Obsidian Entertainment used to be one of the biggest names for Western RPGs. Back in the day, they were trailblazers and were made up of the top talent that defined huge franchises like Fallout. Talents like Chris Avellone made Dungeons and Dragons a viable IP for computer gaming with the likes of Icewind Dale, and Baldur’s Gate, and shifted the entire RPG paradigm with Planescape: Torment.
Reformed as Obsidian, they released genre-defining classics such as Neverwinter Nights II, Knights of the Old Republic II, New Vegas, and Pillars of Eternity. Yet with every release, the company bled talent. Before anyone could realize it, Obsidian had changed. Today, they are no longer made up of the same visionaries who established Black Isle Studios.
After years of staff turnover, and being bought by the most soulless and diabolical corporations on the planet, what can gamers expect from the next epic set in the Pillars of Eternity universe? If this isn’t an RPG, then what is it? Find out in our Avowed review!
Avowed
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Platforms: Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S (reviewed)
Release Date: February 18, 2025
Price: $69.99
Avowed is not much of an immersive RPG. Its structure has more in common with something like a Borderlands game but without obnoxious loot. It begins like an RPG, but you’ll instantly notice things are off. Out of the many races presented in Avowed‘s world, you can only choose between human or elf. Dwarves, fish guys, and hairy Hobbity-things are off-limits.
Whether you choose human or elf, it won’t matter because no matter what, you are always assigned as a “godlike”, a blessed entity with unsightly fungal growths. It’s like playing as a clicker from The Last of Us games. Amusingly, you can disable the godlike characteristics for the sake of aesthetics, but it won’t matter. NPCs will always react to you as if you are a bizarre freak regardless of how normal you look.
The protagonist is not a complete blank slate. No matter what, you assume the role of an Imperial Envoy, sent to investigate a plague in a remote part of the world, known as the “Living Lands”. This hostile, yet lush region is like Pandora, but less hospitable and populated with really ugly NPCs.
Avowed‘s setting is beautiful and impressively realized. It’s an untamed and surreal primordial frontier crawling with strange life and colorful flora. Unreal Engine 5 makes some of the best environments for sure; it’s too bad the characters are woefully lacking finesse and feel like something from ten years ago.
The modeling for characters would look alright if the developers were going for something ugly. The grotesquely stiff animations and body language never convey the emotion in the voice acting. Facial animation is especially lacking and magnifies the ugly uncanniness of the characters.
The fantasy races never look convincing. The fuzzy humanoid race resembles humans wearing low-budget Hollywood movie makeup. The Dwarves have awkward proportions and don’t appear that short. Another distracting creative choice is the overwhelming representation of female soldiers in a setting with an extremely high mortality rate.
Avowed‘s story presents two sides; the Empire and the Living Landers. The game’s writers constantly nudge players to go native and turn on the Empire, but there never is any incentive to turn on them.
As far as the player knows, the Empire has treated the protag well and has given him a high-ranking position. Going native would mean losing everything and living in the worst place ever.
The Envoy feels less like an avatar and more like a weird mute who excels at violence. As a godlike, he’s endowed with unique powers like telekinesis or summoning a familiar. The class skills are more useful and players are encouraged to not commit to a single class. All are available, which leads to complacency, and all players end up with similar builds.
Options are far too limited for any real role-playing. At best, Avowed feels more like a Far Cry game with its parkour, but in a fantasy skinsuit. The attention to detail is also weak; you can’t hunt the roaming wild boars, stealing anything from anyone has no consequence, and you can’t start a fight or act like a psycho.
The world never reacts to your actions and there are no emergent gameplay experiences. Is this woke Skyrim? Not really. A woke Skyrim would let you cause trouble, gain wanted levels, have relationships, catch fish, and pick up random objects.
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is the original 3D first-person RPG, from 1992, with more freedom and attention to detail. Most houses can’t be entered, most objects are planted to the ground, and throwing a bomb in a crowded brothel yields no reaction.
Avowed is very static but makes up for its lack of RPG gameplay by ramping up the action. As a shooter with melee action with Pillars of Eternity paint, it’s competent. The Living Lands is broken up into sizable biomes, each one festooned with sidequests and main quests.
The gameplay is your standard talk to NPC, get quest marker, follow the marker, do the thing, and collect reward. It doesn’t matter how inhumanly evil you act, the party will always back you up no matter what, because you are always either the Imperial Envoy or the Godlike destined to save the Living Lands. It’s like every other free-roaming FPS since Oblivion.
The action is a step above what Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or Starfield has to offer. Controls are and movement is exceptionally fluid. No matter what your build is, expect to dash and parry like you are some kind of ninja imbued with all kinds of magical shit.
Spellbooks and magic wands are functionally energy guns tied to multiple attacks and scale with intellect. The Envoy can dual wield wands and books which looks ridiculous but is impressively effective. Avowed has actual guns too which have really long load times and aren’t as efficient as longbows or the magic.
There’s no shortage of skills and abilities for combat, but, weirdly, guns and bows have infinite ammo. Resource management is scaled down and streamlined so casual gamers can focus on fast action and exploration. For a full-priced $69.99 AAA game, Avowed should be deeper. It won’t satisfy shooter fans and RPG fans will scoff at the bare role-playing options
Avowed is intensely braindead, designed for the dumbest and sloppiest drooler to pick up from a Walmart bargain bin. The lame story and characters will roll off you with their anachronistic dialogue and modern-day sensibilities, detaching from any immersion. Not every big, open-ended action RPG needs to allow players to be a murder-hobo, but Avowed should have dropped the pretense that it’s an RPG.
At times, it feels like Avowed wasn’t finished. It’s as if the developers intended to have a reactive world where players can impact the Living Lands and the characters. The focus on combat with access to all fields seems like the designers couldn’t figure out how to balance the game for one class, so they allowed players to do them all.
It feels off when NPCs never react to what you do. It’s as if the developers couldn’t implement responses or consequences for anything, leaving a large world that feels fake.
Avowed has its moments when players are invading a camp full of thugs and monsters, where the sparks can fly and the blades can clash. Between those moments are insufferable dialogues with a cast of characters you won’t care for, in a setting that never feels convincing. It’s a shallow and dumb game that could be a guilty pleasure if you got it for $20.
Avowed was reviewed on an Xbox Series X using a code purchased by Niche Gamer. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Avowed is now available for PC (via Steam), and Xbox Series X|S.
