Does Avowed deserve your attention? See first impressions with Obsidian’s RPG

The awaited Avowed It will only be released in 2025, but Voxel received an invitation from Microsoft to test 90 minutes of the game and learn more details about the long-awaited RPG for PC and Xbox. Plus, we had the chance to explore a whole new area of Living Landsdiscover new details about the game and, first hand, experience the long-awaited third-person camera! So, polish your sword, grab your grimoire and prepare for our first impressions of Avowed!

If you fell by parachute and don’t know what it is Avowedhere’s a brief explanation. Announced in 2020, the new game from Obsidian Entertainmentpublished by Xbox Game Studiosis a action RPG set in the world of Euro. Does the name sound familiar? If you played Pillars of Eternityyou know what we’re talking about: Avowed is part of the same universe as Pillarsalso developed by Obsidian.

“But, Voxel, what has this Obsidian done?”, you may be asking yourself. Well, my dear cave friend, if by chance you played The Outer Worlds, Penment, Knights of the Old Republic 2, South Park: The Stick of Truth or Fallout: New Vegas (which is perhaps the favorite game of 90% of fans of the series Fallout), congratulations! You already know the developer’s work.

Character creation and customization

After a brief tour of the Obsidian office, where there had been Power Armor from life size to dioramas Grounded (another game from the studio), we had access to two new sections of Avowed: Dawntreader e Fort Northreach. The first is the starting area of ​​the game, while the second is a port region that appears later in the story.

Unfortunately, the first half hour of the game could not be recorded, as the team is still implementing development improvements. But I’ll try to summarize the experience for you. In this introduction, we had access to the creation of the character, who will be the king’s envoy with the mission of investigating the Dreamscourgea plague that is devastating the kingdom.

Personalization has eight stepsfive of which are dedicated to the character’s aesthetics, one for voice and name, and two focused on personality and past. Among the available past options are: War Hero, Arcane Scholar, Noble Scion, Vanguard Scout e Court Augur. (Don’t worry: although the game doesn’t have a Portuguese dub, everything will be translated at launch.)

After that, you distribute ten initial attribute points for your character. These attributes can be changed at any time during the game. Among the options are: strength, dexterity, perception, health, intellect e resolutionwith a limit of three points per attribute. After defining the name and voice type, it became clear why the game was delayed until February 2025: the opening cutscene was still in the development stage. storyboardand we also encountered some small bugs during gameplay, although the team assured us that they are already working to resolve them.

After the introduction of the prologue, the first half hour is dedicated to immersing the player in the story and teaching basic combat tutorials. Avowed. The combat system allows the use of two handsadapting to the type of approach you prefer. The first weapon available is a spearwith which you learn basic attacks using your right hand. The left hand, in turn, can be used to wield a shield or to activate the Grimoirethe book of spells Avowedwhich is already presented at the beginning.

As this introduction is focused on your character’s arrival after a shipwreck, I won’t go into too much detail, as the more extensive gameplay began after this first half hour. Still, it was possible to see how the game establishes the rhythm of the story, mainly through dialogues with other characters.

Ah, an important detail: even if you choose a voice type, your character, like Link, will not have lines. Second Carrie Patelthe director of Avowedthis decision was made so that the player can interpret the character’s emotions, creating a deeper connection between player and game.

Gameplay em Dawnshore

After the tutorial, we arrived at Dawnshorewhere we were able to record the gameplay and had our first interaction with Kaione of several companions who will accompany you during the journey. With dialogue options that varied between ironic and threatening responses, it was here that we realized the classic Obsidian DNA in Avowed: The answers change according to the attributes in which you distributed your points.

It’s not yet clear whether these dialogue choices will directly influence the game’s ending, but the director assured us that Avowed will have more than ten different endingsdepending on the combinations of choices the player makes and the places visited.

After learning more about Kai and how he can be useful on the journey, we had the chance to try out the game in third person. However, the transition to this mode is done in a somewhat… peculiar way. To change the camera, you need to pause the game, access the accessibility menu and then switch between the first or third person view.

When asked about this, Ryan e Ashresponsible for implementing this game mode, explained that the option was inserted in the accessibility menu with players in mind who suffer from motion sickness when playing first-person titles. Because of this, a quick action button was not implemented, as is the case in GTA V or Red Dead Redemption 2. While the explanation is understandable, I hope this functionality is tweaked in the future as finding this setting was more work than it should have been.

Fight

Talking a little about combat Avowed: I accepted a mission from an NPC who asked me to clean his house of Xauripsa race of very annoying lizards within the game. This second buildour character was equipped with a spearone bow and arrow and one Grimoire. Once again, combat is completely adaptable to the player’s style.

I particularly enjoyed testing the boom while switching, with the button Yfor the bow and arrow, dodging the Xaurips’ attacks. However, I got the impression that spear attacks didn’t have the same physical impact as arrows or spells. On some occasions, even when hitting the target, the animation seemed to “slip” away from the enemy, breaking the immersion a little and disrupting the gameplay. It made me crazy to find an ax and switch between shield, bow and arrow e machadoseeking a more solid combat style.

As for the companionsthey are not just for dialogue, but also play important roles in combat. Kaifor example, can burn obstacles in the way if you don’t have a Grimoire, or use your blunderbuss to stun enemies for up to ten seconds with explosive ammunition. Additionally, it is possible to unlock new abilities for companions according to the Companion Level increases. If Kai is knocked down during a battle, you will need to help him get up if you want to continue receiving support, whether facing hordes of enemies or a more challenging boss.

In the first videos of Avowedsomething that bothered me was the extremely clean HUD. Although a cluttered look isn’t ideal either, I was happy to test the game and realize that everything is well distributed on the screen, with no elements disturbing the experience — unlike what happened with Suicide Squad.

In the lower left corner, you will find the life bar ea Essence Barwhich works like stamina of the game, being used for heavier spells and attacks. Further to the center are the quick actionswhich can be customized by the player. In build that I tested, they were already configured with: healing, class special attack, companion and an action to recharge the Essence.

I thought I could ignore Grimoire during the demo until I came across the big boss that ended the presentation: a giant bear corrupted by Dreamscourge. Seriously, you can even defeat him using just weapons, but magic makes combat much easier and makes the fight more exciting. Freezing or burning a powerful enemy makes all the difference, and using spells by pressing the action buttons (in this case, LT + A, B, X or Y) is incredibly satisfying.

In the bottom right corner of the screen is the distribution of spells. Unfortunately, I had little time to experiment beyond the freezing and electric attack spells, but I could already see the potential of the spells in the gameplay.

And here comes an important point: the issue of the first-person camera. During this battle, it would have been much more practical to quickly switch to first-person view to face the boss. However, as I didn’t want to pause and hunt for this setting in the heat of the fight, I ended up opting to keep the camera in third person. This limitation reinforces the need for a more dynamic solution to switch between the two perspectives.

When I finally found a weapon that made gameplay a lot easier — a small bottle that resembles an old pistol — I entered the city of Paradis. As soon as I arrived, I took an arrow in the stomach and, after fainting, my game came to an end.

Does Avowed deserve your attention?

In these 90 minutes of testing, it became clear why the launch took so long and why it was postponed until February 2025: the game needs to be completely polished so that the public can fully enjoy the magical world that Obsidian is building.

One of the most striking impressions was how, being a Godlike — the “superior” race of the kingdom — you are not limited to a single class. On the contrary, it is possible to switch between being an archer, mage or someone specializing in melee combat just by adjusting the skills menu. This freedom reflects Obsidian’s commitment to not locking the player into choices made at the beginning of the game, allowing the experience to be shaped according to your play style.

If I had to summarize Avowed in a word, it would be an option. This feature will probably be the biggest attraction for players who explore Aedyr and venture into the magical world of the game. It’s the classic “do what you want” taken to a new level.

But we will only know that on the day February 18release date of the new game from Xbox Game Studios. It is still too early to say whether Avowed will attract more players to the console or the Game Passbut one thing is certain: in the short time I played, I felt like continuing to explore, discovering new levels and trying out different weapons to see how they would affect the gameplay and the story. When it comes to fun, Obsidian has already nailed it.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out the company’s social media and website. Voxelhuh? There you will find a tour of the studio, interviews with the developers and much more content!