I’ve been playing Avowed for the past two weeks, and not to beat around the bush here, but I love it. It’s been one of my most anticipated games since it was revealed back in 2020. Five years is a lot of time to live with hype, but somehow, it’s managed to live up to its hefty expectations.
So, for those unfamiliar, let me catch you up and explain why the game has such a legion of superfans already.
Avowed is a fresh title from Obsidian Entertainment, which has made some of the best role-playing games of all time, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Fallout: New Vegas. If you’re even remotely familiar with role-playing games, you know Obsidian aren’t messing around. The studio is the best in the business at making sequels for beloved IPs and winning over passionate superfans. Literally, no other studio has managed to do it like they have.
Needless to say, I think Avowed is another home run for the studio. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought so much about the game and its characters. Characters will go on long monologues about the state of the world, and I’ll sit through them glued to the screen like a kid watching Bluey. The writing is just that good.
But that’s enough glazing for now, let’s dive into what happens in Avowed and what you’ll be doing in it.
What’s Avowed about?
Avowed takes place in a world called Eora, a lore-rich setting with day’s worth of in-game texts. But we don’t have time for that; you’ve got lizard people to kill.
You play as an envoy from the Aedyr Empire (basically a fantasy United Kingdom) assigned to the Living Lands to investigate a mysterious plague called the ‘Dream Scourge’. That’s not all. Your character is part of a unique race of ‘Godlike’s’, who all have special physical traits relating to their god. For you, it’ll mean having a really bad fungal infection.
You quickly realise you’re bound to a mysterious god who keeps talking in riddles and questions your choices. They’ll also give you powers to cleanse the world of the plague but for an unspecified cost.
While in the Living Lands, you also quickly learn that your country is also engaging in a bit of colonialism. Which isn’t great, given that this land is filled with former criminals and individuals looking to make a fresh start. However, because of the Dream Scourge, however, everyone is flooding its central city, causing tensions between the two to rise quickly.
So, you serve an imperialist country; you’re trying to cure a plague that kills people’s very souls and turns them into something straight out of the movie Annihilation while also avoiding a geopolitical incident. Now tell me those aren’t some juicy plot hooks right there.
What do you do in Avowed?
As the envoy on a quest to investigate this “Deathscourge” plague, you’ll find yourself helping the people of the Living Lands. You’ll get to explore the continent, spelunk through caves and uncover old hidden temples.
There are also side quests galore in this game, but nothing that ever felt tedious or overwhelming. In my 20 hours of game time, no side quest ever felt lazy. They all explained parts of this wider world that made it feel believably lived in and thought it.
While the game has been compared to Skyrim, I think Avowed will actually resonate more with Baldur’s Gate 3 fans. Much like Baldur’s Gate 3, Avowed is a game that’s tightly connected to its companions which all have endearing qualities. After finishing a quest I’d instantly set up camp just to talk to my companions and gossip like it’s a sleepover.
Unlike Skyrim, the game is fairly linear. Instead of an open world, Avowed divides levels up into massive zones you can go exploring in. The main story will guide you into new zones where you can pick up side quests, bounties and treasure maps to uncover plenty of hidden secrets.
Not to ruffle any open-world fan’s feathers, but I love this. I don’t really care for the ‘sandbox’ approach of a huge open world to make your own fun. Give me a tight experience where everything is tightly crafted and no landmark exists without a reason!
What’s combat like in Avowed?
If you’ve played Skyrim, you’ll pick up Avowed with ease. There are some really neat twists here, though which I think take it to the next level. While fighting, you get to dodge, parkour and most importantly parry and block enemy hits. Hitting enemies with weapons also feels reactive and not like you’re swinging at air.
Avowed also lets you mix up your playstyle with relative ease. One of my biggest complaints about Skyrim was that everything scaled to your level. This meant that enemies got more health and damage as you got stronger, turning simple bandits into bullet sponges. I like a power fantasy where I can mow down weak mobs and feel powerful! If everything scales to your level, you lose that feeling of growing stronger as you keep playing.
If you decide you don’t like fighting with a sword anymore, you can easily re-specialise from the menu. For a small fee of 100 skeyts, you can take all your abilities and dump them into a ranger or wizard class instead. I played a Wizard for most of my playtime and couldn’t see myself touching anything else. You get a wand, a cool book and a spell where you can summon a magic staff to bonk people with.
However, if you’re unsure what you want to play, the game’s starting mission will let you switch between all types of weapons and combat. So, you’ll get plenty of opportunities to try them out before committing to anything.
You’ll also get to bring up to two companions with you in combat. Each companion has their own special abilities and skills to help you in and out of battle. You can slot these ones in and out depending on who works best with your playstyle. Or if you’re a true gamer, just pick whoever you think is the cutest.
Should I play Avowed?
Look, I’m biased. Of course, I’m going to tell you to go and play it. I’m not letting this flop like Dragon Age! So, let me give you some caveats.
If you’ve played other roleplaying games, Avowed is a no-brainer. If this was released last year, it’d be in my top five games released, and that was a stacked year already. In saying that, if you’re more of a cozy gamer or prefer titles like Call of Duty, Avowed might not be your thing. Still, I’d heavily recommend picking it up and giving it a solid go because it’s an excellent intro to the genre.
Avowed releases on February 18 on Xbox Series S | X and PC.
Buy it from: Amazon ($139), Xbox ($119.95), Steam ($119.95).
Image: Obsidian Entertainment
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