Avowed (PC, Xbox Series X - Feb 18, 2025)

[Osprey]

Obsidian, makers of Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, announced a new first-person RPG today that's set in the same fantasy world as their top-down RPG, Pillars of Eternity. It looks a bit like Skyrim, especially with the player at the end of the trailer holding a sword in one hand and casting magic with the other. If you'll recall, Obsidian was acquired by Microsoft, so that's why it's only for Windows and next-gen Xbox.

Avowed is billed as an "epic, first-person RPG" that's set in an original fantasy world called Eora. Obsidian told Xbox, after being acquired in November 2018, that the studio wanted to work on a huge RPG epic in the way Obsidian only knows how. Though the studio didn't provide any other details about the game, and while there was no gameplay reveal, Avowed will launch on Windows 10 PC and Xbox Series X.

Obsidian Reveals New Xbox Series X RPG, Avowed

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[Mikeaveli]

 

[RandV]

Just skimmed through the video a little, is the game related to Pillars of Eternity? Caught a moment where they said the fish monsters were the same as from there.

 

[Osprey]

I forgot that I even made this thread. Wow, that was a while ago, too. Nice bump.

Just skimmed through the video a little, is the game related to Pillars of Eternity? Caught a moment where they said the fish monsters were the same as from there.

According to me above (so take it with a big grain of salt), it's "set in the same fantasy world as their top-down RPG, Pillars of Eternity."

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I’m excited. I trust Obsidian. Their games aren’t perfect but the writing is usually great. This preview definitely looked better than what we saw last year.

 

[Bocephus86]

I will be following this one. I enjoyed Outer Worlds, though I felt it lacked a bit scratching my hoarder tendencies (only a couple types of weapons really, limited modding IIRC), and FO:NV is a top 10 game, possibly top 5, for me all time.

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Pillars pf Eternity were excellent CRPGs, really wish that they would make another. Just based on that alone, this has potential to be very good.

 

[Osprey]

I will be following this one. I enjoyed Outer Worlds, though I felt it lacked a bit scratching my hoarder tendencies (only a couple types of weapons really, limited modding IIRC), and FO:NV is a top 10 game, possibly top 5, for me all time.

If you haven't already, you might care to check out Grounded, their open world RPG that they released between The Outer Worlds and this. It scratched my horder/crafting itch. I really enjoyed it.

 

[Bocephus86]

If you haven't already, you might care to check out Grounded, their open world RPG that they released between The Outer Worlds and this. It scratched my horder/crafting itch. I really enjoyed it.

Never even heard of it, man I am out of the loop. Will check it out, thanks.

Edit: Starfield was supposed to scratch that itch for me, and it was for a while, but then I finished the Crimson Pirate questline siding with the 'good guys', did a re-org of my gear and ship, and just never opened the game up again. Hope to return to it some day with some QOL improvements, if they ever come.

 

[Osprey]

Never even heard of it, man I am out of the loop. Will check it out, thanks.

Edit: Starfield was supposed to scratch that itch for me, and it was for a while, but then I finished the Crimson Pirate questline siding with the 'good guys', did a re-org of my gear and ship, and just never opened the game up again. Hope to return to it some day with some QOL improvements, if they ever come.

I pretty much didn't use any of the workbenches in Starfield. It just didn't seem necessary because the game was easy enough even on Very Hard and I didn't want to make it any easier by making my weapons or suits more effective.

Grounded, on the other hand, requires you to make extensive use of workbenches because 1) most weapons aren't just lying around; you need to construct them from blueprints, and 2) they're not that effective unless you upgrade them. Most enemies are resistant to some types of damage and weak to others, and to make weapons that they're weak to, you need to upgrade them. If you don't craft and upgrade weapons specifically for certain types of enemies, the game will be a lot harder than it needs to be. It's a highly challenging game, but highly rewarding when you make an upgraded weapon that makes short work of an enemy that used to kick your butt. BTW, the game is on Game Pass, so, if you have that, you won't even need to buy it to play it.

 

[Bocephus86]

I pretty much didn't use any of the workbenches in Starfield. It just didn't seem necessary because the game was easy enough even on Very Hard and I didn't want to make it any easier by making my weapons or suits more effective.

Grounded, on the other hand, requires you to make extensive use of workbenches because 1) most weapons aren't just lying around; you need to construct them from blueprints, and 2) they're not that effective unless you upgrade them. Most enemies are resistant to some types of damage and weak to others, and to make weapons that they're weak to, you need to upgrade them. If you don't craft and upgrade weapons specifically for certain types of enemies, the game will be a lot harder than it needs to be. It's a highly challenging game, but highly rewarding when you make an upgraded weapon that makes short work of an enemy that used to kick your butt. BTW, the game is on Game Pass, so, if you have that, you won't even need to buy it to play it.

Ya for Starfield I got into the workbenches, but I 100% felt I wasted those skills for the Suit upgrade tree. After a couple early missions, I had great suits, but even with basic ones I was never in any real danger, and the upgrades were minimally helpful (the Power Armor upgrade system in FO4 was way better). The weapons ones I found worth it, but it didn't encourage much playing around, and I think I went about 10 levels without finding a better weapon that my setup. Probably doesn't help that in all games like that I am a Semi-Auto Assault Rifle main / Long Range Sniper / Crappy Ammo Backup for Weak Enemies player so once I have a great main & sniper, I rarely use anything else.

I will say that the planet situation really broken the open world concept for me. I cannot claim this as my take, but I read it somewhere and it rang true for me: My love for the Bethesda Open World RPG is the wandering and coming across something cool & new to explore. That type of wandering is killed with the multiple planets. Maybe if it had been 6-10 dense worlds that were 'truly' open vs what it ended up being that sense of wandering might have worked, but honestly I wished I realized that that type of gameplay is the draw to me, and planets automatically break that, before I hyped it like I did.

Anyway, will give Grounded a chance after I get through my replay of Cyberpunk with the DLC.

 

[Turin]

Intrigued, not sold on it. I don't think the the Outer Worlds was very good and it's not like the masterminds behind NV are still with Obsidian - so I have no idea how this is gonna turn out. Looks cool though, so far.

 

[Mikeaveli]

This game looks better every time they show it

 

[Jussi]

 

[Osprey]

I just noticed that it's set to be released on February 18, 2025. So, Microsoft delayed it three months in order to not compete with Dragon Age: Veilguard, but it's now coming out only a week after Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Civilization VII, two games that are probably even more anticipated. That's brutal. I hope that the release date gets moved up or back a little, for my sake and the game's, since being a new IP could mean that it gets hurt by the competition more than the other way around.

 

[aleshemsky83]

The Outer Worlds is actually pretty underrated. I see it get some hate these days but it was really fun and the quests were actually interesting. I have some criticisms but overall Obsidian got back to form after some lean years.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

That gameplay video looks awful. Another cookie cutter game, but this one looks 10 years old.

 

[Mikeaveli]

The Outer Worlds is actually pretty underrated. I see it get some hate these days but it was really fun and the quests were actually interesting. I have some criticisms but overall Obsidian got back to form after some lean years.

I like The Outer Worlds as well, played through it twice on Supernova difficulty. I was always confused when people said the game was short because I've only ever played it without fast travel lol. The Murder on Eridanos DLC in particular is really good imo. Not the best game I've ever played but it's enjoyable for sure.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

The Outer Worlds never looked great in videos, but then you play it and it’s a lot of fun. People that played Avowed last week had good things to say about it, so I’m not worried about it.

 

[Jussi]

The Outer Worlds never looked great in videos, but then you play it and it’s a lot of fun. People that played Avowed last week had good things to say about it, so I’m not worried about it.

I'm not really that into RPGs in general but I thought the GamesCom footage looked much better than the Games Showcase one.

 

[Jussi]

Avowed: The Final Preview - IGN

Every time we've gotten to play Avowed, we come away even more impressed. That happened again this time, as we took sadistic delight in being as evil as we could possibly be in this first-person fantasy RPG.

www.ign.com

Avowed is a jack-of-all-trades action RPG with a rare attention for the little details

In rare moments Avowed reminds me of an immersive sim, but it stops short of the simulation of games like Deus Ex.

www.pcgamer.com

After three hours, Avowed still shows no sign of a killer hook to call its own, but this fizzy RPG cocktail is plenty enjoyable all the same

We've played the first three hours of Obsidian's upcoming fantasy RPG Avowed, so read our in-depth impressions to find out our thoughts ahead of its release.

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Osprey]

It sounds like a fantasy version of The Outer Worlds: nothing groundbreaking, but solid and enjoyable. If we keep our expectations at that level and don't expect Baldur's Gate 3 or The Witcher III, we should be happy, hopefully.

I wasn't expecting there to be guns in it. I thought that the PC Gamer author was joking about finding one, but nope, he even included screenshots and a gameplay clip. They're very old fashioned, though, and seemingly single shot with probably long reload times, so I don't imagine that they'll make other weapons obsolete. There seems to be a nice variety of weapons so far: swords, guns, bows and magic.

BTW, for those who don't prefer 1st-person, the game reportedly has a 3rd-person mode that can be enabled.

 

[Jussi]

It sounds like a fantasy version of The Outer Worlds: nothing groundbreaking, but solid and enjoyable. If we keep our expectations at that level and don't expect Baldur's Gate 3 or The Witcher III, we should be happy, hopefully.

I wasn't expecting there to be guns in it. I thought that the PC Gamer author was joking about finding one, but nope, he even included screenshots and a gameplay clip. They're very old fashioned, though, and seemingly single shot with probably long reload times, so I don't imagine that they'll make other weapons obsolete. There seems to be a nice variety of weapons so far: swords, guns, bows and magic.

BTW, for those who don't prefer 1st-person, the game reportedly has a 3rd-person mode that can be enabled.

I think they showed them in the trailers already, possibly the first one. At least in a later one.

 

[Jussi]

If you've been worried about Avowed not looking punchy enough, Obsidian's combat designer has a hitstop animation 'superpower' that might reassure you

Avowed's sword-tuner cut his teeth working on actiony MMOs like Warhammer Online and WildStar.

www.pcgamer.com

According to Obsidian VFX lead Ash Kumar, who I interviewed at a recent preview event at Obsidian's offices in southern California, there's one person in particular to thank for how combat's shaped up.

"Max has a superpower of looking at an animation and deciding how much hitstop there should be there for it to feel good," said Kumar.
That's Max Matzenbacher, who joined Obsidian in 2020 after previously working on MMOs including Warhammer Online and WildStar. Kumar had a lot to say about Matzenbacher in his role as Avowed's senior combat designer.
"He has tweaked every weapon with hitstop differently. Like the hammer: The special attack kind of lodges the hammer into the enemy and then brings it down for an area of effect attack. All the tweaking, all the animation timing, all the times when I send him a particle effect and he's like 'I'm going to play it right at this instant,' he's done such a fantastic job. And he's done it with every weapon."

If you right-click and open the video above in a new tab, you'll be able to hear the audio.
Kumar kept the praise flowing. "He's taken a week for a weapon and just constantly tinkered with every minor aspect of it, from the animations to when you move a sword, how an enemy will react to it," he added. "It's fantastic work, and it feels visceral. It feels weighty. When you have a lower-tier weapon than the enemies you're fighting, your weapons aren't going to pass through: they're going to boink off the enemy. The way it feels, you're still doing some damage, but it's miniscule, and the animations and VFX reflect that. We wanted to give useful player feedback on every swing of the weapon."

 

[aleshemsky83]

A sign that games take way too long to make is that all the games coming out now have pronouns when that’s pretty much already gone out of fashion for a while now. Even left leaning gamers make fun of that stuff now.