Warranted or not, Avowed had a lot of expectations placed upon it leading to its release. Not only is the RPG genre flush with excellent games over the past few years, but Obsidian, for better or worse, is often compared to Bethesda. I guess that happens after you eclipse Fallout 3 with Fallout: New Vegas.
Given Avowed‘s nature as a first-person fantasy RPG, comparisons to The Elder Scrolls were inevitable, even if it’s been well over a decade since the release of Skyrim.
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That’s where the comparisons end. Avowed is the modern-day fantasy RPG we needed and does a great job of fleshing out the lore established from Pillars of Eternity without punishing those who missed out on those games.
An Accessible, Streamlined RPG
The first thing that stood out to me with Avowed is how streamlined the experience is. Developers love to stuff their games, especially RPGs, with so many abilities and features that it’s overwhelming. It’s fun to say that you offer dozens of classes, hundreds of abilities, thousands of worlds to explore, and infinite combinations. That’s a really great quote for the back of the box when selling a game.
Instead of making a game that’s “bigger and better” than anything else on the market, Obsidian stays true to its vision and delivers a polished experience that I fell in love with.
Once you fool some kid into buying the game and actually playing it though, this feels like a bloated experience that can often feel shallow. Infinite combinations don’t matter when there are only a handful of ideal class and ability setups; they are just the illusion of choice. The same is said for those “thousands of worlds” to explore. More often than not, they feel too shallow or copied/pasted.
Avowed takes the opposite approach and is better for it. While it’s an open-world game, you’re exploring The Living Lands of Eora one area at a time. It creates a more focused experience that doesn’t require constant fast travel or backtracking.
I can loop around the area, complete all the quests in my log, and return to town quickly. It’s a design approach that keeps me engaged in actively playing the game.
The same is true for the available classes and abilities. You’re given the option of investing in three class trees: Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard. Choosing an ability in the Fighter tree doesn’t lock you out of the other two; you can mix and match to your heart’s desire.
Each class offers dozens of abilities to choose from; in total, there are only 100. That seems like a small number, but again, it’s a streamlined approach that doesn’t overwhelm you. Each ability has practical use in the game, so while it pales in comparison to the “hundreds of spells” other RPGs boast, these are all worth trying out.
Companions Carry The Narrative
You can mix and match your playstyle with the four companions who join your party. Each companion fills a unique role: tank, ranged DPS, healer, and mage.
The companions are more than just random members of your party that help you kill skeletons or spiders quicker; they’re fully fleshed-out characters with their backstories and motivations that are well worth discovering. The same cannot be said about the main story.
See, as well-written as the dialogue is, especially when talking with your companions, Avowed‘s main story suffers death by MacGuffin. It’s a very entertaining MacGuffin with real-world metaphors that don’t bash you over the head, but it’s still a MacGuffin. It’s disappointing since the character development, including your own, is so enjoyable. I couldn’t care less about saving The Living Lands and Eora from its threats.
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I want to learn more about my backstory. I want to help Kai get over his past. I want to help Giatta overcome the stigma animancers suffer. I’ve grown to care about these people because of the quality of the writing, even laughing out loud several times based on various dialogue prompts.
It’s because Obisidian does such a good job with the dialogue and the characters that I’m disappointed in its main story. More often than not, I’m skipping through the main story beats just so I can go back to camp and have in-depth conversations with my party members.
Combat: The Stuff of Dreams
Thankfully, the one thing to keep me going through the main story is Avowed‘s combat.
It’s an excellent combination of the traditional first-person RPG combat you’d expect from something like The Elder Scrolls (sorry, that was the easiest comparison), but with some modern twists and innovations.
Combat is far more active; it’s not just about swinging a sword and walking backward. You can dodge an enemy attack, charge up your sword’s power attack to stun an enemy, throw in some spells to crowd control other oncoming enemies (either from you or your party), and then finish them off with a devastation combo when their stun meter is filled.
It feels like a great combination of The Elder Scrolls and FromSoftware games. Is this the actual inspiration? I’m not sure, but it works so well that I performed every side quest possible, not for the rewards but because I want to keep trying new ability combinations.
I can wield a pistol in one hand and use a dagger in the other to quickly dispose of nearby enemies. Or, I can use a grimoire to cast various spells and then slash them with a devastating sword that regenerates my health on killing blows.
This is where Avowed‘s streamlined nature comes into play. I don’t have time to learn and master dozens upon dozens of weapon combinations only to realize there’s one that’s overpowered. Instead, everything feels overpowered.
Keep Your Favorite Weapons, But At A Price
Once you find that ideal weapon setup, you can keep it throughout the game, thanks to Avowed‘s upgrade system for weapons and armor. Nothing is more frustrating than investing in a rare, overstated weapon only to find a better one lying on the ground 30 minutes later.
That doesn’t happen here, but the upgrade system isn’t perfect. You see, the way dealing with enemies works is that their levels are tied to the presumed level of their equipment. For example, they could be wearing “Tier IV” items, meaning you’ll ideally need “Tier IV” items yourself to stand toe-to-toe with them. If you’re below that tier, you’ll take more damage while dealing less than intended.
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Upgrading your equipment requires utilizing resources found throughout the world or breaking down the equipment you find. This isn’t a perfect process, though, and investing in important upgrades is often frustrating (and expensive).
Worst of all, the only way to deal with some of the game’s more challenging enemies is to, you guessed it, upgrade your equipment, which could take quite some time to do.
I enjoy playing the game and completing side quests, but I have my limits. I don’t want to perform a dozen fetch quests to get to the part of the game I care about.
A Feast For The Eyes
Believe it or not, my biggest concern before the release of Avowed was not how it played but how it looked. Some of those early screenshots didn’t look impressive, but thankfully, the full game is an absolute delight.
The Living Lands are beautiful, filled with varied biomes that keep things fresh and unique. A big tip of the hat to the game’s art team; this is one of the most colorful and vibrant games I’ve ever played.
The same can be said for the game’s audio presentation. Its score enhances the game experience without overtaking what matters most. It’s subtle, but it knows how to accompany the mood.
As for the companions, there will be some familiar voices here, most notably Brandon Keener, best known for his performance as Garrus, playing Kai. The entire voice cast (Mara Junot, Scott Whyte, and Anjali Bhimani) inject life into your party and help make their stories that much more enjoyable.
Closing Thoughts
Avowed isn’t what I expected, but I loved every second. It’s the type of game I’ll gladly play through again and again, a feat made easier by its somewhat short runtime. Avowed proves that bigger isn’t always better. Instead of making a game that tries to outsize everything on the market, Obsidian stayed true to its vision and delivered a polished experience that I fell in love with. As someone who replays Oblivion every year, it’ll be hard to go back to those older Elder Scrolls games after enjoying my time with Avowed‘s combat and characters. This is the RPG experience I’ve been wanting on Xbox, and Obisidian delivered big time.
Reviewed on PC and Xbox Series X
- Released
- February 18, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
- Engaging combat mechanics
- Streamlined approach to the world, classes, and abilities
- Visually stunning
- Several “laugh out loud” moments
- Excellent companion writing and voice acting
- Lacking main story
- Occasionally annoying upgrade system
