One thing that likely drew a lot of people to Avowed was the idea of Skyrim but with guns. And true enough, Avowed is reminiscent of Skyrim and many other great RPGs (but this time with guns, even if the guns aren’t really necessary for a great experience).
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Avowed is a massive open-world game with many mechanics that you have to keep in mind if you want to have a smooth experience.
What would also be accurate is Skyrim but with way more colorful mushrooms, which lends itself well to cultivating the concept of a unique fantasy world, plagued by rot and a spirit sickness. As a godlike, it’s your mission to try and restore balance to the world once more and root out that rot before it’s too late.
Review
Stacey Henley, our Editor-in-Chief here at TheGamer shared her review for Avowed, and she was not overly impressed. Despite warnings from the director about Avowed possibly being a little “jank,” the unfinished feeling of Avowed stems from issues on a “deeper, and unfortunately far less fixable” level.
Every avenue you explore in Avowed feels like a dead end. It’s a game that strives for a depth it cannot achieve, but has overcommitted to that depth
Stacey notes that the roleplay aspects of Avowed feel more like an illusion, rather than a genuine roleplay, with nothing having lasting consequences. The narrative is also over-reliant on tropes, which left Stacey hanging, rather than getting her hooked on the narrative.
When it steps away from those tropes, it feels like the game is stumbling through the story. Or, as Stacey put it, “It leaves Avowed feeling a little bit like playing Dungeons & Dragons with a DM who is good at voices, but not much else.”
While the story may falter and stumble when it’s not leaning on tropes and commonly told backstories, the gameplay is actually decent in Avowed. It lends itself to a varied combat style really well, encouraging you to mix and match your weaponry so you can have a unique gameplay experience — even if the combat may feel clunky at times.
The lack of a defined class system also allows you to pick and choose skills as you please, letting you craft unique character builds. However, some skills will feel redundant, which pushes you to become a jack-of-all-trades (which may work well for some players. In Stacey’s case, she preferred this setup).
However, everything feels slowed down and takes time to kick in, which isn’t great when you’re in the middle of combat. It’s even worse when you’re in the middle of conversations that just keep dragging on without much great dialogue or personality to save the day.
It’s a very mediocre version of the masterpiece it tries to be, but it’s also a solid version of Just Another Video Game.
Ultimately, Stacey sums up her experience by noting that you’ll want to finish Avowed, but you’ll have no idea why you want to finish it. There’s a lot of content and while it’s not good, you can’t help but keep indulging in it. The game has a lot of promise, and it’s a valiant attempt at a fantasy game, but it’s too ambitious and its narrative falls flat.
Time Expenditure
Realistically, if you’re focused on the main story, you’ll probably beat it in around 20 hours, even if you venture out into a few side quests. More than likely, the average player will see about 40 hours of gameplay in Avowed.
Should you desire to try and 100 percent the game, then there’s probably 50 to 60 hours, maximum. It is a game you can beat in a weekend, should you decide that it’s worth dedicating your weekend to.
Cost
Avowed doesn’t come in cheap, at a staggering $69.99 for the standard release on Steam and Xbox series X|S. If you’ve got a bit more pocket money than that and you’re feeling up to it, you can get the premium edition instead for $89.99 — which, including tax, is going to be well over $90.
However, Avowed is included on the Xbox Game Pass, so if you have that you’re a lucky one — it’s also a great way to try out Avowed for a much cheaper price ($11.99 for PC and $19.99 for the Ultimate Pass) before committing to buying it, should you like Avowed enough.
What Players Are Saying
Not For That Much Money – Tallis Spalding
I was so excited for Avowed and then horrifically underwhelmed when I started playing. The first companions annoyed me, it crashed twice in an hour, it occasionally lagged, and the story just… wasn’t exciting (at all).
Yet, I still kept playing and I found some mild enjoyment in it, and I still don’t know why. If the game was cheaper ($40 max) then I’d say it would be a worthwhile experience… just not for what I actually paid.
Beautiful Exploration But An Unfulfilled Promise – Sanyam Jain
As soon as I got to the first main city in Avowed, I constantly got distracted while doing the main story and spent hours exploring random buildings without realizing it. It’s commendable just how seamless and rewarding the exploration is.
However, it also tries to promise a choice-based gameplay where your decision can matter a lot. Unfortunately, the outcomes for most of your decisions are too black-and-white and they don’t justify the sheer amount of choices you get
- Released
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February 18, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence