Avowed Review – Gamers Heroes

RPG fans are feasting.

Following the launch of the incredible Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed is almost the complete opposite of Warhorse Studio’s Bohemian epic.

And that’s exactly what many players are looking for.

Avowed Review

Avowed promises a refined, orchestrated role-playing experience, with every area crafted to perfectly suit its set pieces and enemy placements. Featuring a compacted RPG experience (settling around the 25-35 hour mark for story completion), Avowed is the perfect remedy for players exhausted with the seemingly never-ending open-worlds of games like Assassin’s Creed and Kingdom Come Deliverance.

It’s not my type of RPG, but it’s impossible not to appreciate the level of quality and detail present throughout Avowed.

Avowed tasks players with taking on the role of an envoy to the Aedry Empire that has been sent to the Living Lands to investigate the Dream Scourge, a mysterious plague wreaking havoc on an already divided land.

Often seen as oppressors by the native people, the Aedry Empire looks to tame the Living Lands, bringing law and order to its people – whether they want it or not.

Avowed features an incredible story, one heavily influenced by player choice. In particular, Avowed’s story is delivered in such a way that I was never really sure what the “right” or “wrong” decision was. As a lawful good goody two shoes, I frequently walk the path of the ever-righteous paladin – but Avowed doesn’t make things that simple.

Avowed’s main choices – huge decisions that impact the very lives of the people of the Living Lands – are almost segmented, cornered off to specific regions. While the overarching theme remains the same, choosing to aid the Aedry Empire in its goals to conquer save the people of the Living Lands, or working with the natives to solve their many issues. These choices branch out to offer a world of delightful intrigue and discovery.

This presents a unique narrative opportunity for players. Although they may feel one way toward the overall story, these individual events and the circumstances of the local people often require a bit more thought than a simple good or bad choice.

Would you choose the immediate suffering of hundreds to secure a future for thousands? Even that is not black and white.

Many prominent characters from Aedry would prefer aiding the people of the Living Lands, while others want to rule with an iron fist.

The uncertainty of each choice in Avowed, and the unclear impact it has, is a thrilling ride. So much care and attention is given to the final scene, the culmination of the players’ choices throughout the entire game, seldom do games have such a satisfying conclusion.

Avowed’s story would probably be its greatest asset – if it wasn’t for its combat.

Avowed’s combat isn’t just good; it’s one of the best the first-person RPG genre has ever seen. It’s familiar, utilizing dodge and parry mechanics alongside elementally driven combo attacks, but it hits a quality level very few can match.

Every part of Avowed’s combat feels refined and polished to near perfection. An arsenal of weapon types gives players the option of 13 unique weapons, six which are one-handed and can be dual-wielded in various combinations.

Each weapon boasts its own attack speed, damage rating, and defensive abilities, promising near endless choice throughout the campaign.

Despite this impressive selection, I spent much of Avowed with a 2H flame sword and a book of fire spells. Throwing out fireballs, calling down fiery rain from above, charging in with a 2H swing, even though I opted for a routine-like approach to my combat ability rotation, every fight was engaging, and so much fun.

It’s not without its drawbacks, however.

The limited active weapon slots, allowing players to equip two slots of weapon types, are hindering and frustrating through much of the early hours. By choice, I would equip a large two-handed weapon in one slot, and either a gun or a bow in the second slot.

Eventually, I was funneled into swapping out my ranged weapon for a grimoire, despite having no interest in playing a mage character. This was due to the constant need to interact with the environment, a feature that would otherwise be a lot of fun.

Charging up damaged power stations to open doors, freezing water to access new locations, burning away thorny bushes, all required a constant switching between my desired weapons and the weapon the game was forcing me to choose.

This is somewhat alleviated as your list of companions grows, utilizing their abilities to clear obstructions and open new pathways, but this becomes equally limiting. I often felt forced to pick characters whose abilities answered some of the more common elemental obstructions, instead of those whose company or combat abilities I enjoyed more.

Although, eventually, being forced down the route of always wielding a grimoire in Avowed did encourage me to change my build.

And oh boy, was it worth it! So much fire.

When you’re not saving or condemning the world of Avowed, it’s time to help locals.

On that note, Avowed’s questing system plays it very safe. You arrive in a new area, visit the central hub, grab all the side quests, and venture out to chase objective markers on the map, with very little thought or effort required from the player.

The simplicity of this system is sometimes overshadowed by bizarrely placed quests and enemies that create an often jarring experience. All too often, quests at my level would be the other end of the map, forcing me to either bypass or slog through higher-level difficulty quests en route.

This became less of an issue later in Avowed as my build and gear began to shine, making the higher tier quests as easy as the lower tier ones. Nevertheless, it still felt a bit off in the early hours.

That’s mostly because I just never seemed to have enough items to upgrade my gear. I completed every bounty board I could find, grabbed every quest in passing, looted more chests and enemies than I could count, but it never seemed enough.

All too frequently I would be forced to invest my entire stockpile of upgrade supplies into one or two weapons, removing much of the opportunity to switch up and explore other weapon types.

That’s until you randomly find a weapon on the floor that’s as powerful as the one you just spent 15 hours upgrading. It’s an odd system, one that I’m sure will be uniquely experienced by each player depending on choice of weapons and luck of what they find, but it’s yet another issue that seems to vanish as the hours pass.

If there is a single area of Avowed that blew me away, it was the jumping and movement. It’s more akin to parkour than traditional clunky first-person movement.

The accuracy and momentum of jumping is tuned perfectly, giving the game confidence to deliver some truly unique set pieces. Whether you’re sneaking through dangerous traps, jumping between small ledges, or leaping across great chasms, Avowed’s movement feels grounded and realistic every step of the way.

It passes that confidence of design directly to the player, adding a level of verticality to both the exploration and combat of Avowed rarely seen in first-person games.

Avowed takes a few hours to find its feet, but once it does, this RPG provides an unforgettable journey that never outstays its welcome. Avowed features a jaw-dropping world to explore, complete with a solid cast of intriguing characters and choices that will remain with you long after the credits roll.

While The Campsite’s point-and-click action is short to a fault, this trio of adventurers packs plenty of heart.

Continue Reading The Campsite Review

Rift of the NecroDancer packs a steep learning curve, but those that come to know their way around slimes and skeletons are in for a real treat.

Continue Reading Rift of the NecroDancer Review

Diehard otaku might enjoy the kawaii antics of NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD: Typing of The Net, but everybody else should press F to pay respects to this clumsy multi-genre title.

Continue Reading NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD: Typing of The Net Review

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has quickly become one of my favorite open-world RPGs of all time. Warhorse sits atop RPG Mount Rushmore with the best this industry has to offer.

Continue Reading Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Review

While Batography is over quicker than a mooncake break, this full moon adventure is full of heart.

Continue Reading Batography Review

Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. provides the definitive Virtua Fighter experience, packing serious depth just waiting to be mastered.

Continue Reading Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. Review