Avowed’s Graphics and Performance Are Getting a Lot of Praise

Following Avowed‘s recent early access release for Premium Edition owners, the game’s graphics and performance are coming in for tons of praise. Avowed utilizes the power of Unreal Engine to bring the stunning world of Eora to life.

Overall, the reviews for Avowed have been pretty positive. Obsidian’s latest RPG currently holds an 81 Top Critic Average on review score aggregator Open Critic, with frequent praise for its combat and commitment to player choice. However, some criticism has been aimed at its story and world, with some feeling the NPCs feel too robotic, as opposed to fully-fledged characters in the story. At the moment, the game remains in its early access period for Premium Edition owners only, so it remains to be seen if the general player reception reflects this, too.

Related

The Unwritten Rules of Avowed Explained

Avowed is a fairly straightforward RPG, but players may still benefit from a few of its unwritten rules before heading out into the Living Lands.

In Digital Foundry’s tech review for Avowed, the outlet reserved tons of praise for its performance on Unreal Engine 5. “Performance is thankfully solid across the 30fps and 40fps modes, with only occasional hiccups on both Series X and Series S… Even so, this is Obsidian’s best-performing console game by far – not perfect, but good enough.” It also claims it “leverages Unreal Engine 5’s latest features, almost without fault,” describing it as “one of the best showcases of a modern Unreal Engine 5 title.” It seems that Avowed‘s smaller scope, instead choosing to set the game in several small areas as opposed to one open world, has paid off.

Avowed’s UE5 Graphics and Performance Praised After Early Access Launch

Unreal Engine 5 has come in for plenty of criticism from gamers. There are tons of major titles using Unreal Engine 5, some of which have had major technical flaws in the past. However, it’s easy to succumb to confirmation bias here, noticing the UE5 games that struggle while ignoring the ones that run well. Avowed is another example of why it’s not entirely down to Unreal Engine 5, but rather the individuals using Epic’s popular game engine.

Hopefully, the release of Avowed proves to be a success for Obsidian, as it’s always exciting to see a developer take a chance on something fresh. Just recently, Obsidian confirmed it has ambitious objectives going forward, with the end goal to still be developing games 100 years from now. Obsidian is still one of the biggest names in the RPG genre, having developed Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords and Fallout: New Vegas. While it’s perhaps unfair to constantly compare the studio to its previous works, it undoubtedly exists in the large shadow of what came before.

Game

My Favorite Games
My Played Games
My Games Wishlist

Systems

Released

February 18, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence

Publisher(s)

Xbox Game Studios