Avowed review: Is it Obsidian's best role-playing game yet?

When a new game bears the subtitle of a 'new Obsidian role-playing game', that means expectation from some may already be higher than normal as the studio has a history of developing top quality RPGs.

Think Pillars of Eternity, The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas to name a few.

That's a lot of pressure on Obsidian and its developers to nail what players have come to expect from them time and time again.

But the studio seems to have got that magic formula when it comes to RPGs and Avowed truly sits at the peak of some of its very vest work to date thanks to its compelling story, addictive gameplay and gloriously beautiful world.

Avowed story

Players create a character and take on the role of an envoy of the Aedyran empire, sent to investigate a mysterious plague called the Dreamscourge in the Living Lands of Eora, which is the same world setting as Pillars of Eternity.

The main protagonist is born into a family in the empire and is a godlike being.

The islands are full of ancient magic, strange flora and dangerous fungi that can turn people inhuman that can then attack and after being exposed to it for so long, don't understand what being human is anymore.

Players arrive on an island shipwrecked where they're shown the basics (an opening tutorial level) before the meat of the story takes shape.

There are a number of different dialogue options that players choose throughout the campaign, pretty much during every interaction, and while there are a few basic options, the more the character is levelled up in certain areas, the more dialogue options become available in-keeping with what's levelled.

These advanced dialogue options offer much more relatability, common sense, sympathy and smartness than the basic ones, encouraging skills to be thought of not just in terms of character attributes, but how dialogue can be handled and how others perceive you.

Through these choices, players can be as good or as evil as they want, the sky's the limit with what players choose to do here.

These choices have a significant bearing on how some main quests and lots of side ones play out so every decision is crucial; choices are not made for the sake of it, actions do have real consequences as the story unfolds.

Avowed's landscapes are simply stunning Screenshot from Obsidian & Xbox

Avowed presentation

indy100 reviewed Avowed on Xbox Series S and the world and its scenery are absolutely breathtaking - developers have previously warned about 'jank' (in other words, bugs and glitches) in the game but nothing was experienced during this playthrough.

Travelling through the Living Lands, there are so many varied areas, each with their own unique style and characters too.

The colours are so vibrant, each location is truly unique and the settings are a joy to play through - some textures aren't quite as strong as they could be though, such as water, and character models are not as detailed as some other games on the market but they're not bad at all by any means.

In terms of game mode options, Xbox Series X has three: a quality mode at 2160p with 30fps, a balanced mode at 2160p with 40fps on 120hz TVs and a performance mode at 1080p at 60fps.

Xbox Series S has two game modes: quality mode, which is 1080p at 30fps and balance mode at 1080p with 40fps on 120hz TVs.

The sound is absolutely stellar too - the score swells in key moments and lulls in quieter scenes and the natural sounds of the world are outstanding too.

While the voice acting could be a touch more convincing, on the whole, this game really is a feast for the eyes and ears.

Avowed's gameplay and combat is seriously addictive / Screenshot from Obsidian & Xbox

Avowed gameplay

You start out by making your custom character with loads of different options and selecting a backstory, of which there are five to choose from and offer unique dialogue options and affect which weapon you start with.

There are five difficulty options and the option to play the game in first-person mode or third-person mode, which can be switched at any time and is useful between combat and exploration.

Third-person does feel quite floaty when navigating through the world though.

As always with RPGs, there's the main quest then loads of side content and the side quests on offer are rich in variety, ranging from hunts to longer subplot quests and generally helping out people you come across.

While it's easy to see where you need to go for each quest, and changing focus of a tracked quest is straightforward, it would have been nice to be able to track more than one quest at a time instead of having to go into a menu to shift focus and making sure nothing was missed regularly.

Exploration is really fun across a number of different varied locations. It never felt like a chore going from place to place due to how dense the settings are too.

There are a number of different weapon options, such as swords, wands, shields and even guns, but choosing which ones to prioritise is key because only two loadouts can be equipped at any one time.

These loadouts can be mixed up too, making for all kinds of fun combinations, across each individual loadout and both of them working in conjunction with one another, such as the ability to freeze enemies with one loadout before switching and finishing them off with a melee assault.

It's really fun playing around with these, especially being able to dual-wield.

Enemies do not level with you so to beat them, it's important to upgrade by gathering materials or crafting, managing weapons and armour, upgrading gear, enchant unique weapons and by generally levelling up your character.

There are four companions that accompany you on your journey to choose between - Giatta is support-focused, Kai focuses on tanking and staying alive, Marius is a skilled hunter and tracker and Yatzli specialises in damage magic.

Two of these fight with you at any time as the story goes on so you can choose accordingly depending on how you like to play.

There's a real tangible difference to what each support character offers too, making who's chosen key and not just for the sake of it.

There are three main Skill Trees which are Fighter, Ranger and Wizard which can be upgraded accordingly depending on how you want to play.

A fourth Godlike one unlocks as the story goes on and more abilities are found.

The game has open world sections but it's not completely open as the developers said they want to know exactly what players will have experienced before advancing the main story and this is to the game's strength overall; Avowed strikes a great balance between the story focus and exploring its beautiful world.

Valuable resources can be collected in the world through exploration, such as better equipment and key items with food among them, and this can be eaten instantaneously in most cases to give a small boost or can be cooked with other ingredients at camps for better boosts in the long run.

Upgrading equipment, outfits and inventory management can be done at camps, which are dotted around the world.

What a game Avowed is... / Screenshot from Obsidian & Xbox

Verdict

If indy100 was to sum up Avowed in a sentence, it's quite simply a brilliant and addictive fantasy RPG.

indy100 struggled to peel away from playing the game as the hours flew by, always desperate to fit in just one more quest before taking a break, and that's always the sign of an amazing and captivating title.

Fans of the genre will not be disappointed by this and it's one of the strongest fantasy RPGs in recent years. indy100 clicked with it from the opening moments and didn't look back.

9/10

Elsewhere in the world of gaming, check out indy100's preview of PGA Tour 2K25 and our review of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

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