosen by the gods at birth and endowed with special powers. The story manages to combine dark moments of fascism and intrigue with lighter and more humorous moments.

The world building and exploration are surprisingly strong, while the world simulation can't quite keep up. Stealing in front of an NPC goes unpunished. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is further ahead, especially when it comes to NPC behaviour and world simulation, not to mention the interactivity and freedom of action in Baldur's Gate 3. But it is striking how much Avowed invites and rewards exploration of the environment - there are many truly elaborate areas or towns that allow for rich parkour and traversal. It is also easy to ignore the main story and concentrate on exploration and the numerous side quests. The game gives the player a good choice here. It's the same with combat. You can mix almost everything: swords, spells, guns, bows and shields. Do you want to attack your enemies from afar with spells, or do you want to go melee with a two-handed sword? No problem, there is even a handy quick-change function.

There is a strong emphasis on player choice. Fire magic from the Grimoire can be used to attack enemies directly, blow up barrels or burn open a blocked passage. Fire can be cast, or you can use an enchanted weapon or fire grenades, or you can ask a companion (Kai) to use one of his special abilities outside of combat. Speaking of companions, there are four of them in the game, all of which are fairly typical classes, and they explain the world to the player, but more importantly, they react to the player depending on the choices made. As in The Outer Worlds, also from Obsidian Entertainment, dialogue choices allow the player to shape the tone of their character and influence their relationships with them - and how the other NPCs react to the player. Here in particular, the game often features good to strong writing. Everything is on a good to very good level, but there is still room for improvement, especially in the complexity and coherence of the simulation, especially when compared to Baldur's Gate 3 or Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. But that's complaining on a high level, and in general the comparison with The Outer Worlds is quite apt. However, when it comes to decision making, Avowed is sometimes a little too tame.

Unlike other games, Avowed doesn't have a typical open world, but it's divided into several fairly large zones, but that's not really a big deal. Furthermore, enemies do not level up with the player, which makes the search for better equipment or crafting really worthwhile. Weapons and armour can also be upgraded, while unique items can be given special effects. The skill trees also offer a great deal of freedom, allowing you to play almost any typical fantasy class, from a high-damage barbarian to a mobile tank, a stealthy sniper or a crowd-control mage. But again, it could go a little deeper. The game can be played in first and third person, and the first-person view is surprisingly well implemented, partly because the character's hands are always visible and illustrate the movements superbly. As the game often uses its own terminology, there is a handy glossary tooltip system that allows you to look up words, names and concepts directly in the game, which is particularly helpful if you are taking a short break from playing.

Since its acquisition by Microsoft in 2018, Avowed is Obsidian Entertainment's first Xbox first-party AAA project. The Avowed team includes developers who have been with the studio since the days of Black Isle, as well as newcomers. The game was originally conceived as "their take" on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but the studio later wanted to focus more on Obsidian's previous RPG strengths, with a more narrative and character-driven experience featuring player choice, mechanics and storytelling. The game was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020.

Avowed is scheduled to launch on 18 February 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox App for Windows PC, Battle.net, Steam and Cloud, and will be available on Game Pass at launch. Players who purchase the game on Xbox or Battle.net, or have a Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass membership, will be able to play on both Xbox and Battle.net by linking their Xbox and Battle.net accounts. Voice-overs are in English only while text localisation is available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Simplified Chinese.

Despite being included in Game Pass, the game peaked at 13,318 concurrent users in Advanced Access on Steam. This is more than the December launch of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (12,138), which was also included in Game Pass.

Conclusion

Avowed is a strong action RPG with distinctive characters, good writing, and it's fun to fight and explore the world, even if it doesn't quite top the list in terms of game world reactivity and interactivity. But all in all, a really good entry into the world of fantasy RPGs.

Features

• Great world and character building
• Good combat system with many options
• The Living Lands encourage and reward Exploration