Avowed: The Final Preview

Even after a positive preview for Avowed this Summer, I found myself wondering if it was a fluke. Maybe it was just a fun mission. Maybe Obsidian won’t be able to keep my interest as more quests are discovered. Maybe it was just a nice day.

Nope. Avowed is just a lot of fun.

Coming fresh off of trying out Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I was so happy when I discovered just how evil I could be to people I met along the way right from the start of Avowed – something Veilguard just didn’t fulfill. From the start I had one NPC dropping f-bombs because I was going to leave her in prison. A short while later a duo would try to intimidate me on a bridge – only to meet a swift demise. I wasn’t in the mood for their nonsense. I just wanted to be evil. And while I could have handled it the nice way, sometimes being evil is just more fun.

It’s not just the fact that you have more nuance with every conversation. It’s empowering to craft the kind of hero or villain you want to be. Sure, Obsidian has a story to tell, but I feel more in control when deciding how these scenarios play out. The character customization options will allow you to craft the face of the character you’ll build, and while you don’t see it all that often, you can make someone perfectly lovely, or someone that looks like they came straight out of that creepy claymation episode of Adventures of Mark Twain.

Even the vendors have unique banter. I had the chance to meet Valtur, the ex-husband of another nearby vendor Dagherda and the two would talk badly about each other after their failed marriage. Another vendor had a past relationship with my companion Kai and warned him not to cross her again. These little beats do a lot to make the world feel like it has a history that you’ll uncover more of that as you adventure. I love these dangling threads that are teased. Hopefully, I’ll get to tug on some of them and see how deep each story goes.

On the combat front, I also immediately noticed improvements, especially in the sound department. Obsidian clearly spent a lot of time working on the audio and combat flow, and it’s immediately noticeable. The sound spikes are so satisfying to hear when you’ve stunned an opponent and can execute a flurry of blows or bullets. Or when using stealth, and you’re able to execute your prey with an ethereal blade.

And one addition we got to see for the first time was the ability to use third-person or first-person combat. Both feel great, and while I personally opted for the first-person perspective most of the time, third-person is looking and feeling good too. The only slight gripe I have is that the movement can have a bit of that floaty Obsidian style to it in third person, but that doesn’t affect combat all that much.

And while I’m discussing minor complaints (knowing full well that Obsidian still has a few months of polish time left), I did feel that your companion Kai was a bit too hand-holdy with his tips at times. There were a few moments when I was simply scavenging for loot and found him whispering tips about a puzzle in my ear. I know Obsidian is trying to help out players, but it takes away from that feeling of accomplishment you get when solving the mystery for yourself.

But to get back to the positives, loot was also a highlight, even early on. Upgrading from a bow and arrow to an Arquebus felt awesome. The tradeoff with the rifle is that it has a long reload time, but once you’ve upgraded your abilities with it you’ll unlock faster reloads and more damage – and the ragdoll physics add to the fun factor as well.

Yet again, though, my time with Avowed felt all too short. I left wishing that Obisidian had let us have more time to play, but that’s a good sign! And so far, everything seems to be coming together in what I can best describe as a really fun RPG. But more importantly, it feels like an RPG where I’m in control of my own destiny, and while the decisions I’m making will have consequences, I love knowing that I get to be the one directing the orchestra, so to speak.

In both of my hands-on sessions with Avowed, I’ve only been able to see the Dawnshore section of the map and not much more. I do hope there’s plenty of content here, but I’d really like to see more, given how close the February release date is now. When I asked Obsidian about this, they promised several biomes would be explorable, and that will no doubt add a lot to the visual diversity of the world. I just wish we could get a peek at it beyond the footage from the very first gameplay reveal from many months ago.

No spoilers on the story here, but the one narrative hook that is set up early on is a mission which takes you to The Voice. This voice leads you through the map and is clearly an entity you’ll hear from again during your adventures. When given the chance to help it or refuse to make a deal, I decided against siding with a blue light as I’ve learned nothing good ever comes from a deal with an all-powerful entity. But I will be curious to see how that plays out in the end. The Voice did not seem happy.

And that’s really the best you can hope for from previews of an RPG like this. You get just enough to leave you wanting more. And Avowed certainly accomplished just that. I want to power up my companion Kai to see what other attacks he can do. I want to discover the coveted weapons the design team told us about during the pre-hands-on presentation. I want to kill more people and betray my friends. And Avowed is empowering me to do exactly that.