Avowed Impression

For Avowed, the opening hours are a proper realignment of expectations.

Obsidian Entertainment took a bit of a break from the RPG world these last few years. Since The Outer Worlds, its focus has been on the charming survival game Grounded and the excellent narrative adventure Pentiment. However, the company is now back in the fantastical realm it crafted for Pillars of Eternity with its newest title Avowed. I had an opportunity to see an early build of the opening hours of the game and while I didn’t get to experience everything the preview had to offer, my time with it offered an informative and moderating look.

The story begins with the player, an envoy for the king, being sent to an island where to investigate a strange infestation known as the Dreamscourge and the disappearance of the island’s leader. The twist here is that player character is a Godlike, a being whose soul has been marked by a god in some way. This immediately sets the player up as an outsider, as Godlike are often treated with mistrust if not outright hostility. Interestingly, players must choose a physical sign that they are Godlike, appearing as an array of growths on the head, also making their character physically different from others. The option to hide it is available for people who don’t want it, but it’s a decision I hope to see bear out some out-of-the-box role-playing opportunities. One small note of disappointment is that players can only choose to be humans or elves, which feels a pretty bland spread of options for a setting that otherwise offers more variety.

I have to admit, that’s a fun-looking little guy.

The trip to the island is quickly cut short by cannon fire, which strikes the ship and washes the player up on an island not too far from their intended destination. Joined by a single other survivor, they must explore the island, to find both a way off and a reason as to why supposedly friendly cannons would fire on them. The companion is largely hands-off, they fight of their own accord and keep an enemy or two off the player but their contribution to combat outside of that is limited. Their primary purpose seems to be to add wrinkles to conversations, interjecting with their own perspectives or attempting to persuade the player to their way of thinking.

The introduction to combat is an entirely predictable affair, providing the expected fantasy offerings of swords, shields, daggers, bows, and magic wands. Pick a first-person action RPG from the last decade and Avowed plays similarly: basic attacks can be mixed with charge attacks can be mixed with blocking all governed by a stamina system. At least in these early stages, Avowed‘s combat isn’t punchy enough to feel like a real back and forth in engaging with enemies. Often times the player and enemies will just attack through each other. Feedback feels determined by how big a chunk of the health bar disappears with each hit. It’s possible that further character development, party synergy, and more interesting weapons could make combat feel more engaging, but at least in the preview section its simply functional.

There are few sights like an Eoran sunset.

Dialogue will also feel familiar to anyone who has played Obsidian’s previous RPG The Outer Worlds. As opposed to text-based Pillars of Eternity games, conversations feel more succinct and aurally-produced. The main character, smartly, doesn’t have voice acting, but there is still a diminished number of conversation threads to follow. Obsidian continues its track of being forthright with how a character’s stats will affect dialogue options, which is always a welcome addition, and it’s definitely appreciated when stats have non-combat functions. However, any stronger indications on how Avowed will tackle some of its unique themes aren’t present in the opening hours of the game. Even with knowledge of the other games set in the same universe, it trends toward the fantasy mean, particularly in the variation in the tasks given to the player. Expect a good number of quests to feel like doing someone else’s chores, at least early on.

The world of Eora is lovely setting and Avowed seems to be in keeping with that. Seeing the world fully rendered from a grounded perspective is a welcome change. The islands are sun-soaked and the Dreamscourge stains the environments in distinctive color. It’s unfortunate that those same environments don’t initially seem to quite fill themselves with many meaningful discoveries. Admittedly, this is a difficult thing to pull off in such a limited time frame as the preview build allowed, but while the game’s environments are beautiful they don’t entirely evoke a sense of discovery. By comparison, the dungeon areas have slight immersive sim elements, which hints at offering different play styles way to tackle different obstacles. For example, a woman trapped in a jail cell has information needed to understand what went down at the fort. She’s offers to help in exchange for her escape, mentioning a boat to get off the island. Players can attempt to brute force the door, search deeper into the fort for the key, or abandon the woman to her fate and merely take the boat to safety. Finding the key involves searching out hidden doors and traversing through rafters, which helps to make the space more interesting. The presence of even these minor additions makes the prospect of dungeon-crawling much more appealing.

That’s one of the more fancy skeletons I’ve seen in quite some time.

A demo for an RPG, even an extended one, is always going to be a rough sell. RPGs are often big undertakings whose opening hours are table setting. For Avowed, the opening hours are a proper realignment of expectations. I still find myself excited for the game and for Obsidian’s return to a 3D RPG but with a much more appealing setting than what The Outer Worlds had on offer. That excitement has been met with a good dose reality as what Avowed in comes into much clearer focus. It’s not a game looking to reinvent the wheel in terms of open world or action RPGs, but the potential for a solid RPG remains. My main hope is that as the game goes on Obsidian starts leaning into the strength of its writing team more.

 

Disclosure: This article is based on a build of the game provided by the publisher.

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