Avowed review: not quite Skyrim, but much stranger

Table of Contents

Avowed: particulars

(Picture credit score: Obsidian Leisure / Microsoft Sport Studios)

Writer Microsoft Sport Studios

Developer Obsidian Leisure

Launch date 18 February 2025

Format PC (reviewed), Xbox Collection X/S

Platform Unreal Engine 5

It might be simple to imagine that Avowed is merely Obsidian Leisure’s tackle Skyrim, on condition that it is also a first-person fantasy role-playing recreation – and it arguably fills a sure void since there’s been a nary a peep on what’s occurring with The Elder Scrolls 6. That will nevertheless be a reductive take, because it’s actually a spin-off of the studio’s acclaimed Pillars of Eternity collection, additionally set in the identical fantasy world of Eora, however given the AAA therapy and realised in breathtaking element with Unreal Engine 5.

It could really feel like I am attempting to spend the beginning of this evaluation explaining what Avowed is not, however I do suppose when you’re in a position to unshackle sure preconceptions then you definitely’ll discover this to be a really imaginative and pleasurable motion RPG that retains quite a lot of the character-driven quests and difficult decision-making that Obsidian’s all the time excelled at in its personal proper, simply performed out on a richer and extra lovely canvas.

There is a good bit to unpack when Avowed begins however you mainly play because the Envoy, a customisable avatar who’s been despatched by the Aedyran empire to the Residing Lands, a area that is been ravaged by an odd plague known as the Dreamscourge that is slowly making its victims lose their minds, turning into hreamthrall. Consider it a bit like The Final of Us’s contaminated as it is also manifests itself in a fungal and flowery means, although a bit extra metaphysical in that it is a plague of the soul as a lot as it’s the thoughts and physique.

What’s unusual or maybe only a coincidence is that you simply virtually resemble these hreamthrall as your protagonist is a godlike, a being blessed by a mysterious god, however which additionally manifests in uncommon bodily traits which means individuals both revere or revile you. When you do have the selection to not have this situation made seen if you do not need it getting in the best way of your personal painstaking character creation, however individuals will nonetheless react to you as a godlike.

However essentially the most versatile a part of the sport is the way you select to wield weapons. As an illustration, you needn’t have a sword and defend, why not dual-wield a melee weapon with a spell, combine and match a sword with mace, or go for two-handed weapons like a bow or nice sword? Higher nonetheless, establishing a secondary weapon loadout means you possibly can change between weapon kinds fairly simply even in the midst of battle.

However even with as much as two AI-controlled companions to again you up, who it’s also possible to difficulty instructions to by quickly pausing the motion, some battles can get so relentless when it’s important to take care of wave after wave of enemies that it turns into a little bit of a slog within the latter half, and you would be forgiven for wanting to show the issue down. It is also price choosing third-person mode simply to have the ability to see higher if you’re being surrounded in skirmishes, though this must be switched by way of a menu choice slightly than in-game.

Regardless of fairly a deal with motion and fight, which can have accounted for me favouring a extra bodily and might-based construct, violence is not all the time the reply. True to Obsidian’s type, many quests supply a number of options and decisions, and you will find your self torn in dilemmas the place no matter you resolve it is virtually actually going to upset somebody or have unintended penalties. It is very a lot the form of RPG the place you will be tempted to make a number of saves simply so you possibly can go and see what the opposite consequence would have been.

Exploration is simply as necessary as effectively, which additionally helps that you’re going to routinely clamber up edges whereas platforming. In different methods, it is also much less immersive than different RPGs as you are free to pilfer objects in somebody’s home or choose locks with out anybody batting an eyelid, whereas swinging your sword at a random particular person on the town will not yield any response.

That is to not say the world is not absorbing in its personal proper, even when there are fewer places than the world map suggests. There is a vibrant color to the Residing Lands’ environments, from the sunny climes of Dawnshore to the scorching wilderness of Scattersharp, and underground dungeons giving off an ethereal glow, that makes it extra fantastical than quite a lot of fantasy video games attempting to stay to a extra grounded and sensible (learn boring) palette.

That doubly goes to your companions who take the type of totally different vibrant races that additionally hail from the Pillars of Eternity universe. Whereas you do not have the choice to romance anybody (although one character who’s already spoken for does take pleasure in being a bit flirtatious), they every have their very own arcs and backstories stuffed with previous regrets that is price delving into, from conversations when you might have some downtime when resting at a camp, which additionally reveal companion-specific quests that develop over the course of the story.

Anybody anticipating a Skyrim beater ought to most likely mood their expectations as Avowed is not working on the identical epic scale, and certainly you possibly can mainline its story in about 20 hours, although its myriad decisions make it price replaying to see how totally different decisions or play-styles may have an effect on your journey. It is nonetheless a enjoyable and flavourful fantasy fling.