Microsoft Xbox Avowed Standard Edition Download Code
Avowed review: finally, the cool, old-school action RPG is back
Developer Obsidian’s new fantasy role-playing game feels like a relic from Bethesda’s past. Instead of being more daring with something new, Avowed optimises the tried and tested action RPG formula. Thank goodness for that.
Avowed is like déjà vu that you can play. The game reminds me of numerous adventures I’ve had in classic action role-playing game series, such as The Elder Scrolls,
partly for visual reasons. The similar fantasy setting, rigid facial animations and ability to switch between first-person perspective and third-person camera evoke nostalgia. You can also draw parallels to classics such as Skyrim in terms of gameplay, including the combat system and decision-based mission design.
Avowed doesn’t do anything remarkably new, but builds on developer Obsidian’s proven action RPG foundation, drawing on Bethesda. And that’s totally okay. Sometimes a game doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, just make it a bit more rounded, aesthetic and compact.
Mushroom zombies and sparse storytelling
A serious disease is raging in the wondrous beautiful fantasy world of Avowed, which destroys both the land and its inhabitants. Anyone infected with the so-called Dreamscourge turns into a mindless mushroom zombie – anyone else getting The Last of Us vibes?
I take on the role of a «Godlike». These are people who were «touched» by a god before birth. This prenatal divine contact causes plant-like growths on the face and powerful magical abilities.
The Aedyran Empire – the largest in the world of Avowed – sends my Godlike to the island that the Dreamscourge disease comes from. My goal is to find the source of the plague and keep it under wraps.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
Overall, the storytelling leaves a lot to be desired. The story is slow to get going and never offers enough urgency to create suspense. Emotions hardly come up in conversations with NPCs because of the stiff facial animations. «Real» cutscenes are sparse and staged without spectacle – some are only available in the form of static artwork.
Another problem is that a lot of important information about the game world isn’t conveyed organically with the story. Instead, you only find out about it in books lying around, in notes or via the in-game lexicon, which is exhausting.
Avowed is set in the world of Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity game series. If you’re not familiar with the lore, some conversations will seem as if the characters are speaking a foreign language. Given the game is primarily marketed as a stand-alone experience, I’d have liked to see a more mature approach to worldbuilding and storytelling. That way I don’t always have the feeling of missing something or not having understood something.
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Miniature worlds instead of a huge open one
Despite choppy storytelling and lore that didn’t get enough explanation, the game world of Avowed still captivated me. This is mainly due to the excellent level design, which won me over both in terms of aesthetics and from a game point of view.
In contrast to comparable action RPGs such as Skyrim, this title doesn’t offer a large, coherent open world. Instead, during my 24-hour adventure, Avowed sends me to five smaller game areas that I can explore freely. I do this either from a first-person perspective or with a third-person camera. If you really want to see everything in these five zones, factor in another 20 hours.
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It’s refreshing to get that experience again of a game that doesn’t blindly follow the rationale that bigger is better. There’s practically no idle time in the mini-worlds, and everything is just a stone’s throw away from each other. As I run from one mission to the next, I’m caught off guard by enemies, exciting ruins and hidden treasure chests every few metres. The exaggerated compactness makes the game world somewhat implausible, but all the more fun to explore.
Travelling through compact areas is also a lot of fun thanks to the amazingly dynamic controls. My character sprints and jumps around as if he made parkour videos in his spare time. In this respect, Avowed greatly differs from the stiff controls of comparable role-playing games.
Another welcome quality-of-life improvement is that I don’t have to worry about carrying too much weight around. I can beam any loot I find off to my camp at the touch of a button and get rid of it that way.
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I also liked the variety all the different zones offer. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a desert landscape or the jungle, the world of Avowed looks fantastically beautiful with its vibrant colours and bright mushrooms.
In terms of flora and fauna, Avowed comes up trumps with some creative surprises. But I also find plenty of familiar fantasy tropes from similar games, such as giant spiders and ogres.
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Technically speaking, the world hasn’t been crafted perfectly. I repeatedly encountered long loading times when fast travelling, stuttering when crossing the game world quickly and bugs, such as lack of voice output. During a mission I even have to load an old save game because a dialogue isn’t triggered properly.
Fortunately, Avowed isn’t as broken as a Bethesda game at launch. And I have to admit that the occasional glitches and bugs also give me a nostalgic feeling.
Casting spells and shooting
I have a number of different weapons and magical abilities at my disposal to fight off all the infected creatures, bandits and soldiers. I develop my fighting style in four skill trees and additional character attributes including intelligence, strength and dexterity. I can also upgrade my weapons and equipment and add new abilities. Over time, I develop a customised build that’s perfectly tailored to my playing style.
I also unlock four companions during the course of the game – two of which can accompany me on my adventures at any one time. They’re also pretty useful in battle – even if they’re sometimes incredibly stupid and, like Leeroy Jenkins, storm off in the direction of the enemy instead of attacking in a coordinated way.
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The combat system is also reminiscent of classics such as Sykrim. However, the skirmishes in Avowed differ from a lot of other fantasy games in one important respect: as well as the standard swords, bows and arrows and magic, there are also guns.
So, logically, I optimised my character’s abilities for powerful weapons. I usually play with an arquebus. This dishes out an incredible amount of damage with just one shot, but reloading it takes quite a while.
While I insert new cartridges into the deadly device, I issue commands to my companions via a radial pop-up menu. They hold enemies with magical strands, implement special attacks or heal me.
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Then it’s my turn again. If I load my shot while aiming, time slows down and I do even more damage. Once I’ve hit an enemy often enough with shots, they’ll be stunned for a short time and I can launch into an incredibly powerful and satisfying super attack. Boom, headshot!
My character can cast spells as well as being able to shoot. Now and then, I freeze opponents with my magic spells or summon a bear to rage about on the battlefield. I completely do without defensive equipment and instead elegantly dodge enemy attacks with dashes. My style of play feels like a choreographed dance of destruction that leaves a trail of devastation in its wake. Violence can be so beautiful.
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Idiotic enemies who are sometimes even clumsier than my companions also remind me of the good old action RPG days. Most enemies just stand around stupidly or attack without compromise or strategy.
This didn’t bother me too much, as the battles later in the game are challenging enough despite the hollow enemies. This is mainly due to the increasing number of enemies attacking at the same time.
Classic mission design with a-hole potential
The mission design also triggers lovely feelings of nostalgia. In many quests, the game tells me that my decisions or answers can have serious consequences on the rest of the story.
I can act like a real pain in the behind in a lot of the main quests. However, this has consequences. If I make the «wrong» decision, characters can die, I can be excluded from entire questlines or even miss out on important magical abilities.
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The quality of side quests varies. When I arrive in a new settlement, I’m approached by complete strangers who want me to do something for them. Alternatively, I can look for bounty contracts to earn a lot of money quickly. Also, my companions sometimes come to me in our camp with requests. Some of these side missions escalate into epic stories, while others end anticlimactically.
But I don’t care, because even the lamest side mission is a hell of a lot of fun thanks to the dreamlike fantasy world and satisfying combat system.
Avowed launches on 18 February for Xbox Series X/S and PC as well as Game Pass. Microsoft kindly provided me with a copy of this title for testing purposes for the Xbox Series X.
In a nutshell
A competent action RPG that doesn’t dare to do much new
Avowed doesn’t reinvent the action RPG wheel, it just makes it more rounded, aesthetically pleasing and more compact. The game feels like a warm, cosy blanket for snuggling up with when it’s cold and thinking of the good old days.
If you like classic Bethesda RPGs such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, or if you’re a fan of Obsidian’s other titles, you’ll enjoy Avowed. However, don’t expect a completely new gaming experience that’ll blow your socks off.
The fast and wonderfully chaotic battles are great fun thanks to numerous upgrade options and incredible flexibility in customised builds. The compact open game worlds are also a success, with little idle time and a lot of content in a small area. So much so that I can forgive the game for its occasionally choppy storytelling and technical problems.
Pro
- Stunning and compact fantasy worlds
- Dynamic, fast and action-packed combat system
- Improves the tried and tested action RPG principle in many areas
Contra
- But it doesn’t do much new
- Choppy storytelling
Header image: Obsidian
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Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
