Anyone who has seen even a snippet of Avowed‘s gameplay knows there is a plethora of unique combat options, and while the intent behind that design is to allow players more freedom to choose their own playstyle, there is plenty of potential for balance issues. If one combat option is substantially more powerful than others, players might opt for that instead, even if it’s not necessarily the playstyle they would have chosen otherwise. Fortunately, Avowed developer Obsidian Entertainment has gone to great lengths to discourage that from happening.
In a recent interview with Game Rant, Avowed game director Carrie Patel disclosed useful details about the game’s combat system. During the interview, Patel gave the low-down on Obsidian’s efforts to ensure a careful balance between magic, firearms, and melee in Avowed, and it sounds like players may not need to worry too much about any issues there.
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How Avowed Balances Magic, Firearms, and Melee
Avowed Aims to Make Every Combat Option Viable at All Times
Based on what has been revealed so far, and everything Obsidian has said about the game up to this point, one of the key pillars of Avowed is its emphasis on player agency. While Avowed is a much more linear experience than its original inspiration, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, it still puts considerable power into players’ hands. This is plainly seen in the number of combat options available. On top of that, players can dual-wield weapons in Avowed, which opens the door wide for experimentation and even greater customization potential. However, with such a vast selection available, the game must ensure every weapon and combat option is viable.
Thankfully, a major part of Obsidian’s design philosophy in Avowed centers around that very idea — ensuring that no weapon, spell, or ability ever feels redundant or expendable. When asked about how Avowed strikes that balance in combat to grant more security to melee users, Patel replied,
Our philosophy is that all the weapons, spells, and abilities available to the player must always be viable, and, in the right circumstances, situationally best, yet never be always best or always worst. That means if you’re trying to optimize your play, you’ll occasionally swap weapons, but you should never feel you have to. Also, if you have a favorite weapon, and you just want to use it all the time, you can. It will be really effective in some situations and less so in others.
So, Avowed doesn’t necessarily alleviate balance issues in combat by making every weapon just as powerful as the rest (although that is likely at least somewhat of a contributor), rather it places players in certain situations where they essentially have no choice but to swap out their current weapon for one that is more effective in that scenario. Of course, this shouldn’t detract from the player agency emphasized in Avowed‘s gameplay, so players should still be able to use a melee weapon even if a ranged weapon or spell might suit the situation better.
Avowed’s Situational Combat Ensures Every Option Serves a Purpose
Many different things can factor into this “situational” combat Patel speaks of, and while Avowed has been intentionally designed that way, whether one combat option befits a certain situation more than another will likely persist as a subjective point of view. This is ultimately the beauty of Avowed‘s design, and it’s just a testament to this “teeter-totter” effect that seems to occur during gameplay. In theory, players should constantly move back and forth between combat options — if they want to best ensure their survival and success, anyway. Patel continued,
We have enemy types that will swarm the player, so sniping them with a long reload gun like an arquebus won’t be ideal. You’ll probably need to use your party if you want to stick with that weapon in that case. But you could also use a spell like Fan of Flames to burn everything down, or blast a pack with a grenade, or cleave them with a two-handed sword or great axe.
Avowed‘s approach to combat feels like a careful balancing act that almost forces agency on players to discourage static gameplay. By ensuring that every weapon, spell, and ability has a place in the right situation, Obsidian is doubling down on its philosophy that no playstyle should ever feel better or worse than another. Rather than offering players meta weapons and combat options, Avowed encourages them to adapt to every situation, rewarding those who experiment while letting melee users or spellcasters stick to their preferences. If Obsidian can execute this vision as well as it hopes, Avowed could deliver a dynamic and engaging combat system.
- Franchise
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Pillars of Eternity
- Released
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February 18, 2025
- Publisher(s)
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Xbox Game Studios
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
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