Pros
- A dense, narrative driven world that reacts to your presence.
- Compelling central mystery that will have you making tough and nuanced decisions.
- Companions worth exploring and talking to, with a massive amount of dialogue and interesting side quests to dig into.
Cons
- A weird tier system that puts emphasis on upgrading equipment that is annoying to contend with.
- Can be overwhelmingly dense at times, and you do miss out if you don't explore dialogue trees and side quests.
- A decent, though uninspiring combat system.
Avowed has felt intrinsically linked to The Elder Scrolls since it was announced in 2020. When it first showed up it felt like a statement of intent by Xbox, who had just acquired Obsidian Entertainment, to try and create the green brand’s version of The Elder Scrolls. Fate had other plans though. Microsoft shortly after would acquire Bethesda, bringing The Elder Scrolls with it.
That put Avowed in a weird spot. This is a Skyrim-esque revamp of the Pillars of Eternity franchise, that now competes with the publisher’s own mega-franchise. Where does it carve out its own identity while in the shadow of Bethesda? - a developer Obsidian Entertainment has been intrinsically linked to for years thanks to their work on Fallout: New Vegas, and its Fallout-riff The Outer Worlds.
Thankfully, Avowed has things going for it too. Firstly, even if the game is comparable to the Elder Scrolls franchise, Skyrim came out thirteen years ago, and who knows if the announced The Elder Scrolls VI will actually ship within the next thirteen. If Avowed has anything, it is time removed from these previously mentioned titles.
Obsidian returns with their staple classy dialogue.
However, most importantly, it’s developed by Obsidian. While their titles aren’t always the medium-defining, mainstream mega-hits like Fallout 4 or Skyrim - it’s not hard to find those who swear that Obsidian’s RPGs are quietly better. And it’s exciting to say, that that’s the area Avowed finds itself in. And while it has clear spiritual links to The Elder Scrolls, perhaps what makes it most interesting, is in the way it isn’t like that series…
Dreamscourged
Entering into the world of Avowed, you find yourself as a Godlike. These are very rare people who are born ‘touched by the gods’. That being so, you are blessed (or afflicted depending on the NPC you’re talking to), with flora growing out of your skull. While most Godlike know which of the many gods touched them, you have no such knowledge. In a history that you define in the robust character creator, you also find yourself the envoy for the Aedyrian Emperor. The TL;DR: you’re a pretty unique person in the world of Eora.
You’ve been sent to ‘the Wild Lands’, an island that has been colonized by misfits and outcasts, who ran away from the empire, their debts, or just a fresh start. It’s a wild, untamed land that has large pockets of uncivilized landscapes. However, reports of a plague known as ‘the dreamscourge’ have been circulating. It manifests as an infection where mushrooms and fungus grow out of living creatures, man or beast, sending them into incoherent dreams and madness. Your goal, at least to begin with, is to investigate this dreamscourge and put an end to it.
(1 of 2) You will be very preoccupied with investigating the Dreamscourge
You will be very preoccupied with investigating the Dreamscourge (left), You can see the effects of Dreamscourge everywhere (right)
Adding a wrinkle to this, early on, you find a voice in your head speaking to you, acting as a passenger to all your actions, who seems to get very loud when interacting with the powerful Adra crystals in the world. On top of that, the Aedyrn ambassador is trying to oversee a fragile diplomatic relationship with a populace that explicitly escaped to the island to try and leave Aedyrian rule. Making matters worse, Inquisitor Lödwyn of the Steel Garrote, who acts with an understanding with the Aedyrn Empire, has also come to the island and is trying to forcefully, and brutally enforce order to this land. You find yourself in the middle of all these entities, trying to figure out where your allegiances lie, who you support, if any of them, all while trying to get to the bottom of the dreamscourge.
The Devil and the Deep Sea
That push and pull of factions, individuals, and groups is at the heart of Avowed. While the game mechanically is talked about in relation to The Elder Scrolls, the way Avowed manifests the politics of the world, the choices you make and the relationships you forge is far beyond anything that series has ever put out. This is absolutely an RPG focused on choice and a world that is explicitly reacting to you.
On a large scale, you will make world-affecting choices that will have consequences that are not simply Paragon or Renegade. Avowed exists in the nuance and gray, where there’s not a clear ‘good’ or ‘bad’ decision. In fact, it’s mostly a choice between two different shades of bad. It’s one of the most compelling things about the game in that no matter what, you’re not going to be walking away without blood on your hands.
Choices and options are littered throughout the game.
That’s great too. It has been a long time since I spent a good few minutes figuring out how to proceed when given a difficult choice. In these situations, I would think about not so much what I would do, but how my character would act. What they would believe, who they would side with, what their history would dictate about their allegiances as a Court Auger fascinated by the spiritual and the gods. That’s the true roleplaying in an RPG, and Avowed does a great job of coaxing that out.
However, it’s not just the macro where choices and decisions matter. Avowed is teeming with small moments that make you feel like everything is dynamically reacting to your presence. An example of this is the game’s awareness of what you’ve done and how other NPCs react to that. Characters know the order you do things in. Have you met another character relevant to the quest? Perhaps you’ve already killed them, impressing or angering the NPC, either opening or locking off options. Maybe the person you killed was associated with the NPC you’re talking to, and they become hostile. These are little things, and not out of the norm of modern RPGs, but they are so frequent and layered, it sells the illusion that you’re affecting things. That your presence here matters.
A Problem Shared
Avowed‘s other key item needed to nail its narrative world are the four party members who’ll tag along as you move through your quest. While four might feel like a generally small number when compared to games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Mass Effect 2 the smaller group does give a sense of intimacy. Each character has more time to breathe, and tell their story. Their journey feels important to yours, as you get to the heart of who these people are. Kai, his brazen, jokey attitude used as a defense to mask a deep regret. Or Marius, a prickly but well-meaning hunter, who clearly hides a vulnerability in his core. There’s also Giatta, who practices magic that is at odds with the Aedyrn Empire, contending with scientific greatness. And Yatzli, an impish mature scholar who exudes big ‘Aunt at the family gathering who has had four G&Ts and is being a little inappropriate’ energy. They all have very different personalities and distinct political positions, but as you can tell, all have unresolved issues for you to try and help ease in side-quests.
Your companions will organically chat among themselves when you return to camp.
Interacting with your party manifests itself by you finding a piece of Adra, and setting up camp. Then, you can sit and chat with your group about what’s been going on, and if they have any revelations they might want to share with you as they come to trust you. A really nice touch Avowed explores is that when you come back to camp, even just to upgrade a weapon, you can be greeted by your companions just talking to each other organically. You’ll see their relationships blossom and evolve without your input, which is a really simple, yet nice touch that makes your party feel like a cohesive, emotional unit not entirely in service to you.
All Talk?
Be it your companions, or meeting people out in the Wilds Lands, Avowed‘s NPCs love to talk. That will likely be the make or break for whether Avowed is for you or not. This is a dense game full of dialogue, and if you’re the kind of player who loves to go through every narrative tree and context a character can give you, this is absolutely the game for you. If you get bored talking to NPCs, sometimes literally spending an hour in your camp talking to your companions, Avowed may try your patience. You can choose to not go down these trees, but the experience will feel lesser for it.
In a similar vein, if you’re a player who prefers to stay on the critical path, Avowed is a game that may feel shallower than it is. Some of the best content in the game exists in the meaningful side quests that you should participate in wherever possible. Avowed wants you to indulge in the richness of its dialogue and history as much as it wants you to progress through the central mystery of the game. That will be the special sauce for those who appreciate that, or it will turn off those who take a more utilitarian approach to their RPGs. This will give Avowed its acquired taste, and it’s also what makes it stand in its own identity. This is a first-person fantasy RPG, but this time, it’s married with a system very reminiscent of BioWare games from yesteryear.
Might or Magic
Of course, that first-person fantasy comes with expectations around combat (it’s important to note, the game supports a third-person perspective, but it feels designed with first-person in mind). This is an area where a lot of games in the genre falter. Melee becomes king, and in many titles, it can often feel like you’re just whacking people with similar sticks with different stats, no matter what you wield. Avowed can, at times, fall prey to this too. The weapon combat is not particularly compelling in a way that evolves much further past the realms of Skyrim, though some more advanced movement techs shake things up a little.
Where Avowed does try to do something interesting though, is in its classes and powers. There are three main ones: Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard. All of these play how you imagine these archetypes would, but you can mix and match abilities across all of them as you see fit. For example, playing mostly a Ranger, though one more focused on knives rather than bows, I’d often sprinkle Fighter abilities that beefed up the critical hit stat. You can also, for a relatively low fee, completely respec your character at any time in the menu, so you’re never locked into a class, build, or choice.
(1 of 2) You can mix and match skills and abilities from every class
You can mix and match skills and abilities from every class (left), However, combat itself isn’t very intuitive. (right)
None of this is particularly eye-catching, and unless on a harder difficulty, you won’t need to build a really balanced team with your companions or a top-tier build - but it’s workmanly and has enough freedom to let you experiment. That said, when I look back on Avowed, none of my favorite memories are going to come from when I was in combat.
That’s especially true as the expensive emphasis on weapon and armor upgrades to keep up with the tiers of enemies can really halt your progress. This system feels quite obtrusive, and too often, you need to spend a lot of resources and money, not even to upgrade your equipment, but merely to stay level with where you were. If you end up fighting against an enemy in a tier above you, it instantly turns a fight that would take three minutes, into a fifteen-minute slog. While some of the unique weapons in the game are interesting, so often I found that keeping them upgraded with my tier just wasn’t worth it.
Avowed is deeply charming if you’re willing to roll with its interests. It takes the first-person fantasy RPG genre forward, relying on the staples that are tried and true while defining itself through its narrative focus. That’s not to be taken lightly either. There is an enormous amount of dialogue here, and it will benefit those who really like to get deep into dialogue trees, and spend time talking to and exploring the history of your companions and the broader world around you.
For those who have a tendency to want to get on with it, this could be trying. It wants you to luxuriate in its conversations. It wants you to interact with its excellent side stories as much as possible, and have a nuanced understanding of the politics, characters and history so you can make informed and impactful decisions in the story that would best suit your character.
Avowed won’t be for everyone, but for those willing to buy into its experience, it borders on greatness. Obsidian has a reputation for being the cool kids’ Bethesda when it comes to its RPGs - a speakeasy for those with a more refined palate. Avowed won’t be everyone’s thing, but it will be absolutely loved by a certain kind of player. Thankfully GamePass significantly lowers the bar for entry too, and it’s well worth giving it a shot to see if that kind of player is you.
Demi-Godlike
Avowed continues Obsidian’s tradition of creating excellent RPGs that feel heavily linked to well-trodden genres, yet not doing quite enough to carve out a new identity. There’s a lot to be charmed by, be it nuanced characters and choices, a heavy dialogue focus, and a compelling central mystery where what’s ‘good’ isn’t often clear. While it doesn’t push the envelope, it does enough to justify its place, and for just the price of a GamePass subscription, it’s easy to recommend trying.
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