Avowed isn't quite Obsidian's take on Skyrim, but it still captures the same magic

Obsidian Entertainment is one of my most adored developers under the Xbox Game Studios banner, so it's no wonder my excitement was sky-high for Avowed.

My excitement wasn't met with disappointment, either. Returning to the world of Eora from an all-new perspective has provided dozens of hours of joy, and my path through The Living Lands has been paved with endless exploration, colorful combat, delightful discussions, and tantalizing tales. Avowed is just fun, and it's one of the most memorable first-party Xbox games I've played in the last year, alongside Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

You can absolutely find the limits of Avowed's scope compared to the biggest and most ambitious RPGs (role-playing games), and even with a few additional months of development there are still some performance concerns and minor bugs. Despite that, though, Avowed has wholeheartedly captured my full attention on every front, from the world's presentation to the simple-yet-diverse combat. As Obsidian will tell you, this isn't the studio's take on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but Avowed does capture that same magic that makes the possibilities around every corner exciting.

Why You Should Trust Me

Why You Should Trust Me

Zachary Boddy (They / Them)

I've played hundreds of games, including many of the best and most beloved RPGs, and I can tell you exactly why the most memorable games on that list stick in my mind. I'm not just considering how fun or engaging a video game is, I'm also looking for technical polish, visual presentation, and whether or not the game was designed with accessibility in mind.

Avowed review: What is it?

Avowed Story Trailer - YouTube

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• Avowed is a first/third-person fantasy RPG from Xbox Game Studios.
• It's set in Eora, the fictional universe from the Pillars of Eternity games.

Avowed is a brand-new franchise set in the existing Pillars of Eternity universe, taking place after the events of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. The game brings players to The Living Lands for the first time, and is designed to welcome brand-new players and existing fans of the acclaimed CRPG (computer role-playing game) series that came before. The world of Eora is seen in a new light, including its pantheon of fickle gods, its abundance of unique cultures and peoples, and the never-ending importance and influence of the soul.

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment (Grounded, Pentiment, The Outer Worlds, and more) and published by Xbox Game Studios, Avowed is a focused, semi-open-world fantasy RPG that can be played in both third and first-person perspectives. It's also a class-less role-playing game, meaning players can mix and match weapons, abilities, and skills however they choose.

Story-wise, Avowed follows the exploits of the Aedyran Envoy, an official emissary of their emperor tasked with traveling to The Living Lands to investigate the Dreamscourge. This mysterious plague is afflicting the land, plants, animals, and now even people of The Living Lands, rotting their souls and turning them into mindless creatures of violence. As the envoy, it's your job to discover the source of the Dreamscourge alongside the companions you meet on the way — and possibly discover your roots as a mysterious godlike, as well.

Avowed releases on Feb. 18, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Xbox Game Pass through Ultimate, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming tiers. Premium Edition and Premium Upgrade owners can play up to five days early on Feb. 13, 2025. You can buy Avowed now from $69.99 at Best Buy.

The Living Lands 🌲

Avowed
Standard Edition: $69.99 at Best Buy (Xbox & PC) | Amazon (Xbox & PC) | CDKeys (PC, Steam)
Premium Edition: $89.99 at Best Buy (Xbox & PC) | Amazon (Xbox & PC) | CDKeys (PC, Steam)
Steelbook Edition: $94.99 at Best Buy (Xbox & PC) | Amazon (Xbox & PC)
Premium Upgrade: $24.99 at Best Buy (Xbox & PC) | Amazon (Xbox & PC)

The latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment takes us back to Eora, and it's a truly epic adventure. Purchase or play the Standard Edition through Xbox Game Pass, get the Premium Edition (or upgrade) for up to five days early access and other perks, or pick up the Steelbook Edition for all the above and an exclusive steelbook.

👉See at: BestBuy.com or Amazon.com or CDKeys.com

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Avowed review: Performance and presentation

• Avowed adapts a stylized art design with vibrant, saturated environments.
• The game looks amazing, with truly stunning world design.
• Performance is also solid, but there are framerate drops and other concerns.

Avowed doesn't mirror the darker mood of its initial reveal trailer, nor does it pursue the photorealistic visuals of many AAA RPGs and action-adventure games. Instead, Obsidian Entertainment brought The Living Lands to life by filling this world with life. There are four main areas in Avowed, separated by story progression and loading times, and each one is immediately and wholly visually distinct.

Dawnshore combines beautiful, golden beaches and lush plains with rocky crags and perilous mountains. Emerald Stair is saturated with lush foliage, dense trees, and a vast array of colorful fungi. Scattersharp is characterized by its ancient seabed, iron-rich desert, and sweeping cliffs. Galawain's Tusks isolates itself with a violent volcano and burning lava flows. Each region is spotted with signs of civilization both old and new, with settlements and ancient ruins alike drawing you in. I haven't even mentioned the plethora of entirely unique features each region boasts.

Obsidian did an incredible job designing a vibrant, vertical world; textures and colors are wonderful, and each environment looks natural and realistic without sacrificing the interactions and destructibility that ties into the gameplay. The Living Lands' people reflect their home, with a myriad of clothing and architecture styles that differentiate each place you visit, while the creatures and enemies you'll discover also possess distinct personalities. Avowed's art design and style both are top-notch, and help the game stand out amid a horde of other fantasy RPGs.

Audio design is excellent, too, with crisp ambient audio, immensely satisfying sound effects, clean and emotional voice acting, and a beautiful soundtrack that — while not the most memorable — still embodies The Living Lands. From both visual and acoustic standpoints, Obsidian Entertainment did a standout job.

It's in animations where you begin to see Avowed's more limited scope. Movements, facial animations during dialogue, and character actions are all fine but are frequently subject to bizarrely low framerates, latency, or minor visual glitches. From mice that seem to move at about five frames per second to characters speaking in ultra-slow motion, Avowed's animations lack the polish of their environments and visual presentation.

I can also say the same about performance. Avowed boasts 30 and 40 FPS gameplay modes on Xbox Series X and Series S, and an additional 60 FPS mode on Xbox Series X, and largely plays great. Framerates are smooth, visuals are sharp and consistent, and even large fights with plenty of flashy particle effects, explosions, and spells don't drag the game down to its knees. Some areas, though, are plagued with sporadic framerate drops, especially in the latter half of the game and even on the most performant 60 FPS mode.

Avowed can also struggle on lower-end hardware like the best gaming handhelds, and the Windows Central team has struggled to get the game to work at all on the Steam Deck. If you believe Avowed's visuals suggest it'll run perfectly on your low-end or non-gaming laptop, be sure to double-check Avowed's PC requirements first.

Obsidian's decision to delay Avowed likely had a major impact on the game's performance and stability, but there's clearly still some work to be done. I've encountered a variety of mild visual glitches, but there have been a handful of more concerning bugs and issues.

My colleague, Rebecca Spear, fell through the world after a door to an inaccessible building failed to render, and I have two quests that I simply cannot complete — one because the enemies I defeated never dropped any of the loot I needed to complete the bounty, and the other because two of the three people I needed to speak to refused to (possibly because I had spoken to them before starting the related quest).

Overall, though, Avowed is more than playable and plays decently smooth. It's also worth mentioning that Obsidian Entertainment shared the details of Avowed's day one patch with us, which we never saw during our review period; that patch is chunky, with dozens of fixes that mean you may never see most of the bugs the Windows Central team encountered. I'll update this section again if it seems Avowed is considerably more stable and polished after its official launch.

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Avowed review: Gameplay experience

• Avowed's gameplay centers around exploration and combat elements.
• Combat is class-less and diverse, allowing you to build two loadouts.
• Exploration also feels great, with fun traversal and plenty of secrets.

At first glance, it seems like Avowed plays like a smoother, more fluid Skyrim, but Obsidian's fantasy RPG has enough of its own character to stand out. This isn't an action RPG with high-speed, ultra-responsive combat. Instead, it builds an eclectic suite of abilities and weapons atop a consistent, tactile movement system. You can crouch, jump, dodge, clamber, and parkour your way across The Living Lands, wielding different gear in each hand and utilizing an array of unique spells and abilities.

Being able to independently choose what you use in each hand and then instantly change between two loadouts offers a lot of variety. You can rock a grimoire with four different spells and a spear, then instantly switch to a pair of powerful pistols, the whole time free to access all your standalone abilities, mastered spells, throwables, consumables, and companion abilities from the radial menu. What you choose to use will change your ability to block and parry, how efficiently and quickly you're able to attack or dodge, your range and impact, and more.

A class-less system means you're free to mix and match fighter, ranger, and wizard abilities however you want, and it's easy to respec all your abilities and even attribute points at any time. I redid my setup twice as I found new gear that I desperately wanted to use, including abandoning magic in favor of a powerful bow that deals arcing lightning damage with its arrows. There are a ton of different ways to approach combat, and combat itself is hectic and satisfying.

I had a lot of fun annihilating foes with a massive, perpetually bleeding greatsword, or firing an array of spells while swinging my sword, or shifting into a parallel dimension to unleash a devastating surprise attack on an unsuspecting foe, or... You get it. Combat in Avowed feels good, and being able to take advantage of the environment, like electrocuting puddles, setting fire to oil spills, and freezing your foes before shattering them, makes each battle feel more dynamic.

Combat is slower-paced, but I don't mind that. What I do mind is how slow character progression can feel at times. You level up slowly, and each ability and attribute point you earn won't always have a noticeable impact on your character. I either wish jumps per level were a little greater or you gained levels a little faster, just to make those milestones more memorable. Unique gear will make the largest difference on your playstyles, but the stat boosts and effects from a lot of that gear also feels surprisingly minimal, and only weapons allow any form of customization for the enchantments.

At least exploring for that unique gear and the materials to upgrade your equipment feels worthwhile. The world of Avowed is so consistently interesting, and the verticality and diversity of the environments means you'll never know where you'll find the next secrets. Ruins and cities are obvious locations, but there are plenty of underwater caches, buried caves only accessible via tiny openings hidden in crevices, clifftop camps at the end of arduous climbs, and much more that may provide the inspiration you need to change your build.

I loved exploring The Living Lands in search of hidden boss fights, undiscovered secrets, and unsolved puzzles. Much of what you'll find will be crafting materials and puzzles tend to be simple, but Avowed still somehow captures the magic that makes exploring in legendary titles like Skyrim so endlessly fun. Unique interactions, concealed quests, and interesting looks into the world of Eora and the history of The Living Lands all make exploring worthwhile, especially when you can rarely predict where the next secret will be.

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Burn, freeze, shock, poison, bleed, paralyze, and stun your enemies. Unmask The Living Lands' treasure trove. Refine your character's combat, traversal, and conversation abilities. Assist the people you meet along the way. There's a lot to do, and you can spend a lot of time doing it. Avowed is a bit bigger than we were led to believe.

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Avowed review: Story, world, and characters

• Avowed's story is interesting and well-written, tying into existing lore.
• Characters are also multi-dimensional with fantastic voice acting.
• Decisions have noticeable and long-lasting impacts in quests.

Avowed's story can be summarized as such: The Aedyr Empire has a vested interest in The Living Lands, a lawless frontier for misfits and outcasts, and has sent its armies to establish law and order. However, a dreadful plague that directly attacks the soul itself is changing the landscape, choking farms and transforming people and animals. You are an envoy of Aedyr, sent to investigate and stop the Dreamscourge from destroying The Living Lands.

This story is interesting, combining themes of political disagreements, social and economic strife, nationalism, the pursuit and fear of science, the power of religious fanaticism, and more. You'll travel all over The Living Lands along your journey, learning more about yourself and the people who call this land home. More than that, you'll learn that you were fated to adventure to this place, as your very presence in The Living Lands changes its destiny. To that end, the decisions you make during the story have very real, very lasting impacts.

Obsidian Entertainment did an excellent job letting you, the player, roleplay as the envoy you want to be. The character creator isn't the most in-depth in an RPG, but you're given plenty of control over your appearance, starting stats, and even your backstory (which frequently impacts your choices during conversations). The actions you take and decisions you make during quests matter, and even the order in which you complete quests (and the side quests you choose to do at all) can provide new paths or obstacles later down the road.

Save one woman near the beginning of the game? It may save you from a fight with smugglers later on. Help a business owner protect her livelihood? You may turn a sworn enemy into an unlikely ally. The main story is interesting, with many twists and turns, great writing, and engaging stakes, but the side quests also matter a lot. I do think Avowed's side quests tend to be on the short side, but I'm still very happy that I've chosen to hunt down as many of them as I can during my playthrough.

The characters in Avowed are also well-written and well-acted, especially the companions. Unique, multi-dimensional personalities that are affected by your decisions and actions make these companions more than just friendly NPCs in battle, and it's another opportunity to roleplay. Sorry, no romance, though (I wish there was). The people you'll meet in The Living Lands also tend to be interesting, even those with whom you have limited interaction. Engaging with this world never stops being fun.

I just wish you had more impact on the world outside of quests. Destroying property, stealing everything in sight, or trying to attack random NPCs has no effect apart from the occasional comment; your decisions during quests make a difference, but outside of those guided missions, your touch on the world is limited to killing enemies and looting treasure. Dialogue shouldn't be the only place where the player can influence the world, but it does serve as another reminder that Obsidian never intended for Avowed to be the biggest, most ambitious RPG.

Despite the smaller focus, though, Avowed benefits greatly from being a part of a larger universe. The lore and history of Eora are unfathomably deep, and your exploits in The Living Lands build off the incredible worldbuilding Obsidian Entertainment is known for.

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Avowed review: Accessibility and approachability

• Avowed provides plenty of options for customizing the HUD and controls.
• It's also designed to be an approachable game with clear interfaces.
• Localization is a little limited, with some languages not available at launch.

Xbox Game Studios invests heavily in its accessibility efforts, so I wasn't too concerned about Avowed. From a foundational perspective, this is an approachable game with an intelligent control scheme, clear and easy-to-read interface, frequent and in-depth tutorials, and a ton of additional details that help you navigate the world and its gameplay systems.

Through the settings, you can also heavily customize those controls and the interface, with options for per-control remapping and control toggles, a ton of ways to tweak the camera and how it reacts to gameplay and combat, customizations for the interface and what elements appear and when. There are also options to finetune your combat experience with aim, dodge, and block assists, granular audio sliders, and a surprising number of options for subtitles and dialogue.

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There's a field-of-view (FOV) slider and gamma settings, but Avowed doesn't feature any color-blind modes. Avowed generally does an excellent job combining audio and visual cues for combat and exploration, though, which should strike a good balance accommodating those with aural or ocular impairments.

One area where Avowed is on the weak side is with localization, which has long been a weak point for Xbox. All voice over will be available in English only, with subtitles localization available in English, Simplified Chinese, German, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), and Russian. French will be available at launch but will be an imperfect translation that will be polished in a post-launch update, while Korean and Japanese support will be missing at launch but will be added in a one-month update after Avowed releases.

I wish Avowed had voice over localization in more languages, and it's still missing subtitles for languages like Arabic, Swedish, Dutch, and many more. Xbox really needs to step up its localization game across the board.

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Avowed review: Final thoughts

You should play this if ...

✅You're looking for an accessible fantasy RPG with first-class worldbuilding

Obsidian Entertainment is legendary for its worldbuilding, and Avowed is the latest positive mark on its resumé. Avowed is an accessible, approachable, and ridiculously fun fantasy RPG that provides plenty of opportunities to embrace the character you create and make your impact on the world.

✅You're a Pillars of Eternity fan looking to jump back into Eora

Eora is bustling with history and magic, and The Living Lands is the most beautifully chaotic continent of them all. You don't need to have played Pillars of Eternity to fully appreciate Avowed, but those who have will love all the references and nods to existing lore, especially the ones that relate to the decisions they made in the Pillars of Eternity games.

You should not play this if ...

❌You want to play a massive RPG that'll take 100+ hours to complete

If you're the kind of player that loves to immerse themselves in a single world for dozens or even hundreds of hours, and want an RPG that stacks countless systems on top of each other to keep those hours interesting, Avowed isn't quite that. It's larger than we expected, but this is still a more focused, modest RPG versus games like Baldur's Gate 3 or Dragon's Dogma 2.

Avowed isn’t Obsidian’s take on Skyrim, but it does still possess that same hard-to-quantify magic that causes a random boulder in the distance to capture your attention, holding you steadfast until you give into the random urge to wander off the path you’ve chosen to go and investigate it up close. Avowed rewards your efforts to explore, revealing that the obscure rock that only seemed a little odd is a desolate cave filled with corpses and the spiders the created them, or a secret hideaway built by two mysterious lovers who left small treasures of their relationship behind, or decrepit ruins of an ancient civilization so far gone that most don’t even know their name.

We were told that Avowed would be around 15-20 hours for the main story and be similar in scope to The Outer Worlds, which does feel accurate on that metric alone. I spent over 50 hours in The Living Lands, though, and I'm still not entirely confident I saw everything. That comes down to one thing: Avowed makes exploration far more fun than The Outer Worlds did, and its world feels far more complete. A varied combat system, gorgeous visuals, and an interesting story all help make Avowed one of the most fun RPGs I've played in a long while.

Obsidian Entertainment still has a fair number of bugs to iron out, though, and performance isn't always the best. On top of that, you can see where Avowed's scope is more limited compared to the biggest AAA RPGs, and Avowed doesn't exactly cost less than those games. Still, this is an early contender for my game of the year. Avowed is now available from $69.99 at Best Buy for Xbox and PC.

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