What excited me the most when I got to hear about Avowed back at Summer Game Fest was that it’d serve the player with plenty of choice and agency over both how to tackle combat as well as shape the narrative. Over the PAX Australia weekend, we got to sit down for an hour with Avowed, long ahead of its February release, to get a feel for how it would empower the person on the sticks.
The key way I was able to discern small differences and how they’d seemingly branch the story was by tackling the small quest on offer twice, opting for different outcomes, and a different build, on each run.
The quest itself revolved around searching a seemingly dank ruin for a lost expedition team who’d been sent in search of a relic, said to be forged from the shin bone of one of Eora’s deities. The team confirmed to me it wasn’t a critical path quest, which admittedly impressed me even more because if we’re getting side content this good, I think we’re ultimately in for a treat with the final product.
After patching up Caedmon, a self-admitted and wounded virgin left behind by his expedition team, Sargamis quickly becomes the central, and most curious, figure of this jaunt. His staunch devotion to Eothas, represented by an enormous status in the middle of the room, serves as the origin for his plan to reanimate the god. His matter-of-fact monologuing, coupled with his brilliant gold appearance, gave me a sense of unease about him. I’d ultimately buy-in to his needs and set off into the collapsed cavern in search of the missing team and the sought-after “splinter”.
Although Avowed offers a classless combat set up, which means you’re never locked into one particular approach, I was able to choose from three predetermined builds they’d pieced together for the purpose of the demo. Of the three on the table, barbarian, mage, and ranger, I opted for mage. At the risk of being a bit “squishy” so to speak, I found the lure of dual-wielding two wands to be too exciting to resist.
While there’s no doubt the game is more accessible from a mechanical standpoint than the Pillars of Eternity titles, I still felt a little overwhelmed by the amount of systems on show. I expect it to seem less daunting when starting anew and the game is able to onboard you, though for the purpose of the demo I feel like I didn’t really scratch the surface of what I could do. I set off into the inventory only once to swap my grimoire for a second wand, but didn’t spend any meaningful time in there otherwise.
The demo presented three or four main skirmishes where you’d fight spiderlings, skeletal soldiers and archers, as well as a mini-boss for the short quest in the form of a godless executioner. Like many others, I didn’t have a lot of hope for the game’s combat based off early trailers, it felt dated and lacking in tactile feedback. It reminded me of the worst parts of Morrowind, and how landing blows in combat became guesswork. Thankfully, Avowed has made leaps and bounds in this area, not only is the combat pretty responsive, it arms you with so many tools to get the job done. Things like the radial dial felt a little out of reach when in the frying pan, however I felt powerful enough with two wands in hand and a few spells and necessary potions keyed to the d-pad.
Having dabbled with both magic and brute force, in the form of the ranger’s dual-pistols and bow, I felt both approaches were as viable as the other. Throughout the quest I had Kai, one of the game’s many companions, with me for the ride, and, for an AI, he held his own during the tougher battles.
I’m very excited to see how much more refinement the team can eke out with the time they’ve got left, it seems as though the delay to February, which had nothing to do with the game’s state and was a matter of portfolio management from Xbox, might end up being something of a blessing.
The level design felt pleasantly sprawling, as well. The caverns offered several paths through and held more than a few secrets, as I learned on my second jog through. But not only do Obsidian manage to make this cavern system, seemingly non-essential to the main plot, feel grand and open for adventure, it’s also stunning from a design perspective. If there’s anybody that’s cooking with Avowed, it’s certainly the whole damn art team.
Although I only got a look at one small section of these Living Lands, I was admittedly taken aback by the sense of scope. Granted, the beautiful vistas on display were unreachable within the quest’s context, however I still stopped to take in all of the splendour, from the colours used to ensure the flora pops on-screen or the most collapsed parts of the ruin that allowed just a few bands on sunlight to crack through from the world outside. Of course, this build was running on a PC as big as my car, so the jury is still out on how it’ll perform on consoles.
The only part of the presentation I wasn’t entirely sold on was the user interface. It’s extremely busy, it was hard to read without the needed onboarding from the game’s first chapters, and it’s undeniably gaudy. Knowing Obsidian, I expect there are means to customise just how much info pops up on the screen at any given time, but if that isn’t the case and numbers are destined to be flashing in your face for the game’s entirety, I fear the ugliness of the UI could come to overshadow the game’s otherwise gorgeous art.
After retrieving the relic and surviving the desperate onslaught that followed, I returned to Sargamis to aid him in attempting to reanimate the god before him. In a sad turn of events, nothing happened and Sargamis sunk into a crisis of faith with a heartbreaking monologue that had me feeling for the guy—even if he did use me like a tool in the moments prior.
Using intellect and other conversational skills, I was able to talk him around and convince him to return to town to help the people in need. Whether this’ll ensure he turns up at a later time remains to be seen, but I certainly got the sense I’d see him again. This possible finale exists in stark opposition to the second run I had, which saw me unearth the stashed bodies of the expedition team and outright accuse the golden godlike as a murderer—a claim he didn’t deny—and felled him in battle.
For all of the concerns I had after Avowed’s first couple of showings, I’m relieved to have had the opportunity to go hands-on with the game and dispel pretty much every worry I had. The freedoms the game’s gifts to its player, especially in terms of combat and story craft, feels exciting to me. If the aim of this demo was to determine how the game feels, given time wasn’t afforded to dive deep into what makes it all tick, then I’d consider it a critical quest after all.
Avowed launches on February 18th 2025 for PC and Xbox Series X|S.
