Avowed [Review]

While lacking in some systems when compared to other RPGs of its type, Avowed mostly delivers a polished experience on everything that it tries to do – the catch is: it doesn't try to do much.

Obsidian was very clever to put Avowed in a pre-existing world: the lore and worldbuilding are super extensive and not over explanatory, because it is embedded into the Pillars of Eternity world. Everything is really well written, and the story of the game is paced in a way that I learnt about this weird island together with my character, as he was as unaware of this world as I was.

Each of the nations that you go through are equally big and as fully fledged as you'd expect in some open world-ish contained areas – it reminded me the structure of games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and Obsidian's own The Outer Worlds. Different from their previous work on space, though, Avowed feels more complete and with content better distributed throughout the game.

What surprised me the most about this game was the battle and gearing systems. We're overcrowded with bad level scaling implementations, but here everything is simple and visible, I truly felt getting stronger with new special equipment and/or upgrades to them. The equipment system is maybe overly simplistic, but it works, and the unique weapons and accessories that I found truly changed the way I battled many times in the campaign. What hinders a great battle system is an intense lack of enemy variety, unfortunately, with some exceptions I basically killed the same enemies the entire games, outside of bosses and hunts, of course.

The attribute system and skills system can be a hit or miss, and it doesn't have enough archetypes to really make the progression on the skills unique for each play style. While you may have choice, it will not be that different between similar weapons – this is more noticeable in action games, in which Avowed certainly is. The combat in this game may be the best combat in first person RPGs that I've ever played, and the option to play in 3rd person was great.

So all of these systems are solid, but there's nothing really much else to talk beyond them, unfortunately. There's no real reputation system, nor the NPCs really interact with the world, there aren't people wandering around the many lush roads and cities in the Living Lands. Everything seems a bit too rigid, and too videogamey sometimes. It's almost like this was going to be a multiplayer game with fixed player hubs containing NPCs while the world is empty but full of other players, then became a single player game midway development, but I digress.

On an unexpected good note, the dialogue options and paths are super interesting. I could create some situations "on the go" that were carried until the end of the game, sometimes I could lie, get more information through speech alone (without indicators of "success" and "failure") and even solve some kerfuffles with good wit. Another great addition to the dialogue is how side quests interact with them, and if you have done something in a sidequest, it may appear in another as a reference or even on the main quest.

Although I absolutely adore the world aesthetics and environments, I'm not too keen on the characters design. I like them as well written companions, but they are not very stylish and distinctive. They get lost with the enemies and aren't that visually flashed out, but their stories are, I liked a lot of 2 of the 4 party members, and the other 2 were a bit of a miss for me.

There aren't minigames or side activities that really derailed me from combat, but the story choices were nice, always morally ambiguous, and I loved unraveling the mystery of the Living Islands and its horrific disease.

Everything that Avowed tries to do, it almost always does superbly. Unfortunately, it doesn't try much, and while unique and colorful, it is a bit void, and the systems that are lacking in the end creates a more arcade-y experience than the true RPG that I wanted. Still, it is fun, rewarding and very strange. I liked it a lot.

8/10

This game was played under Linux, using Bottles and Wine 10.5. I didn't make screenshots of it, all the captures here are from IGDB.

And now something that pains me to say – because I always adored Obsidian – but:

It is relevant (even if hypocritical, of my part) to highlight the BDS movement call for boycotting Microsoft services and Gaming Products due to their complicity in the genocide in Gaza. You can learn more about it here, but, to quote the article:

“Microsoft provides the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that are crucial in empowering and accelerating Israel’s genocidal war on 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip”