A decade ago, developer Obsidian (legally Obsidian Entertainment) released the world of Eora in its game Pillars of Eternity. Thanks to its success, the sequel was released three years later in 2018. The CRPG franchise was well-received by gamers, and after a few years, fans kick-started its social media campaign to get the developers to commence work on expanding the universe into a trilogy. Instead, Obsidian announced a new title in 2020 – Avowed.
While lead game designer Josh Sawyer confirmed that there were no plans for a third PoE game, fans were quite surprised and relatively upbeat at the announcement, with Avowed set in the same PoE universe in the world of Eora. Having taken five years from announcement to release, Avowed is finally ready to go public.
The Story: A Deadly Plague, Political Intrigue & a Godlike Warrior
![Avowed Game 2025 Review](https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Avowed-Game-2025-Review.jpg)
Taking the lead as the envoy of the Aedyr Empire, you’re tasked by the Emperor to travel to the Living Lands to investigate a recent blight on the land. This mysterious plague, called the “Dream Scourge”, has been wreaking havoc on all who live there, from the failed crops to the infected animals. Having already spread to some land inhabitants, especially those who live remotely, there are fears that it would continue to take over more of the land and destroy everything in its path.
However, as the threat grows, many still don’t believe that there’s a viable threat, and you often have to attempt to convince them of the issue, having seen the effects of the plague firsthand. Even among those who believe and fear its spread, there are political tensions and debates about how to approach the matter. While you may have a royal mandate, Living Lands is split in its subservience to the Aedyr Empire.
The main storyline has many quests as you move within the various regions within the Living Lands, each of which has been affected differently by the Dream Scourge. As a result, the tasks differ somewhat between these chapters, starting with exploration and understanding, battling those affected by the plague, and finally attempting to find a path to rid the land of it.
But things aren’t as straightforward. Although you are an envoy of the empire, you’re also what is referred to as a godlike – a being of higher abilities than most. While blessed with the powers at birth, you must still learn and cultivate them while acquiring new abilities to help you on your mission. The godlike, once plentiful in Eora, have started to die out, which some have linked to the rise and spread of the Dream Scourge.
There are many similarities in Avowed to of Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s fantasy The Dark Crystal, from the plague on the land to the infected inhabitants and the increased violence. It also features a mixed group of individuals from different backgrounds and regions to find a way to overcome. This is also similar to the story in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It’s not a like-for-like copy, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Dark Crystal. Having seen the film and the series at least three times each, I feel that the story of Avowed is right up my alley.
Explore the Living Lands: A Fantasy World Filled with Hidden Dangers
![Avowed Game 2025 Review](https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Avowed-2025_02_12-20-34-01.jpg)
As mentioned, Avowed takes place in the world of Eora, especially in this adventure’s region of Living Lands. This is a diverse land with many environments and terrains, with plenty to explore along your journey.
Each region within the Living Lands lends well to how the story progresses. Starting with the forests, you must mainly explore and uncover new information about the Dream Scourge. You move onto a desert region with mountainous terrain you’ll have to traverse as you deal with those affected by the plague.
An interesting aspect of many of these regions is that they’re alive. Although any land is alive when there’s a plantation across its surroundings, it goes further than this. Some creatures live within the grounds that often pop up out of nowhere in battle. This includes both living creatures, like animated mushrooms, to the dead, like evil spirits, to the undead, who reanimate, sometimes due to the plague, to resurrect much the same way that zombies do.
The land is packed with hidden caves, hanging vines and an abundance of structures that you’ll need to explore to find the necessary resources to progress.
Gameplay Breakdown: Magic, Melee & Meaningful Choices
![Avowed Gameplay](https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Avowed-Gameplay.jpg)
Things were rough when I started the game with the Xbox Insider Hub and released the copy of Avowed for review. Occasionally, a few crashes would simply eject you from the game. However, this wasn’t too much of a train smash for me, as the load times were reasonably quick to get back into the game, almost right where you left off. However, it was the gameplay that worried me most.
Having been shipwrecked at the start of your journey, you’re given a few small tasks to familiarise yourself with the gameplay and dynamics of collecting, battling and the like. However, the responses were slow when performing specific tasks or manoeuvres. Further to this, even the walking seemed a bit strange. Looking down directly at your feet, they looked pretty jangly, as if you’re a puppet on a string and your legs are pretending to work.
Thankfully, a few updates later, we were all set, and most of these issues were smoothed out. When reaching further into the game where you’d need to battle, the gameplay was much better, with improved response times and much smoother player movements.
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Combat & Strategy: How Avowed Keeps You on Your Toes
![avowed gameplay game review](https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/avowed-gameplay-game-review.jpg)
The Avowed gameplay is very complex, especially given the various types of weapons and abilities the player can switch between. Weapons feature a mix of standard types, like swords and axes, but become more advanced when adding shields and even a book of spells to assist. Some of these weapons require both hands to operate, while others can be mixed with various options, which can be switched depending on your battle. For example, when attacking more powerful enemies, you can switch to more potent melee weapons or use your wand and magic when battling the more mythical creatures. You can even choose to use a musket or bow and arrow when attacking a group of enemies from higher ground without directly having to face them.
In addition to battling enemies, the player can talk their way out of a battle with some higher-ranked individuals. For some discussions, you can use your ability of Might to persuade them to forego a lengthy battle or other abilities such as Intellect or ABC. As you level up, these can be upgraded over time so you can persuade your opponent. However, if your rank is not high enough, you’re left to the whims of your opponent in the discussion and anything that arises from it.
In one particular instance, I could not persuade the forest’s protector and was then forced to battle their minions to get the object needed to progress in the main story. At this point, I had not gained enough of my level and weapon upgrades to successfully attack the swarms of creatures that were popping up, wave after wave. This is when I decided to reset my ability structure, with a fee, to upgrade the correct ability to persuade them otherwise. It may seem like a way to purchase your way out of a situation. Still, given the high cost, this can’t be used often, especially when needing the money to purchase resources to upgrade your weapons and get ingredients for potions to restore health and mana during a long battle.
Speaking of these upgrades, the player constantly searches for materials and resources worldwide. It became a bit of a frustration, needing just one more specific resource to upgrade a weapon. However, I later found out that weapons can be broken down into the resources used to create them, providing you with more resources without needing to find them. Thankfully, having picked up a few advanced weapons after higher battles provided some much-needed resources to upgrade my preferred weapon. As such, while the weapons add to your overall carry weight, it’s still important to attempt to pick up as many as you can to help you progress later in the game.
Graphics & Sound: A Visual and Audio Feast or a Letdown?
![Avowed Graphics Game Review](https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Avowed-Graphics-Game-Review.jpg)
Regarding the graphics, Avowed doesn’t focus heavily on hyper-realistic visuals. Instead, the focus is mainly on a story-driven game with plenty of world-building and side quests to enrich the experience.
That said, the visuals aren’t bad either. They’re still good enough to enjoy the surroundings, sunsets and even nighttime lighting. The best of these are the lakes scattered throughout the environment, most of which can be jumped into, allowing the player to swim to the bottom and find rare resources.
The sound has a lot more depth to it. Its sound actors did great with their respective performances, and the dialogue feels much more natural than in most games.
However, the dialogue does continue for way too long in some instances. While you can easily click to skip through some of these, it’s often painful having to sit through each of them, especially with some of it essential to the backstory and what’s required next. Thankfully, while there are many side quests to be found when conversing with specific individuals, the dialogue here is much shorter, often a quick back and forth between the NPC and player before getting to the crux of the request.
Other audio from the environment is also good, especially when switching to headphones and hearing the surroundings and screams in the distance. This all adds nicely to the game’s immersion without being over the top, especially in the dense surroundings of the forest.
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Does Avowed Live Up to the Hype?
With a deep story-driven approach supported by complex and fun gameplay and weapon crafting, Avowed does a great job engaging the player. Despite the early struggles with the gameplay and a few crashes, these have largely been ironed out to make for an enjoyable experience. There’s enough available in-game to keep players engaged for hours upon end. The primary campaign is set for a 100+-hour exploration, with a further 500+ hours of side quests and challenges to attempt to complete the game entirely.
Despite it being part of the Pillars of Eternity universe, first-time players don’t need to have a history of the previous games to be able to enjoy Avowed, which can be viewed as a standalone title.
The game is available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on both PC and Xbox, which is excellent. Unfortunately for PlayStation users, there’s no confirmation yet whether the game will be available on other platforms, with it being an Xbox exclusive on Day 1.
The Review
Avowed
Avowed is a great example of world-building in a game, with an excellent story and rich lore. There's plenty to enjoy even outside the main storyline, with over 500 hours' worth of game.
PROS
- Very complex gameplay
- The expansive environment with over 500 hours of potential game time
- Story-driven
- Pillars of Eternity universe
CONS
- Complexity may not be for everyone
- Can be bogged down with crafting in the early game
- Some early bugs