I have been waiting for Avowed for years and it was a big part of the reason I upgraded to the XBOX Series X from the One X. Avowed is set in the Pillars of Eternity Universe, and though I am not particularly a fan or detractor of the series, this time it is a first-person RPG with open zones. This helps Avowed feel a bit unique and a lot less paralyzing by choices than a standard open world, sort of relieving for a veteran and fan of the genre with less time available. The zones are sometimes hard to navigate, however, and I quit some quests that were unreachable from one side.
Main quests do a lot more for XP than grinding enemies or location discovery, making it the most efficient for leveling up, in a way sadly. Companion quests seem to be the best writing, which is sometimes missable, with the rest being pretty basic, other than a couple of the side quests and accidental Memory discoveries you yet again may not find if not exploring, also the absolute endgame of The Garden. If you read all the books and notes you find, you’ll wonder if a human wrote them or an algorithm holding a thesaurus but the voiced dialogue is better.
Bounties seem to drop Uniques by current level, meaning early-game bounties can drop Legendaries late game, if you get bored or want cash or completion after rushing forward. Side quests and exploring help you find Unique weapons, gear, upgrade materials, and potions. Health potions are your only way to heal in combat initially and are less common in shops and drops. You can hold out an index finger and eat 5 rotisserie chickens in combat, but it will only add to health regeneration which is so slow it is almost useless (though not quite). Such food items can instantly heal you outside of battle prior or after, just don’t question its physics. At least we dodge the cheese wheel meme?
Avowed has more adult themes and language than the majority of Action RPGs with the language often feeling unnatural and forced, sort of cringe and on occasion cheesy, kind of like when a child first learns to swear. I laughed a couple of times at their turns of phrase! However, this narrows the audience without truly adding much and could have been fixed with better writing, better voice acting, hiring a sailor consultant, or doing without, particularly since the game is already exclusive to XBOX and PC. The latter choice would have made Avowed a great genre entry for newcomers, broadening its target audience while giving a “Baby’s First RPG” option. This is not to say it is too easy, Avowed still can be challenging in places. It is just sort of simplified.
You are a Godlike, not exactly a race, just touched by one of the gods. In Pillars of Eternity, that meant better base stats but the inability to wear a helmet as nothing could fit properly? Also, you can’t reproduce, which they keep reminding you of in weird ways. You can turn off your mushroom face in-game, but it doesn’t really matter. There are snake-people that somehow grow hair, in an uncanny valley sort of way that disturbed me. There are dwarves and sort of lemur-people. Everyone is technically a mammal, but the game doesn’t have romance options, just euphemisms and at times: creepy flirting. All of the various characters you interact with have weird artifacting on their eyebrows that sparkle when they make expressions during dialogue, and the sync of the lips to words doesn’t match great, particularly considering this is a Western game developed in English, making it feel odd, almost dubbed. The character creator is massive, but I chose a default preset with orange chicken of the woods mushroom eyebrows, because customizing isn’t really my thing. You only get a measly 4 voiceover options no matter your design choices.
I had to turn loot shimmer back on to not miss quest items, but it was so overkill initially that I turned it off, as it is basically a highlighter outline of bright yellow on everything that matters. You can turn UI off to get rid of your icon clutter, but then you won’t know your health or if you are about to drown, other than flashing red peripheral vision, so get used to symbols and bars and compasses all over. A middle ground of item glint would have been my preference, with added companion health bars, but that does not exist. I played on Normal, which is the middle of 5 difficulties and default.
It usually takes an hour or more to gain a level, so you aren’t constantly looking at your skill trees. You can respec your points using gold, though it doesn’t make sense as it is just a cost within your menus. Who are you paying to do this? Side quests can be long but not always rewarding. Locations that seem easy to reach even in main quests are sometimes impossible to reach how you’d think, even with your first-person platforming parkour. Getting ice grenades or an ice weapon, fire or explosion or lightning items/abilities sometimes helps reach new areas besides the main quest, but the game does not exactly tell you this when needed. New players could get stuck without a walkthrough like when it took me an extra hour to realize I could freeze the water below a broken bridge, jump onto my iceberg, and jump vault up the bridge edge.
Early on I found a life-saving coral ring named Ondra’s Grace behind a waterfall that healed me extremely slowly when wet. It somehow couldn’t physically decide when I was wet if swimming or if under a waterfall or underwater or in a creek, but stand in a puddle and it automatically knows! I much later got a chest plate with the same ability that would stack, but it didn’t matter by then, as convenient puddles in combat somehow became sparse and I had tons of food, which weighed nothing! Grenades, gloves, boots, amulets, rings, potions, lockpicks, gems, upgrade materials… all weigh nothing. Weapons and chest plates add to your item burden, just because, but 19 spiced beetle sausages weigh zilch. You can send items to your camp remotely by pressing X or break them down for materials by holding X, or go to a merchant and sell them for money to buy more Adra Crystals for the real upgrade path, or click on the chest when in Adra Pillar camps.
Things got a lot easier once I got my frost axe unique weapon, Drawn in Winter. I stumbled across it getting lost and it was actually kind of epic what I had to do after drawing it from a stump a la King Arthur. After a few hours, a side quest that actually matters triggers prior to the initial forced zone progression where I got a unique fire sword, Last Light of the Day, which I then dual wielded just for the Fire & Ice of it. Also it heals on kill and swings fast. I beat the game with a fully upgraded Last Light of the Day and a shield I didn’t block or parry with that happened to boost max health and max stamina.
It is better to use sword and shield, sword and tome, or 2-hand Uniques, as far as upgrade material availability goes. All upgrade materials can be crafted into higher tier materials or broken down into lower tiers, and if you choose a favorite Unique Weapon or Armor to pour into, you can skip buying gear that have no bonus abilities. Only Uniques have those. Most of my exploring was to find plants, lockboxes, enemy drops, metals, and Adra crystals if I was lucky! Some limited amounts I purchased in shops. Also, I broke down many a weapon just for the metals. Lockpicks are just a required number on locked things, not a whole minigame, and most things aren’t locked. You can grab anything not nailed down in front of anyone, as there is no system preventing this, which feels unnatural.
The Voice that leads you tells you things that seem deep and philosophical but are actually just vague cliches. You will hear them when sleeping at camp, after main quest progressions, and sometimes during discovered memories in the middle of nowhere, with your choices somewhat mattering on these points. Otherwise, most choices seem to be an illusion and personal but unimportant, though they do affect the string of outcomes laid back to back during the ending. Some of the writing is pulled from literature, some with a wink and a nod, sort of cheesy and self-aware, voluminous, but usually a mile wide and an inch deep.
The Voice says things such as:
“All birth is agony.”
“Violets and the stars. We wish for both.”
“New growth from dead wood. Why?”
“All pain cuts with the same blade.”
“Trap the falcon, clip its wings.”
“The wild dog bites the hand that feeds.”
“Meaning. A sapling thriving in its native soil. Why?”
How will you solve its trolley problems with a hope of stopping The Dream-Scourge: free The Giving Tree or side with Lodwyn, The Steel Garrote, and Woedica?
I honestly kind of loved Avowed in a way probably considered all the wrong reasons. Similar to loving and re-watching a satirical comedy film, or replaying the RPGs you can count on one hand that don’t have the clutter of exploration, Avowed is like a popcorn flick that makes you cringe, laugh, eye roll, and mock its writing, but in a memorable sort of bad that you can quote with your friends. Avowed eventually found some footing with lore, but these were a few golden nuggets in an apple barrel full of mostly regular apples. I liked a lot of the high fantasy parts such as the named weapons and magic items and words, including silly swears that don’t exist in English. Don’t come looking for depth, just enjoy the combat, and the shiny new experience! Not everything has to be perfect, to have some fun.
Holyrustedmetal is an Alaskan Variety Streamer specializing in First Impressions and First Playthroughs spanning Retro, Indie, and AAA. You can find him on Twitch, Kick, YouTube, X, and Bluesky.
