Avowed review: Obsidian sets a new standard

There is no getting through this review without comparing Avowed to one of the most iconic video games of my lifetime: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not only do these games share many of the same features: both are fantasy RPG adventures, both utilize a first-person perspective (not all the time, but more on that later), and both allow the player to dictate the flow and shape of the story. There are some key differences as well: Avowed is open-zone rather than open-world, and features fleshed-out companions that become major parts of the narrative.

Bethesda is, without a doubt, a huge name in gaming, known for not only Skyrim, but also the Fallout series, and most recently, Starfield. You might recognize Obsidian, the studio that developed Avowed, for The Outer Worlds or Grounded, but they may be best known for their take on the Fallout games with Fallout: New Vegas. That sharing of the Fallout IP happened fifteen years ago, back in 2010, and Obsidian has not had another chance to work with any other Bethesda IP. But that didn’t stop them from making their own inspired titles. Many fans think of The Outer Worlds as Obsidian’s Fallout-inspired series. To be fair, I haven’t played The Outer Worlds, but playing Avowed makes me want to, and excites me for The Outer Worlds 2 later this year.

With the long history between these two developers, both now owned by Xbox, it’s not surprising that many fans see Avowed as Obsidian’s answer to Bethesda’s Skyrim. But does it deserve this title? Does Avowed sit squarely in Skyrim’s shadow, or will it stand on its own? I want to spend most of this review writing about Avowed on its own, rather than just compare it throughout. So let’s take a look at the three major pillars of Avowed, its gameplay, its visuals, and its story. At the end of the review, we can see how it compares, and if it manages to step into the light.

Strong Foundations

Avowed is perhaps, strongest when it comes to combat. The options are nearly endless, and nearly all of them are distinct, useful, and fun to engage with. As an RPG, the player has many choices about what kind of strengths and weaknesses their custom character will have. As a godlike, someone who has a special connection to a certain god, the player gains access to a tree of godlike abilities. This is rather linear and depends more on the choices made in gameplay than at each level up. But don’t worry, Avowed has three skill trees that are completely customizable and accessible. Each skill tree is defined by a classic fantasy RPG class, but the player does not have to choose a class. All skill trees are available for players to specialize or mix and match.

The three skill trees are Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard. Fighter focuses on melee combat, Wizard focuses on wands and spellcasting, while Ranger is somewhat of a mix. You have six ability scores that can also be improved by one point on each level up. Your base scores are decided when you pick a background during character creation (more on that later). The scores are Might, Constitution, Dexterity, Perception, Intellect, and Resolve. Each of these has an impact on gameplay: Might effects melee damage, Constitution effects hit points, etc. But they each also unlock dialogue options. For example, a player with 3 points in Perception might be able to call out a missing detail when talking to an NPC, while someone with 2 points in Perception will not receive that option because their character is not perceptive enough. This is a great way to incentivize a use for these scores outside of combat.

As I mentioned before, there are so many options when it comes to engaging with Avowed’s combat. For my character, I chose to focus more on spellcasting because it sounded fun. Turns out I was right. The grimoire, a sort of spellbook, allows you to cast from a selection of powerful spells, but use up a resource called essence that does not automatically recharge like stamina. This makes it important to have a backup. Thankfully, the Avowed devs thought of the perfect solution. Players can set up two load-outs to swap between with the press of a button. This feels fantastic and works well in practice. While I keep my grimoire ready in one hand, I can have my sword and shield ready for when the enemies get in too close. If anything, I wish I could have more than two load-outs.

Normally, in a game like this, there would be a certain weapon or spell that is the most consistent. Something that either is too powerful to ignore or too satisfying to stop using. But in Avowed, I find myself constantly swapping between various weapons. Everything from the wand to the mace to the arquebus is unique and has interesting use cases. It’s also fairly easy to get used to the crafting and improvement system. Every time I set up camp I had enough supplies to enhance several weapons, which is great because it doesn’t take long for common weapons to start being outclassed by tougher enemies.

The Story of the Living Lands

Avowed takes place in the fantasy world of Eora, the same world as the Pillars of Eternity games, a series developed by Obsidian. But you don’t need to have played any of those games to understand what’s happening here. I certainly haven’t. Within moments of leaving the character creator (more on that later), the player awakes on an island just off the coast from the Living Lands and gets straight into gameplay. This is the “tutorial island” where the player will get to know the fundamentals before shipping off to the larger continent.

The primary reason for you visiting the Living Lands is as an envoy of the Aedyran Emperor to investigate the mysterious plague known as the Dreamscourge. You will encounter the scourge pretty quickly, but it will take longer for the mystery to fully unravel. You arrive on this continent as a colonizer, and not everyone is happy to see you. But that is not a fate you are tied to. There are many opportunities to lean into your position of power and just as many to side with the locals. Avowed’s branching narrative is full of nuance, tough decisions, and moral quandaries. I found myself immediately engaged with every NPC I spoke with and found it easy to side with the anti-imperialists. The dialogue feels natural and builds on the overall narrative and the backstory of each character, my only complaint being that sometimes certain NPCs can get a little long-winded.

As you explore the Living Lands you’ll meet four companions. These are not simple followers but instead have rich backstories and top-notch voice acting, and will engage you in conversations about who you are and why you made certain decisions. All four of them will follow you into combat, engage in dialogue with NPCs, comment on the landscape, and talk amongst themselves. Thankfully, you don’t have to play favorites or bring along a certain companion for a certain task or anything like that.

The companions are not romanceable, but in some ways, this takes the pressure off of considering their approval over every decision. Companions will share their two cents when an important decision comes up, but if you side against their advice, they say something along the lines of “We’re going to talk about this at camp later.” Rather than measuring approval on a spectrum, the companions will have a conversation with you and try to understand why you chose to do what you did. They never make you feel guilty or judge you for your decisions, they just want to get to know you better.

Avowed is balancing a lot of great stories, without even getting into some of the excellent side adventures I’ve come across. The search for the origins of the Dreamscourge, the chaos and rebellion against the empire, and the mysterious voice in your head all take center stage in the larger narrative. Clearly, I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed devouring the stories you can find in Avowed. But I don’t want to give too much away because I believe it is best discovered on your own, should you choose to.

Fungal Frenzy

Avowed introduces its primary visual aesthetic in the first few screens of the character creator. As a godlike, you were born with strange fungal or plant-like growths on your face. You can turn these off if they are unsettling, which is understandable. But I found one that I liked. Regardless of whether you turn them off or not, NPCs will treat you as if they can see them. It’s these features that identify you to others as godlike.

Overall, the character creator was more limited than I expected. Human and elf are the only options, which is a shame because I would have loved to try out one of the sharp-toothed scaly folks or the large-eared colorful-fur people. Eventually, I’ll learn the actual names of these people. But from there, you can create practically any human or elf you can imagine.

The continent of the Living Lands, much like your character’s face, is dominated by the violent and sudden growth of natural things. Roots crash through abandoned houses and vibrant multi-colored mushrooms litter the landscape. This gives Avowed an unmistakable appearance. The world is bright and colorful but in that array of colors is also danger. Many locals talk as if nature is actively taking back the land from the people living there. It’s not hard to agree with them.

Avowed is not an open-world game. The continent is not one massive map that you can walk from end to end on. Instead, there are several open zones distinguished by varying landscapes and larger settlements. While the loading times between travel spots could drag on, I never found myself wanting more to explore. Avowed’s zones may be smaller, but they are packed with detail and care. Every corner of each zone is worth exploring. One of my favorite experiences was coming across my first waterfall and deciding to test if anything was hidden behind it. I expected to walk straight into a wall, but instead, there was a treasure chest hidden there with a water-themed magical item. It felt like the perfect reward for my curiosity.

So Much To Write About

As with any layered RPG with so many branching narratives, character options, and hidden secrets, there’s no shortage of topics to write about. But for the sake of this not becoming the longest review I’ve ever written, I will list off a few more details I noticed about the game, before I tell you about the few things that did bother me.

First of all, I think it’s obvious that I rate the game fairly highly. The moment that Avowed clicked for me was when I was set loose in the first open zone, Dawnshore. I think I spent nearly six of the first ten hours just exploring the area around the major city, Paradis, before continuing with the main story. I found myself down in a ruin talking to another godlike. I was eventually able to take his flaming sword from him, but I’ll leave the details for you to speculate about. From the character creator, despite its somewhat limited options, I created many characters in my head that I plan to revisit on a second or third playthrough. From playing it one time I can tell that there are so many more ways for me to play this. If I create a character with high Might rather than Intellect, half of the dialogues in the first ten hours will end up completely different.

But Avowed isn’t perfect. Loading times are slow when starting up, loading a save, and traveling to a separate area. My computer is not the most modern machine, but it’s not a paperweight either. When I first booted up Avowed I did experience quite a bit of stuttering. When I dropped all my graphical settings to low and turned of ray tracing, it helped quite a lot, but there are still occasional stutters. Thankfully I had zero crashes.

When it comes to the combat, I do find it overall excellent, but there was one thing that bothered me. Especially with boss monsters, I sometimes preferred to use the dash option to avoid attacks rather than completely rely on the shield. I noticed that occasionally, the monsters would wind up for an attack and then slide across the ground towards me in an awkward and unnatural way to get in range for the attack. It was off putting and at times frustrating to think I was out of range, only to have the attack suddenly slide over to me.

These are all the kinds of things that I imagine could be improved with a better PC, playing on console, or maybe even with a day one patch.

The Final Comparison

I will admit, it’s been a little while since I last played Skyrim. But I can confidently say that Avowed distinguishes itself in nearly every single way. Of course, Skyrim will always remain iconic, but when it comes to combat, narrative, dialogue, companions, side-quests, and visuals, I would pick Avowed every time.

Avowed sets the standard for what a first-person (or third-person) fantasy RPG can be. I knew early on that I would want to play again and I plan to start another playthrough soon so that I can experience what it’s like to play this game with the rest of the gaming community. It’s not hard to imagine this will be a great game for players to share their varied experiences.

Obsidian has created a very special RPG with Avowed, and it was a pleasure to get to play it. Thanks to Obsidian Entertainment and Xbox Game Studios for providing me with an early review copy of Avowed. For those who pre-ordered the Premium Edition, Early Access launches at 10am Pacific on February 13th. For the standard edition and the Xbox Game Pass edition, players will have to wait until February 18th. Avowed will be available on Xbox Series X/S and PC.