It’s surprising how quickly people forgot about Obsidian’s game, Avowed, especially considering how many other great games came out last year. There was a lot of initial excitement for a game similar to Skyrim made by Obsidian, but that quickly faded. What we eventually saw was a high-fantasy action RPG that didn’t seem to prioritize the strong stories and compelling characters that Obsidian is known for.
After a period of updates, the game is almost here on PS5, though its release has been quiet. Microsoft has also lowered the price from a confusing $70 to $50. With the recent Anniversary Update, now seems like a good time to jump in – but whether it is depends on your preferences.
While Avowed isn’t a bad game, it’s surprisingly underwhelming. It has all the elements you’d expect from a good first-person action RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity world – though it’s not a true sequel. However, instead of being a truly captivating experience, it’s simply enjoyable enough to play while doing something else, like listening to a podcast, rather than a grand adventure that fully draws you into its world.
The dialogue also feels a bit too cheerful for such a serious situation. Kai owes a huge debt to this important character, who saved his life, so you’d expect him to be more worried, but he isn’t.
You play as an Envoy from the Aedyran Empire, sent to investigate a troubling situation. The Empire is experiencing unrest, and the Emperor is taking notice of the Living Lands – a free region where Aedryan power is increasing, upsetting the local population. A mysterious plague is spreading, which you’ll discover is called the Dreamscourge, and your mission is to find out what’s happening and fulfill your duty.
The game has a really interesting setup, and the tension between doing what’s expected and making your own choices comes through in the conversations. The beginning is solid too – you’re shipwrecked and have to battle your way through a fortress filled with soldiers driven mad and fighting each other. My main issue was with the characters Garryck and the female smuggler. While other companions were a bit more memorable, they weren’t particularly outstanding either.
You’ll meet Kai right away after entering the main part of the Living Lands. He used to be a soldier and, like you, is searching for a claviger who disappeared with an ambassador from Aedryan. This shared goal leads to a friendship, though it often feels a bit one-sided. This highlights a bigger issue with Avowed: many interactions with companions feel weak. While you can sometimes make witty remarks, threaten people, or be evasive, these actions rarely impact your relationships, making it hard to truly connect with your allies. With other characters, you can at least pickpocket them, attack, or show off your skills as a Vanguard Scout, but even those actions don’t feel particularly meaningful or useful.
The conversations also feel a bit too cheerful for the situation. Considering how much Kai respects and relies on the claviger – the person who saved his life – you’d expect a stronger reaction, but it’s surprisingly weak. Interactions with other companions are similarly disappointing, and their limited abilities – only three active skills and one passive, each with limited upgrades – put them at a disadvantage compared to characters in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Thankfully, the voice acting is well done. Despite the story lacking a sense of urgency, the game feels more like a relaxed adventure with friends than a serious quest.
The Living Lands feels expansive and offers plenty to do, with lots of interesting things happening. While most content is engaging, a few parts – like one arena challenge that was just a single battle – don’t quite live up to the rest.
The game’s focus on atmosphere and feeling doesn’t quite fit the dark and dangerous world it’s created, especially since there are some really interesting stories and puzzles to discover. I’m particularly curious about the strange voice only my character hears – who is she, why is she giving me powers, and how does it all tie into the larger problems facing the land? I suspect she’s connected to the source of those problems, but even so, our conversations are often engaging.
The cities in the game unfortunately feel empty and lacking in life, even after a year of updates. While some characters chat and occasionally offer interesting comments, and you might stumble upon a public speaker, that’s about the extent of it. You’re essentially a silent observer – your actions rarely have an impact, and interacting with the world feels limited. I don’t expect the game to reach the same level of detail as titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Divinity: Original Sin, but it would be great to see NPCs react to your presence in some way. As it stands, they mostly ignore you, which is a shame considering the beautiful environments, art style, and detailed world the developers have created.
The world itself is much more engaging than just following the main story. You can stumble upon unexpected adventures – like finding a spider-filled cave where you have to burn away webs to reach explosives, or climbing a lighthouse to find a treasure map and enjoy the view. I even found a story about a lost civilization – how they migrated, built a new home, and welcomed everyone. It was told through choices I made, leading to a really touching ending, and I was rewarded with extra health, a unique axe, and a battle against some tough skeletons.
The Living Lands manages to feel expansive while still being full of things to do and interesting challenges, though a few, like the arena tower, are a little simple. However, the satisfaction of discovering a hidden path – like setting off some barrels to reveal a new area – is consistently rewarding.
I like being able to use any armor and equipment, even though it slightly affects my stamina and energy. Plus, having two different weapon setups is great, so I can easily switch between ranged and close-combat fighting.
Beyond its story, Avowed features engaging combat, despite a few flaws. You’ll find typical weapons like swords, axes, and bows, as well as shields and hammers, available in both one- and two-handed versions. It also includes magical options like wands and tomes, and ranged weapons like pistols and rifles. A new addition, the quarterstaff, offers a powerful two-handed fighting style that doesn’t drain your stamina as quickly.
What’s really great is how much freedom you have to customize your build. I personally like combining a pistol for precise, powerful shots with a spellbook for area-of-effect attacks like chain lightning and fireballs, and even spells to help me take less damage. Plus, you can wear any armor or equipment you want, though it might slightly impact your stamina and magical energy. Being able to quickly switch between two different weapon setups is a nice touch too, letting you easily change your combat style.
The game features unique items with interesting abilities. For example, there’s a pistol that quickly builds up Shock damage, and a ring that adds poison to critical hits – ideal for pairing with a dagger that already deals damage over time through burning. You could even use axes with this setup to cause bleeding with powerful attacks. Alternatively, you could wield a unique axe and dagger at the same time to take advantage of both of their special effects.
I’m thinking if you like getting right into the action, that two-handed sword might be perfect. It actually heals you when you successfully parry, which is awesome. And if you level up the parry skill, you’ll stun enemies a lot – it’s super satisfying. Honestly, the combat felt a little samey at first, but once you get into Avowed and learn all the different moves and abilities, it really opens up. Even though I wasn’t thrilled with how much you can customize your companions, being able to combine their skills with your own attacks and even throwables like grenades definitely makes things more interesting.
I didn’t really enjoy the enchantment system. Once you find the right resources, you can unlock two new enchantments, but you have to pick just one, and you can’t change it later. Some of the enchantments also feel too similar to each other. For example, you can get an effect that spreads electric damage from your pistol, or fire damage with a dagger – both affect nearby enemies. I also wish upgrading weapons was more exciting than just collecting materials to increase their stats. Considering how much the game focuses on loot, the crafting system feels surprisingly limited.
Developing your character’s abilities is both enjoyable and somewhat predictable. You earn points as you level up and use them to learn new skills, improve existing ones, and boost stats like accuracy and health. While there’s a good variety of skills to choose from initially, progressing further requires leveling up your character. Even though many of the skills aren’t groundbreaking for the fantasy genre, using powerful abilities like throwing poison knives or powerfully shoving enemies is satisfying.
While Avowed’s combat isn’t likely to be considered among the best in action RPGs, it’s still enjoyable. The game also includes helpful features, such as automatically sending extra items to your storage and quickly returning you to where you were before visiting camp, which are nice additions.
Some of the options are just… unexciting. Removing penalties for wearing Medium or Heavy Armor is okay, but a simple damage boost for certain weapons feels bland, even if focusing on a few weapon types makes sense. Still, there are far more choices now than when the game first came out, particularly for players building Rangers or Fighters. I also appreciate that you earn an extra skill point every five levels, letting you experiment with different builds or fully upgrade a single ability – this can be crucial for things like making your attacks hit more enemies or dealing significantly more damage to a single target.
I didn’t feel pressured to focus on any one specific way to play, although improving my weapons and armor was essential to handle tougher enemies. The combat feels really good, and I often spent time just having fun – like running through groups of enemies and shocking them, sending Kai to jump into crowds, and enjoying the final hit on a stunned foe. It’s satisfying to land those powerful blows!
Honestly, fighting enemies wasn’t about them working together, more like everyone doing their own thing. That meant I quickly learned to always take out the healers first, or have the tank hold the enemy’s attention while I focused on the ranged attackers. The scariest moment? Probably getting cornered by a bear with no energy left! Thankfully, I had Second Wind to get back up. I found circling around and hitting bigger enemies from behind made a lot of the boss fights surprisingly easy. But hey, at least the game lets you tweak the difficulty if you want a bigger challenge!
Surprisingly, helping your enemies actually gives you more experience points, even though you can easily boost your own strength and health to make up for it – which is pretty funny! Plus, with enemies respawning more often, going around and fighting them – whether with punches or fiery blasts – is even more enjoyable.
While Avowed’s combat isn’t likely to be among the best in action RPGs, it’s still enjoyable. The game includes helpful features like automatically sending excess items to your storage and quickly returning to where you were before visiting camp. The Anniversary Update also adds more ways to customize your character, with new races (each starting with different stats), expanded appearance options, and additional character presets.
Overall, Avowed is a good action RPG with an enjoyable world, especially considering its current price. It’s likely to become even more affordable in the near future, which would make it an even better value.
The PS5 version of the game offers three graphical settings: Quality, Balanced, and Performance. Quality mode prioritizes visual fidelity but runs at a lower frame rate. Performance mode targets a smooth 60 frames per second, but you might notice objects appearing suddenly (pop-in), some visual imperfections, and occasional frame rate drops during intense scenes. Balanced mode offers a compromise between the two. If you have a monitor that supports VRR, you can unlock the frame rate for a smoother experience, though the lighting might look a little strange sometimes.
It seems Obsidian had a clear idea for its game from the beginning, but ran into development challenges and had to scale back its original plans to actually release it. However, the fact that it was originally designed for cooperative play suggests some of those simplifications were deliberate, aiming for a more accessible experience for players playing with friends. While the co-op feature was ultimately cut, many of those streamlined systems stayed in the game.
Overall, Avowed is a decent action RPG with a pleasant world to discover, especially considering its price (and it will likely be even more affordable soon). While it could use some improvements, it’s enjoyable to explore, find new items, and experiment with different character builds. If you’re looking for a deeply immersive story with complex characters and a reactive world, this isn’t it. However, it’s not a bad game – it’s just often underwhelming, but surprisingly fun at times.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
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2026-02-17 21:14