Greetings, fellow adventurers! There have been plenty of great RPGs to play over the last couple of years, but I’ve been particularly keen to see more from Avowed ever since Microsoft purchased Obsidian Entertainment in 2018. Announced as its next big budget RPG, and before Xbox also bought Bethesda, this felt like its answer to Elder Scrolls. Given the studio’s impressive portfolio spanning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, seeing what they’d be able to pull off with major megabucks backing has been tantalizing.
Which means I jumped at the chance to go hands-on with a brand new slice of the game picking up from the very beginning. Unleashed onto the Dawnshore, I’ve already spent three hours (and change) questing across it. While Avowed doesn’t feature a full open world, but rather large and dense zones, it’s still nevertheless quite a rich area to get to grips with what makes Avowed unique. As someone who bounced off Dragon Age: The Veilguard and has always struggled with Skyrim (sorry!) I wasn’t sure what to expect. But Avowed already has me hooked. Here’s the 10 things you need to know, and what’s stood out to me the most from what I’ve played so far.
1. Allows you to get stuck in with combat
Not everyone is always in the mood for stacks of numbers. While Avowed certainly has those to offer for the digit delighted stat lovers out there, the first-person combat is fun to simply get stuck into, allowing you to really embrace some action-first hacking and slashing if you so desire. Combat has a lovely weightiness about it, and whether you’re pinging a bow, taking a hit with your shield, or about to fling out elemental spells, it’s all intuitive and easy to understand. Just stick ’em with the pointy end until they’re dead (and that charge attack is so satisfying to pull off, as it can send enemies ragdolling).
2. Jumping is vital (for secrets and more)
When you see fantasy swords and sorcery, it’s easy to imagine you’ll be trundling around an open world in a slight jog as you bosh baddies on the noggin. But Avowed’s open areas are detailed spaces to explore thanks to some parkour-like first-person clambering. Its movement isn’t quite as fully featured as Dying Light 2, but you’re nevertheless nimbler than you might expect, and some quest areas will reward clever jumping with great prizes. But even on the standard path you may come across broken bridges or outcrops that can get you to your destination. Just look where you’re going lest you take a fall.
3. The power of the lore button
No fantasy world is complete without a web of proper nouns to become properly entangled in. After all, learning the language of a new world is all part of the immersion, and how fans are made. But if Avowed is your first foray into the Pillars universe, then worry not, as you always have the option within dialogue to pull up an explanation of any lore terms you’ve encountered.
While both Metaphor: ReFantazio and Final Fantasy 16 have attempted this in their own way, Avowed takes a simple but powerful approach, similar to narrative heavy visual novels. It opens up a fresh box that has the terms mentioned throughout your entire chat right there ready to select and browse without breaking the flow of conversation. Never feel lost again by fancy fantasy words!
4. The smart, clear UI makes it great for controllers
Avowed’s UI is far from over-designed, though it’s still quite pretty. Most importantly, it’s clear. I love how it’s clear from both your health bar and an enemy’s when they’re blocking as it adds a purple shield overlay, making it obvious when you’re safe and when to go for a guard break. I love the clear waypointing that makes it obvious what’s optional and what’s going to progress your main path forward. But most importantly I love how natural it feels on a controller, making Avowed a crunchy RPG that feels tailor-made for Xbox, from clear d-pad shortcuts, to using the triggers in combat, to assigning and managing gear in the inventory. Even the sprinting works a bit like in Call of Duty. It all feels wonderfully natural.
5. Double weapon wheels for twice the fun
While you’ll be speccing your Envoy hero to favor certain stats and skills from the classes available, Avowed isn’t about locking you into one style of play and forcing you to commit to one or the other. With the touch of a button, even in mid-combat, you can dynamically switch your loadout, altering both your main-hand and off-hand in the flow of combat. Yes, like Bayonetta. That means you go from shield and little stabby knife to dual wielding a pistol and a spellbook in an instant, giving you loads of options at your battle-ready fingertips.
6. Sword AND sorcery!
Again, Avowed empowers you to find your own combat flow and get it the way you want it, meaning you can mix and match your main-hand and off-hand dynamic as you see fit. While some weapons take up both shots, like bows or greatswords, others are a lot more flexible, and many are one-handed. For instance, though shields can be placed in the off-hand, spellbooks also must inhabit that slot. Which does mean you can cast aside a shield and wield a tome instead, relying more on the (very powerful) dodge button instead of blocking. Some ranged weapons are also one-handed, meaning you can go shield and mace in one slot, and combine a gun and magic for the other (we won’t stop mentioning it – you can literally dual-wield guns and magic!)
7. Keep the spells flowing
You’ve a finite pool of magic power for casting spells, which you can top off with potions and consumables. Yet, you can also restore it by absorbing the purple drops that come from enemies as you slay them. Which is all to say, you can find a rhythm of spell-slinging that means you can stay topped off in the midst of combat without having to micromanage yourself constantly, pushing you to stay on the offensive with magic while also supplementing it with other ways to finish off foes so they’ll spill that all important purple juice. Bonus points if you shatter frozen foes with a bullet.
8. Go arrow happy
This one goes out to all our fellow Elder Scrolls fans who like to make their rangers viable so they can snipe their way out of danger. Not only is the ranged build in Avowed, at least early on, a very valid option, but it’s joyous to play. Aiming down sights, you can power up shots, hitting weak spots for big damage. But you can also let go of your bow pull early to get off shots a bit faster. It’s very powerful, as it allows you to get damage in at a distance and seemingly shoot past shields. Be warned, however, there are a lot of ranged enemies as well, so you may end up in a sniper battle. Played this way, it all becomes a marvelous fantasy flavored FPS in its own right.
9. Making camp means making friends
What’s an RPG without a party? And what’s a party without a camp within which you can trade tragic backstories, chatter about recent events, and simply grow closer? While early on the party hasn’t grown to its full potential, we’re already enjoying our camp detours as a great way to get more color on the world and learn more about our allies. Kai, a merman-like coastal Aumaua (voiced by Brandon Keener AKA Garrus from Mass Effect) is our first proper pal, and a fantastic introduction to the world we find ourselves in as we cut about Dawnshore. No you’re obsessed!
10. Getting to play a character
While we can’t show you the character creator yet, we can talk about it, and there’s plenty of really interesting elements you can adjust even in the early build we played. As a Godlike, you’ve been uniquely touched by divinity even before birth, which means you can give yourself some funky fungal features. And yes, some people will be very rude about it in conversation (you look great, though, don’t listen to them). Even beyond appearances, in the opening hours there’s quite a lot of opportunities to use your stats to unlock new options in dialogue, making these branches feel quite weavy and providing ample room to roleplay.
Can’t wait for Avowed? We’ve got a list of the best RPG games to play right now instead! Or looking for more of what’s next from Xbox? Then check out the upcoming Xbox Series X games!