Avowed

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Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger.

Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.

The Living Lands is an island where the air hums with ancient magic, the flora seems to move with a mind of its own, and the ground beneath your feet shifts with secrets waiting to be unearthed.

Now, the Living Lands faces a dire threat—a mysterious plague that defies nature and reason, spreading chaos across its sprawling wilderness.

As an envoy of Aedyr, you are sent to investigate, but what begins as a mission of duty soon becomes deeply personal—you feel as though the land recognizes you and is pulling you toward something greater. The choices you make will ripple across the Living Lands, shaping the fates of its people, its creatures, and even yourself. But beware, for every decision carries weight, and the forces you encounter will not hesitate to test your resolve.

Can you navigate the tangled web of intrigue, power, and danger to uncover the truth? Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?

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Pillars of Eternity

I am loving the RPG game Pillars of Eternity, which just came out yesterday. Since I’m a big fan of Black Isle’s Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate, I felt right at home with Pillars. This game plays like ..…

Remember how much I enjoyed Pillars of Eternity, a second time around? After I finished that game, I mentioned that I was going to start Pillars of Eternity 2… unfortunately, another “POE” game Path of Exile 2 happened.

Now, there is a new game called Avowed, the third game in the “Pillars of Eternity” universe. It is an action role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game is available to play in early access, if you pay for the most expensive version ($90). For everyone else, the official release date is February 18, 2025. The best part is, if you have Xbox Game Pass, you can play for “free”. If you don’t want to pay for Game Pass and want to own it – I suggest buying the game on the Xbox Game App, as that means you also own it on Xbox. Basically, you get it as a two-for-one deal.

In Avowed, you play a “godlike” character, which looks like clickers from The Last Of Us (they have mushrooms growing out of their heads). Thankfully, Obsidian Entertainment let us play without the horrible mushroom heads.

There seems to be a lot of hate for Avowed, and I’ll address a few that I agree with. One, for a game that costs $70, it doesn’t feel like it was worth it. Another game that came out around the same time is Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance, which costs $60, but offers more realistic RPG mechanics. For price comparison, Baldur’s Gate 3, which launched at $70, had some amazing acting and writing. If someone said they fell in love with Shadowheart, I believe them, because her acting was so good. You compare that to Avowed and the voice acting and animation and character art… yeah it doesn’t hold a candle next to Baldur’s Gate 3. Still, if you got the game through Game Pass, you shouldn’t factor in the game’s retail price, since you got it for “free” on launch day.

The other negative I’ve heard is that people were comparing the game to Skyrim. They weren’t happy that you can’t manipulate the environment, and that it’s not an open world. While it may look like Skyrim (visually), I don’t think the game was advertised as anything other than the next Pillars of Eternity game… and that brings up another point. These reviewers have never played the previous games – and they don’t know where all this rich lore is coming from. The biggest mistake Obsidian Entertainment made was to make Avowed a first-person (or third-person) action game. The previous two Pillars games are top-down, strategy-like gameplay. I feel if Avowed was a top-down game, it gamers would understand its limitations. Also, it felt like Avowed is more like an action parkour adventure game, and light on RPG (which is a disappointment to me).

Now that we understand why people don’t like the game, you can see why gamers, who typically do not play this type of Pillars games are coming in with a different expectation. However, if you like the Pillars games and want more of this universe, and you’re getting the game for free, through Game Pass, then I think you’ll enjoy this game for what it is.

To start, Avowed offers two classes, Human or Elf, and three classes: Fighter, Ranger, or Wizard. What’s nice about Avowed is that you’re not locked into a class… you can pick and choose abilities from all three classes. For example, if you’re a warrior, but you want some Ranger skills, you can put points in some Ranger skills. In addition, you also get godlike abilities, which you’ll unlock by having conversations with a mysterious entity trapped in the pillars of eternity.

For my first game play, I started as a Ranger, as I normally enjoy shooting enemies at a distance. But as I leveled up, I soon realized I was dying all the time, so I started putting points in the Warrior tree, as their regenerating health skill is just too useful. Where I am at in the game, I find that the rifle does the most damage, but it is slow to reload. I experimented with another fight style, which is one of the nice things about this game: you are not locked in a class. You can play as a ranger with a bow… and at the same time, switch over to a wand and grimoire wizard! You can play two-handed or “sword and board” or elemental wizard. Once you find a fighting style to your liking, you can reset your points with some gold and put the skill points in where it makes sense. This is Avowed’s best feature.

The game rewards you for exploration, with every rooftop and hidden corners with treasure chests or backpacks. There are chests everywhere! It’s almost unrealistic at times. Who just leaves a chest full of loots somewhere in the middle of the forest? Anyway, my advice is to stock up on lockpicks when you are an equipment vendor in town. The best weapons and armor in the game are found, so it’s in your best interest to look everywhere for free stuff.

Overall, because I love the Pillar universe, I think this game is pretty good… although I would prefer the top-down instead of a first-person (or third person) game. After spending about 30 hours in the game, I’ve decided to restart the game and play it on hard… because normal is really too easy. Playing it on hard is a little more challenging… but if you understand the mechanics, you will do just fine.