Avowed

That Obsidian is releasing Avowed in 2025 could well be a nice coincidence, or a beautiful turn of fate. Because it was just ten years ago when the studio took a gamble with Pillars of Eternity, which saved it from closure and, in the process, became a pioneer of crowdfunding in the industry. Ten years of going against the tide, of searching for production values that fit the story they want to tell. And, in short, to refine a narrative, artistic style and technique that led them to create one of the best RPGs currently in the Xbox catalogue. Perhaps the best.

At first glance, it's easy to recognise Obsidian's signature art style in Avowed that they did so well with their previous first-person RPG, The Outer Worlds. Colourful environments, saturated by chromatic contrasts, with a smaller expanse than other genre benchmarks, but full of activity and life. Here, instead of a vibrant star system in which we fight our way through factions and fire laser weapons, the action takes the path of epic fantasy, sword and magic. For that, there's nothing better than to take advantage of the already created Pillars of Eternity universe while developing the technical muscle to a new level. Because yes: Avowed is Obsidian's biggest and most ambitious title to date, or at least until The Outer Worlds 2 arrives in a few months. It also retains some of those weaker points, such as the almost total absence of facial expressions on the characters, but it's something I already associate as part of the "Obsidian experience" as well.

Despite being set in the same world as Pillars of Eternity, don't worry if you've never heard of the series before. Avowed's story takes place after the events of the Pillars series, but both the Living Lands region and its plot are largely outside the influence of those stories. In fact, it can serve as a gateway to their world, as it has for me. And while it is true that sometimes so many names of kingdoms, tribes, villages, towns, cities and gods overwhelm in the first hours of the game, it is never difficult to have a clear vision of our leading role in the plot. But if you want to enjoy tons of lore and worldbuilding, there is plenty here.

And while we're on the subject of story, Avowed's plot takes many of the themes and tropes of high fantasy to build the main conflict and the secondary ones: colonisation, religious freedom, inquisition, racism, sexism, politics, balance between environmental preservation and progress... All spiced up with magic and fantastic creatures. At the heart of this conflict is where we start. We are a Godlike, a human whose soul was touched by a god before we were born, and who left a visible mark on our appearance, and some unique powers. While much of the world was wary of our appearance and power, the Emperor of Aedyr took us in and appointed us his Envoy on a mission to explore the Living Lands on behalf of the Empire. The Living Lands is a virtually unexplored region whose inhabitants do not welcome the arrival of the Aedyrians. However, the main purpose of our expedition is to find the source of an evil that is beginning to ravage the world: a kind of plague that affects all life forms, consuming their essence and their soul.

It is up to us as players to decide how we will approach our mission: will we take advantage of our privileged position as the envoy of the emperor of a colonising nation, or will we empathise with the native inhabitants? Will we support the Iron Bludgeon Inquisition, or the Paridisian refugees preparing the rebellion? There is no definite black or white (almost never), but the great thing about all these choices is that they always have a bearing on our gameplay, and you can feel that they are changing the course of events. And this causality will be less obvious at times, with subtle comments from NPCs, and at others so important as to open or close possible outcomes of the game. If you spare an assassin's life, you will lose a unique weapon, but you may be giving him a second chance at life, and that will open a door that would otherwise remain closed forever.

Avowed is not an open world, but rather an open narrative in a well compartmentalised world. Progression is done by completing quests and exploring large areas, each with its own biome, flora, fauna, cities and even culture. The focus is on leaving no stone unturned and no cave unexplored, as you make your way through groups of enemies and monsters that live in the forests, grottos, deserts and mountains of Avowed. It's also a lawless area, so bandits and other undesirables can raid you at any time. And then there's the plague. So clearing every little bit of fog on the map is a good adventure that will keep you entertained for a while. To progress to the next map you'll need to progress through the story, and in doing so there may be quests or characters that are no longer available behind you, so make sure you've done everything you need to do before moving on.

Don't let this last part overwhelm you too much, because I don't think the best way to enjoy Avowed is to complete all of its content. At the beginning of my game I finished every single quest in the Auroria area, where the adventure starts, but as I went through the next two areas I realised that if I kept going down that completionist path, I was going to suffer from repetition boredom. It's not that the side quests aren't varied, but each area of the game has a series of "structural" quests (optional, mind you) that offer unique perks by rewarding exploration, such as the quest for divine totems or treasure maps. They unlock important perks in the skill tree and some of the best weapons and armour in the game, but the many twists and turns can be exhausting after a few hours.

Perhaps the downside here is that there isn't much variety in the enemies. We face the Kith (the humanoid races of the world of Eora), but also Xaurips (a tribe of lizard men), giant spiders, earth or tree elemental skeletons, wild bears... and not much else. There are different varieties of each enemy, but I often found myself missing something different to shoot at with my enchanted bow.

But what it lacks in enemy variety, Avowed makes up for in an overwhelming arsenal of weapons and magic spells. And the best part is that we can combine different styles depending on the skills we unlock from the game's three "classes". I opted for a combination of Warrior and Explorer (old Skyrim stealth and critical archer mania) and dropped the magic more as the game progressed, but in my first few hours I played as a mage all the time. The only thing I saw was that developing the Mage skills required more specific skill points than not making a versatile build with my character, that could both attack head on and hide and attack in the shadows from a distance.

In the end, the other big incentive to explore everything in Avowed is to find upgrade materials and equipment for your character. Often the best items will be hidden behind small environmental puzzles (nothing too complicated), but they require some attention not to overlook them. That, along with the texts and lore books, the side quests and mini puzzles are what round off the experience. I am, I have to admit, a little disappointed with the adventure companions. We have four to recruit and a maximum of two at a time, and their abilities are as distinct as they are useful, but their backstories were pretty flat. Except for Kai, I didn't really care for any of them, but with their support they can get you out of a tough fight, and there will be some.

In short, Avowed has been a more than pleasant surprise for me, and a game that has completely gripped me in the last few weeks. Its world and story are among the best of the recent RPG genre, and its 60fps combat system, with a variety of styles for tackling each fight, exploration and situation resolution make it one of the best experiences of the year so far. And I suspect it will live on in my memory for a long time to come. Its flaws don't carry nearly the same weight as its strengths, and I hope Xbox will value this kind of work more as the way forward (and continue to fund it) in single-player experiences. Bravo.