Imagine if Skyrim was good. Now imagine if Skyrim was set in the world of Eora, which Pillars of Eternity introduced us to with its rich, dark history, high fantasy politics, and focus on unique gods. While comparing titles can feel reductive because creative works are much more than their ilk, one can’t help but feel the echoes of other first-person action RPGs in Avowed. That said, Avowed is distinctly Obsidian in its storytelling, and this is most certainly the world of Eora. Hylea be praised.
But we don’t play as Hylea’s godlike, as much as I would like to. The Envoy—the protagonist we play as—isn’t sure whose godlike he is. No godlikes have ever looked like him. After creating our character, we get to choose our background (aristocratic, military, etc.) and learn that we have climbed the ranks to serve the Emperor of Aedyr, a powerful, imperialistic empire in the world of Eora. Having earned the good emperor’s trust, we have been sent off to the Living Lands overseas to put an end to the Dreamscourge, a mysterious illness that drives people mad and violent, seemingly indiscriminately. This is important to the emperor, of course, because Aedyr is gaining quite a foothold in this otherwise independent, wild territory.
After conquering Tutorial Island (my name for it, but come on), we learn the basics of combat, storytelling, questing, and all that fun stuff by doing, not telling. Hooray, quality design. Not only do we learn those core essentials, we also learn to be excited and to fall in love with Avowed. (That part’s my favorite.) Avowed truly begins in Paradis, a port town full of niceties, bandits, locals, and Aedyr soldiers. Whatever the situation, we are the Envoy to the Emperor of Aedyr, which is apparently a huge deal. Even people who hate Aedyr at least give us a chance. What a wonderful trick the writers have pulled here so that we can come and go as we please all over the place.
However, coming and going is restricted to zones. We can climb short ledges, run through rolling hills and swamps, and talk in first-person to all sorts of fascinating NPCs with needs that only the all-important Envoy of Aedyr can assist with, Dreamscourge responsibilities be damned. Still, the gates to the next location are always shut tight. After completing a series of steps in the main quest, we gain entry to the next location, and so on. Avowed has quite a few restrictive formulas that it adheres to.
I love this story. The plot, setting, characters, and decisions kept my attention throughout. When I wasn’t playing Avowed, I was thinking about playing Avowed, and that’s after putting in eighty hours over the course of two weeks. Quests can feel fetchy at times, but I never minded because the combat, exploration, and dialogue constantly engage my attention. Aside from well-written and fantastically acted dialogue—even for the most mundane of NPCs—exploration is storytelling. I hope you don’t have mycophobia, because there are bizarrely shaped and colorful mushrooms everywhere.
Also, folks grow mushrooms out of their faces in late-stage Dreamscourge affliction, so enjoy that. The environment tells a story, but so do corpses lying at the end of a cave, on a cliff, and near a backpack full of items that hint at their journey and outcome. Sometimes corpses have notes near them as if the final words to family or lovers. While tastefully placed items and bodies are nothing new in the world of RPG storytelling, Obsidian capitalizes on this device with talented wordsmithing.
I think most folks won’t notice that, but it’s probably the most important part of writing in RPGs. Anyone can drone on Robert Jordan-style (I love you, Robert Jordan), but a truly talented writer can paint tapestries in one, two, or three paragraphs. Obsidian does that. They respect my time. I’m going to want to read everything and maybe even resent the writers because I just read pages of garbage that almost put me to sleep, but that doesn’t happen here. Almost ever! Most books don’t have a scroll bar, and those that do are so engrossing that I’m almost sorry when they’re over. Perfect in length, I was always happy to find a note or book with lore. For those who’ve read a bunch of the books in Pillars of Eternity, don’t worry about the lore vomit here. I think part of that comes from the style of play, which is far less strategic, as this is an action RPG.
I worried about the combat because I lean toward strategy, and Pillars of Eternity nailed combat beautifully. Avowed is not only active but much simpler. Skill trees fall into the fighter, ranger, and wizard categories. No joke. We’re in an era of avoiding cliché classes, but Obsidian boldly snubs that trend and embraces simplicity. And it works! Mostly. Big picture: combat is always fun. The nuance, of course, is a little more complicated, because while I enjoyed every single combat encounter over my eighty-hour adventure, I recognize that more depth and complexity would have allowed a richer experience. Yet, with complexity comes challenges to balance. Obsidian may have also opted for a focus on storytelling rather than combat, which I can’t fault them for.
Players can hold a weapon and shield, a two-handed weapon, or a wand and tome, generally speaking. I went for the wand and tome, which isn’t typical for me in most RPGs (I love playing a beefy tank), but Obsidian typically creates such fantastic abilities that I choose the backline. Also, the tank companions always have fantastic personalities and voice actors that I want to keep with me all the way through (I miss you, Eder). Combat’s simple. Hold up the shield or weapon to block at the cost of stamina, and swing when you have an opening. Abilities use essence (magic points) rather than stamina, which gives stamina an opportunity to refill so you can hack away after using an ability. The levers and batteries create a combat experience that feels active despite its limitations. For wand users, the tome provides access to abilities not otherwise learned, so no blocking, but you’re in the backline, anyway, with a full arsenal at your disposal. Get ready to chug those essence potions!
The skill trees provide some variety, but, again, Obsidian opts for simplicity. Wizard, fighter, and ranger are the primary skill trees. Active and passive abilities have three upgrades each, typically diverting from a boring formula, uniquely enhancing each ability separate from its brethren. Since the highest requirement is level 20, don’t expect to be able to learn everything, especially if you dabble in a neighboring tree, which makes sense in a few cases. Fortunately, players can respec trees at any time for a nominal cost.
Players can also choose and upgrade three active abilities and one passive ability for each companion they encounter. Companions act independently, and the six hotkeys available can have party members’ abilities slotted in, vying for position amongst your own abilities. Once all six hotkeys are assigned, players have to pause the game by going into a radial menu to pick an ability to cast, which disrupts the flow of combat. I am not sure why Obsidian only offers six hotkey slots. Perhaps to force players to make “interesting decisions” surrounding what abilities to slot in, but it’s not actually interesting at all. Just annoying. This quibble is more a nuisance than anything else, but a bizarre design choice from my perspective.
Before the embargo cleared, Obsidian put out generous patch notes indicating a whole variety of issues have been addressed—many of which I encountered. So, I won’t write about those, but note here that Obsidian is aware of issues and is working to actively resolve them. Good ol’ Obsidian. That said, some irritations still occur that aren’t necessarily bug-related, but quirks that I frequently encountered.
Chronology can be an issue if players complete a quest outside of the intended order. For example, if I solve a quest before going to a checkpoint to gather information at a place closer to home, then eventually find that checkpoint, the dialogue doesn’t make sense and kinda confused me at first before realizing where I was. Similarly, as is hard to avoid with a large title like this, some dialogue choices weren’t fantastic. Most of the time, dialogue falls into a pattern of boldly inconsiderate, comically rude, inquisitive, and assertive. Not always, but much of the time.
Depending on the scenario and how I felt about the NPC, I would pick rude options, which often paid off handsomely with funny commentary from the NPC or my companions who chime in from time to time during conversations. Still, I encountered a handful of situations in which what I honestly wanted to say was somehow omitted. The three or so options were all off-putting to me, forcing me to choose the least of all the bad options, sometimes during crucial story points. These situations don’t normally happen, but occurred with enough frequency to warrant mentioning.
The controls, while generally fine, can frustrate during combat. I was pretty sure I had my target over the enemy, only to be told by my companion that there was no enemy there when I used one of their abilities. To make matters worse, most of the abilities I used as a wizard had a circle on the ground in a first-person game that made depth perception difficult to manage. I’d throw lightning storms and fire storms way off into the distance because I couldn’t pinpoint where I wanted them to land intuitively. Again, combat is a blast the vast majority of the time, but annoyances like these occur.
Exploration, too, has its idiosyncrasies. Although it’s an absolute blast and always exciting to discover a goody, the goodies are almost always disappointing. As if following an algorithm, expect backpacks and treasure chests to hold a neat, even amount of money, crafting materials, a common weapon, and maybe a gem. Constantly. Don’t expect surprises. A unique item shows up in rare instances, which is great if you’re a fighter or ranger class. If you’re leaning toward wands, don’t expect much excitement at all. Still, the fun is in the hunt, not the goody. From beginning to end, I excitedly searched for a hidden chest as if playing a game of hide-and-seek with the developers.
My computer that is well above the minimum specs and right around the recommended specs hummed loudly after playing for a while. I didn’t experience any crashes or slow-downs, but I heard my PC. While gorgeous and well-detailed with not one instance of pop-in (seriously), I’m surprised at how my computer was taxed from a purely auditory perspective. I guess that’s why we have fans.
I’ve already commented on the outstanding voice acting, but the music is no slouch, either. Pillars of Eternity has one of my favorite soundtracks of any game out there, and while Avowed is a bit different stylistically, notes of Eora resound. No matter where I was, the music matched the environment and accentuated my exploration and conversations. I won’t say that this is one of my favorite soundtracks out there, but I’m impressed by the atmosphere supported aurally, not just visually.
By no means a perfect game, Avowed is an easy recommendation for any RPG lover, especially those invested in Eora. Simplicity is the soup served by Obsidian, and, in doing so, Avowed shines pristinely and with outstanding design. A bit more spice wouldn’t hurt, but over-seasoning risks ruining any stew. That said, the plot and physical world are anything but simple, and that’s where Obsidian has invested its talent. After all, why else are you playing an Obsidian title?
