In Avowed you are an envoy of the Aedyr Empire, sent to the Living Lands to investigate a disturbing plague that will probably – you guessed it – destroy everything if left unchecked. This is Obsidian’s latest RPG, and with that comes an adventure’s bag full of hopes, dreams – and of course – big expectations.
Thanks to Xbox, I got to spend a few hours in Eora, where I created my Godlike character (I’m new to this universe so the jargon is somewhat lost on me), got my bearings in the prologue, and explored the first major region in the game, Dawnshore.
I can’t show you the character creator, but it’s a tad underwhelming, and has nowhere near the amount of features we’ve recently seen elsewhere. From what I saw, you can choose between four masculine and feminine body types (two per race, which are limited to humans and elves)(btw there ARE reasons for this, so put the torches away!) and staple features like eyebrows, mouths, noses, etc. are all only customizable by a few sliders. It’s not BAD, but in an RPG like this, I was hoping for a few more options. That said, I was still able to create a character I would bang should I be provided with the opportunity so that was rad. Sadly, though, during dialogue she just looked…vacant. Like, the lights were on but no one is home. Your character does not have VO, which is totally fine, but in this instance I don’t think it helps the whole “glazed eyes” look.
And it’s not just your character – observing NPCs engage in conversation with you and amongst themselves is a bit…dull. Which is such a shame, because there is a LOT of fantastic writing and voice acting here, and as someone who is looking forward to learning about this universe I wish these were more stimulating. Camera cuts and more facial expressions and body language shifts would help a TON here. I did find that turning on subtitles helped, as weird as that sounds – probably because it kept my brain occupied!
On a positive note, I absolutely love that there’s an in-game dictionary built right into the conversations because OH BOY you are thrust into this complicated, detailed world and the lore is DEEP, but this makes it super easy to learn the local lingo and is MUCH appreciated.
Dawnshore was a beautiful environment to explore with vibrant colors and mostly tranquil surroundings – there are a LOT of huge-ass bears – and for the most part, there was always something interesting to do, be it thwacking something with my great hammer, unearthing treasure, revealing secret passages, or, y’know, finding corpses with great loot on ‘em. I picked up side quests along the way, one of which had me forcefully removing these repitlain creatures from a troubled woman’s cabin, which took an interesting narrative turn, and the other had me searching for an odd man’s missing assistant – which reminds me, I never found him. I hope he’s okay. (He’s definitely dead. There’s no way any normal human could survive on this island.)
I also stumbled upon random shenanigans, like a gaggle of bumbling grave robbers, which – after some crafty manipulation and humorous dialogue – I dispatched and found some badass armor in return. Little moments like these are what can make or break an immersive world and I hope to find more gems like this in the final build.
Avowed is proud of its combat, claiming to let you “Play Your Way.” Wanna hold a pistol in one hand and sling spells from the other? You can do that! And as someone who always, and I mean always, prefers to solve problems with my fists, I was excited to try out a little magic alongside my usual face bashing. And ohhh it’s FUN, especially because you can have two loadouts primed and ready to go at any time with the press of a button. I was casting magic, crushing heads and shooting arrows like it was second nature. And of course all skill trees are at your fingertips, attribute points can be assigned as you see fit and weapons can be upgraded and enchanted. Like, you really can create your perfect little abomination hero.
Spellcasting, sword fighting, and blocking had a nice, visceral weight to them but other actions felt a little squishy – throwing grenades felt like I was throwing puff balls. I’m also not the biggest fan of the dodge mechanic, it felt too excessive and jerky? In combat, my companion Kai was…fine? Like, he’d get a sticker for effort, but it wouldn’t be the shiniest and sparkliest sticker if you know what I’m saying. He was handy when it came to setting things on fire and taking orders, though!
But combat prowess aside, shout-out to Kai, his cute scaly ass has already won me over. It’s just the biggest freakin’ shame I can’t smooch him. But his random quips of dialogue are definitely appreciated and add some fun zest during what might otherwise be mundane NPC chats or exploration. He’s GREAT and after meeting him I’m even more curious to meet the other three companions. (But seriously why no romance Obsidian?! JK I know y’all have done interviews about this but still ;__;)
This is Obsidian, so you know there’s gonna be some consequences to your actions. I played through the demo twice, once as a nice person, and once as a big ol’ meanie. Both times, while exploring a massacred fort, I found a woman trapped in a cell PLEADING for me to help her escape. The first time I took the time to find the cell key and let her out – and, it paid off! She was a fun, spunky companion and even helped me in a few scuffles. The second time, however, I uh, essentially told her to rot and left her to die. But karma is REAL and she later tried to kill me and her distraction was not a welcome one, so, I had to cut her down, and actually felt bad, but hey, she had a nice pistol on her.
Three hours isn’t enough time to wrap my head around what Avowed is truly offering, but there’s a lot of potential here. While this might not be the most massive, in-depth sprawling RPG out there, it doesn’t HAVE to be, right? Quality over quantity, friends. While I hope some of the combat squishiness and conversational jank can be touched on between now and launch, I’ve seen enough that I’m definitely planning on checking out Avowed when it launches in February.