Avowed Gameplay Preview: Xaurip and Tear

Out of all the games that were set to release in late 2024, Avowed seemed like the one least likely to get delayed. We'd seen a lot of it earlier this year, and it looked good. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl had a lot of hurdles still facing it, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle remained a ghost for most of the year. Yet, Avowed is the game getting the shove into early next year, but we have been assured that this isn't anything to do with the game's production not meeting schedule.

If anything, the preview build we've been digging through feels like proof of that. Instead of the short segment somewhere towards the middle of the game we got to see at Gamescom, we've been allowed to dive right in from the start, building our own character and setting off to the Living Lands to find out what exactly is going on with this soul plague.

Avowed's character creator is well-detailed, and it plays into your character's origins succinctly. You are a godlike in this game, a being that - for whatever reason - has been blessed by a god in the womb. Through this, not only do you gain the plot armour and powers of a protagonist, but you also get some weird markings on your face and head. You can make these invisible if you please, but NPCs will still remark about them, so I thought it best to keep mine on show, going for a druidic look, complete with branches growing out of my head and a bright pink beard. You're allowed to mess around and make your character as serious or as silly as you please, and while the intricate detail of Dragon Age: The Veilguard might not be present, it's more than you need to make your Envoy feel like your own.

As the Emperor's Envoy, you've been tasked with going to the Living Lands, and sorting out a soul plague, which is actually quite similar to the cordyceps virus from The Last of Us, in that mushrooms seem to be the root cause of all evils. After escaping a shipwreck in the prologue, and gathering the necessary bits of equipment to either play as a warrior, ranger, or mage, you're free to explore Avowed. The Living Lands are not an overwhelmingly sizeable space, and while that might disappoint some RPG fans, it's immediately clear that Obsidian has put more detail in this smaller, manageable world, making it feel more alive with each step, rather than stretching out to a bland, wider world. As someone who increasingly grows frustrated knowing he might have to spend hours of time just getting from one location to the next, this type of map design becomes much more preferable.

The Living Lands is a small but mighty map, with gorgeous visuals. Avowed feels well optimised, too, allowing my aging PC to still reach high settings with few frame drops. Character models especially are well-detailed, and while you don't get to look at your godlike as you roam the Living Lands, there are plenty of dialogue cuts to their face, which in my case acted like constant jump scares. Some of the NPC faces remain odd and uncanny, but the more I've become used to the style Obsidian is utilising in Avowed, the more I've appreciated the wide, strange eyes of the cat-like folk, or Kai's fang-filled mouth. There is a part of me that wished we could have made our character one of these other races, but there is plenty of customisation beyond just what your character looks like. In your background and abilities, you'll find plenty of dialogue options opening themselves up to you, with each conversation having a great level of detail, and your responses not just feeling like they're leading towards the same end.

All of that is sort of to be expected with Obsidian, though, but once again I find that the combat in Avowed is what stands out the most. Whether you're playing with heavy melee, a bow and arrow, or spells aplenty, the Vermintide-inspired combat works wonders in Avowed. It's quick, satisfying, and feels perfectly tuned. Loving flashy effects, I went for a Mage build primarily, and was very impressed with how spells and elemental damage works. Flicking bolts of light at enemies with a wand before setting them on fire with a spell from a tome feels great, and you can even make the most of your environment with the spells, like leading a group of Xaurips into a large puddle before turning it into a death trap with lighting. Avowed's combat rewards creativity, but even if you just want to pick up a heavy weapon and smash, you won't necessarily just be mashing your attack button to win the day.

While Avowed shows itself to be even stronger than it did a few months ago, there are still a couple of persisting concerns, one of which the game itself can't be blamed for. The first concern revolves around the game's main story. There is an interesting setup of this soul plague, and yet I do hope that the overarching narrative isn't lost due to the scope of the world and focus on combat. After playing Pentiment, and feeling like Obsidian was firmly back in the driver's seat for masterful storytelling, Avowed so far feels slightly off when it comes to creating that compelling story you just can't put down. Of course, I've barely really started my journey, and can't speak too much on this, and I'm sure this will change over time, it's merely a concern from the gameplay preview, as otherwise the gameplay loop itself is more satisfying than even the trailers give it credit.

The second concern resides around Avowed's release itself. It has been pushed back, as I mentioned at the start of this preview, into the maw of the beast that is February 2025. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Assassin's Creed Shadows threaten to swallow up this RPG with a smaller scale, and so I hope that Avowed continues the strong start I've seen so far, so it stands a chance in such a packed month.