The games central themes inform its gameplay and its story equally.
This is a classic theme, and its been twisted and contorted in every manner of media.
In comparison, media shows nature as an antagonist to mankinds objectives.
© Gizmodo / Kyle Barr
Even if the chaos isnt malevolent, it is unsympathetic.
Avowed agrees that nature can be terrible but also something to be respected instead of feared.
I cant remember all but a few characters fromThe Outer Worlds,but the companions inAvowedare rich with nuance.
© Screenshot: Microsoft / Gizmodo
That doesnt mean everything always comes together.
The combat is satisfying, though there are rough edges concerning gear scaling.
Not every quest will offer loads of choices or interesting dilemmas.
© Image: Microsoft / Gizmodo
Still, this may be Obsidians most polished release in years.
I suffered two crashes during my roughly 50 hours playing it on PC.
At least, it ran surprisingly well on my Nvidia RTX 3070-based laptop.
© Image: Microsoft / Gizmodo
This means more people will be able to play it on high configs.
And, if you dont feel like reading the rest of this review, you should absolutely playAvowed.
Avowedwas developed by Obsidian and published by Microsoft.
© Screenshot: Microsoft / Gizmodo
It will be available on Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Game Pass on Feb. 18.
The main ingredient that sets Eora apart from similar prefs is The Wheel.
Essentially, it represents the rebirth cycle, though without messy moralism or karma getting in the way.
© Screenshot: Microsoft / Gizmodo
With souls being so literal, that may also cause strange occurrences.
Souls may be split in the process of returning to Eora.
Souls and soul energycalled essensecan be harmed or taken to power machines in a pseudoscience called animancy.
© Screenshot: Microsoft / Gizmodo
you’re free to choose several backgrounds, whether as a Noble Scion or War Hero.
you’ve got the option to imagine how frightening a plague that impacts your very soul would be.
Like any good RPG, there are multiple crises happening at once.
© Image: Microsoft / Gizmodo
Then there are the people already residing in the Living Lands.
They are deserters, outcasts, and adventurers who dont take too kindly to an overruling entity muscling in.
Things are complicated, and players are meant to understand both sides of the conflict.
Sure, nobody likes a gentrifying force, butthen againtaxes help pay for roads.
Thankfully, the game doesnt throw too many terms at you all at once.
The Living Lands themselves are a complicated place.
There are multiple biomes, from lush forests to desert badlands.
There are some weird creatures ranging from roving lizard people to walking mushrooms.
Then again, the Living Lands breed bears like rabbits.
Attacks regularly snap to enemies who stagger with most hits.
Status effects can build up until they erupt in massive jets of color.
Characters are unbound by any classes or prescribed builds.
I found there was some cheese amid all those abilities.
One perk lets you turn invisible at the cost of the essenceessentially your mana.
This lets you deliver super-high damage sneak attacks regularly, with a mere 10-second cooldown.
That could be an issue, especially considering how much combat youll do in your adventure.
If you do enough side quests and explore, youll eventually have an entire hoard of special weapons.
The game expects you to upgrade the items under your care constantly.
Thats not extra apparent right from the start of the game.
Lower-tiered weapons wont hit nearly as hard or stun enemies on hits.
Your armor wont take the brunt of opponents attacks, either.
Higher-level encounters are certainly doable, but theyre far more tedious.
Enemies become bullet sponges, which incentivizes cheesing them with long-ranged attacks.
Avowedscombat is frenetic, though relatively simple.
Fun, yes, though it didnt help keep up the difficulty.
Its so open that it makes me wonder why the developers even bother keeping systems like encumbrance.
Who cares if Im carrying 20 common daggers?
I will end up breaking them all down for parts to upgrade the weapon I want to use.
Its a kitchen sink design molded into something wholly its own.
Often, the best way to play a well-written RPG is to max out your speech skills.
Thats how you acquire the most interesting, witty dialogue while offering the most choice for ending conflicts non-violently.
There is no speech skill inAvowed.
Theres no social skill whatsoever.
Instead, you get checks depending on your current number in several stats.
A high Perception could offer more insight into a characters demeanor.
A high-strength skill could be a means to intimidate or show your worth.
Depending on your background, you also have a few more special lines of dialogue to choose from.
You are the Envoy.
You are a person the emperor would choose for a very sensitive mission.
You cant play a dullard or a maniac.
Why would the Emperor of Aedyr send a lunatic to take care of a deadly plague?
At points, I was given a choice to expand my characters background.
One sidequest tasked me with discovering why a farmers worker zombies were wandering from his farm.
I found an artifact fallen from the sky, forming a crater that had long turned into a lake.
Pulling it out, an elder mage offered to throw it into the ocean, finding it dangerous.
With a skill check, my character also knew this mage traded in memories.
I offered one of my own in exchange for that artifact.
I didnt lose a memory I made in the game, but one from my characters past.
This is roleplaying in its most distilled form.
This is the throw in of characterization you would see from modern free-form tabletop RPGs.
I dont need a lengthy background sheet to explain my actions.
I explain my characters background by playing the game.
I wish those beats were more common.
I only wish I could expand on those elements and see more of them represented by NPCs.
These sections are like a choose-your-own adventure, where you spell out the history of entire civilizations and cultures.
They are narrated beautifully by the unknown deity in your head.
All these roleplaying bits are the jewels molded to the childs clay ball.
What defines the story is the main relationship you develop between your character and the voice in your head.
Its something you start hearing as soon as you step foot in the Living Lands.
Despite the political turmoil around you, it becomes scrub the Dreamscourge is somehow connected to this voice.
This being has a deeper connection to the island than anyone possibly expected.
No matter what, you will encounter and recruit the same four companions.
I also sensed that my companions were responding to my background, choices, and overall demeanor.
The main areas have enough side content to pad out a runtime without making the experience feel bloated.
Obsidian managed to thread the needle of interesting open-world design without sacrificing the players ability to express their character.
I can imagine some players may demand more mechanical responses to their choices, but I may preferAvowedsapproach.
Its a kind of freedom I want to explore again.
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