Xbox Avowed

[Joe Von Zombie]

Previews are out! Third-person gameplay looks like what I expected; this game is made with FPP in mind.

@DKDetective @Joe Von Zombie Looks like Obsidian cooked. I really need to build my new PC once the RTX 50 series is out.

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

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

This will likely be a game I reup on gamepass for.

 

[blueharvest]

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

 

[Deck Rickard]

Looks good! Apparently there isn’t a hotkey that allows you to switch back and forth between first and third person (you have to go into the menu) but hopefully they change that. But even if they don’t, I’m glad they still give you the option because generally don’t like playing in first person except in games where I’m using a gun or a bow 90% of the time.

 

[Iceman]

Glad to see those previews. I need as many good fantasy RPGs as possible, turning into my overall favourite game genre. Obsidian are a reliable studio.

 

[Iceman]

Looks good! Apparently there isn’t a hotkey that allows you to switch back and forth between first and third person (you have to go into the menu) but hopefully they change that. But even if they don’t, I’m glad they still give you the option because generally don’t like playing in first person except in games where I’m using a gun or a bow 90% of the time.

I prefer third person games but love having the option to switch between both, that’s even better. Dumb to not have it be an instant button press though, that can surely be implemented very easily.

 

[Gee]

Oh poor Elon Musk...

 

[Deck Rickard]

God, I ****ing HATE Elon Musk.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[DarthSkywalker]

That really sucks. Now announce it for PS5.

 

[Iceman]

Avowed shows off its character creator and the backgrounds that "will shape how the world responds to you"

Avowed will not only let you customise your character's appearance but also the background "that will shape how the wor…

www.eurogamer.net

Character creator looks fun.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Gee]

Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon: Zero Dawn lead writer John Gonzalez returns to Obsidian

John Gonzalez, lead writer on Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon: Zero Dawn, has announced his return to Obsidian Entertain…

www.eurogamer.net

He also co-developed the Nemesis system, by the way. On his Linkedin profile, he clearly states he's not working on New Vegas 2...

FYI @Joe Von Zombie

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon: Zero Dawn lead writer John Gonzalez returns to Obsidian

John Gonzalez, lead writer on Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon: Zero Dawn, has announced his return to Obsidian Entertain…

www.eurogamer.net

He also co-developed the Nemesis system, by the way. On his Linkedin profile, he clearly states he's not working on New Vegas 2...

FYI @Joe Von Zombie

Now Microsoft owns Obsidian and Bethesda, here's hoping they're getting the band back together.

 

[Gee]

The OST dropped. I listened to some tracks here and there and they sound decent, but I wish Justin E. Bell returned for this considering he worked on the PoE soundtracks.

Venus Theory - Avowed (Official Game Soundtrack)

Listen to Avowed (Official Game Soundtrack) by Venus Theory.

lnk.to

Looking forward to the reviews tomorrow morning.

 

[blueharvest]

Avowed Tops Steam's Best Sellers Chart Days Before Full Launch

Obsidian and Xbox's fantasy RPG Avowed is off to a strong start, sitting in the number one spot of Steam's Top Sellers list.

insider-gaming.com

 

[Gee]

Avowed Reviews

Avowed is rated 'Strong' after being reviewed by 115 critics, with an overall average score of 82. It's ranked in the top 14% of games and recommended by 85% of critics.

opencritic.com

Avowed Reviews

Avowed is a first-person fantasy RPG set in the world of Eora, where your choices carve a path through war, intrigue, and ancient mysteries. Navigate a land in turmoil, forge powerful alliances or deadly rivalries, and wield magic and steel to shape the fate of the Living Lands—and your own destiny.

www.metacritic.com

Lower scores than what I expected, but Obsidian hasn't disappointed me yet. If this is essentially The Outer Worlds but in a high fantasy setting, then it'll be another cult classic in my Obsidian book.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Started it last night and… I’m not loving it. The Skyrim comparisons are valid and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Because while I love Skyrim, it’s been 14 years since then and Avowed feels like Skyrim with (slightly) improved combat and graphics. I’ve seen a lot of praise for the combat and maybe it’s just because I’m still in the early game with some crappy weapons but it all feels pretty awkward in comparison to stuff like Elden Ring or… hell, even Starfield.

Also, for a “next gen” game… this one doesn’t feel like it. The landscapes look pretty good but again, only a step or two up from Skyrim. Honestly, I think Outer Worlds looked better than this.

I switched back and forth between first and third person and neither feels all that great tbh. Maybe I just need to get used to it more. First person is definitely better for when you’re scouring the area for items, but that’s one area where I feel like Skyrim or other Obsidian games like New Vegas have the edge. There seem to be so few things to pick up here. I like being able to loot every corpse I come across in these types of games. So far, I think I’ve had ONE enemy drop an item. I’ve never understood the logic of not being able to loot bodies in RPGs, especially when many of them have armor and weapons that you would think you could use.

I’m also not vibing with any of the characters so far. Kai seemed cool and curmudgeony in that trailer from way back when but in the game he just seems kind of meh. And those two you meet on the island in the intro aren’t any better. The blue guy I found especially annoying and unsettling to look at. He kind of looks like a Smurf ****ed a Treasure Troll. All of the NPCs have that uncanny valley look to them.

Also - this is just a me thing - but being forced to play as a character with fungus growing out of their face is ****ing gross. It makes me think of that scene in season 1 of Hannibal that almost made me throw up. You can turn off that feature but it kinda screws up the game if you do because people constantly comment on it even though it’s not there (to be fair, the character creator explains this to you).

But again, I haven’t gotten too far into it so maybe it will get better. We’ll see.

 

[blueharvest]

Avowed Could Have Been 'Multiplayer Skyrim' Before a Reboot Happened

It was recently revealed in an interview with Bloomberg that Avowed started life as 'multiplayer Skyrim' before a Microsoft-led reboot occurred.

insider-gaming.com

 

[blueharvest]

Obsidian CEO reveals it's just half the size of many triple-A studios, even as it prepares to launch its 4th game in 5 years

Pint-size powerhouse.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[DKDetective]

Started it last night and… I’m not loving it. The Skyrim comparisons are valid and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Because while I love Skyrim, it’s been 14 years since then and Avowed feels like Skyrim with (slightly) improved combat and graphics. I’ve seen a lot of praise for the combat and maybe it’s just because I’m still in the early game with some crappy weapons but it all feels pretty awkward in comparison to stuff like Elden Ring or… hell, even Starfield.

Also, for a “next gen” game… this one doesn’t feel like it. The landscapes look pretty good but again, only a step or two up from Skyrim. Honestly, I think Outer Worlds looked better than this.

I switched back and forth between first and third person and neither feels all that great tbh. Maybe I just need to get used to it more. First person is definitely better for when you’re scouring the area for items, but that’s one area where I feel like Skyrim or other Obsidian games like New Vegas have the edge. There seem to be so few things to pick up here. I like being able to loot every corpse I come across in these types of games. So far, I think I’ve had ONE enemy drop an item. I’ve never understood the logic of not being able to loot bodies in RPGs, especially when many of them have armor and weapons that you would think you could use.

I’m also not vibing with any of the characters so far. Kai seemed cool and curmudgeony in that trailer from way back when but in the game he just seems kind of meh. And those two you meet on the island in the intro aren’t any better. The blue guy I found especially annoying and unsettling to look at. He kind of looks like a Smurf ****ed a Treasure Troll. All of the NPCs have that uncanny valley look to them.

Also - this is just a me thing - but being forced to play as a character with fungus growing out of their face is ****ing gross. It makes me think of that scene in season 1 of Hannibal that almost made me throw up. You can turn off that feature but it kinda screws up the game if you do because people constantly comment on it even though it’s not there (to be fair, the character creator explains this to you).

But again, I haven’t gotten too far into it so maybe it will get better. We’ll see.

I'm really vibing with it actually. I think visually it looks like a massive step up from Skyrim or Outer Worlds. You really need to go back to Skyrim and see how old and dated it looks. It look old even when it first came out. I really love the art style here as well as it looks and feels like the classic Infinity Engine DnD RPGs rendered into modern first person.

The combat feels fine to me, but I haven't really played this style of RPG in a decade. Where for me, this game is leaps and bounds ahead of Skyrim or BGS RPGs since is the writing, characters, and branching quests. It feels way less fillery than a Bethesda RPG. It reminds me of Morrowind in a really good way.

 

[DKDetective]

Also @Gee you are quite right, Obsidian seems to have cooked with this one. I also really like the smaller scale and length. I could use a shorter game after things like BG3. I wanted to start Kingdom Come 2 but I was just wasn't up to a game of that size right now.

 

[Gee]

Also @Gee you are quite right, Obsidian seems to have cooked with this one. I also really like the smaller scale and length. I could use a shorter game after things like BG3. I wanted to start Kingdom Come 2 but I was just wasn't up to a game of that size right now.

Yep, the game is on the short side when it comes to RPGs and that is perfectly fine. Not every game needs to be an open world and be 100+ hours. Like you said, after a mammoth like BG3, something like Avowed is perfect which is great for gamers like me whose gaming time has been greatly reduced lately.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I'm really vibing with it actually. I think visually it looks like a massive step up from Skyrim or Outer Worlds. You really need to go back to Skyrim and see how old and dated it looks. It look old even when it first came out. I really love the art style here as well as it looks and feels like the classic Infinity Engine DnD RPGs rendered into modern first person.

The combat feels fine to me, but I haven't really played this style of RPG in a decade. Where for me, this game is leaps and bounds ahead of Skyrim or BGS RPGs since is the writing, characters, and branching quests. It feels way less fillery than a Bethesda RPG. It reminds me of Morrowind in a really good way.

I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I have a friend who has played EVERY BGS game and she is loving it too, so maybe it’s just me. I do think it gets better as it goes on. Though I have played Skyrim recently (I jump back into it a few times every year because it’s just like comfort food for me lol). The graphics are certainly a step up (I shouldn’t have said that they were only marginally better; I was probably exaggerating). I guess after BG3, where all the side quests were SO good, and all the characters were interesting and super hot, this just felt like a step back. Well, all the characters in BG3 except the gnomes (who all looked the way caricature artist draws a person with a giant head and a little body) and the dwarves (who all looked Ram Man).

 

[DKDetective]

I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I have a friend who has played EVERY BGS game and she is loving it too, so maybe it’s just me. I do think it gets better as it goes on. Though I have played Skyrim recently (I jump back into it a few times every year because it’s just like comfort food for me lol). The graphics are certainly a step up (I shouldn’t have said that they were only marginally better; I was probably exaggerating). I guess after BG3, where all the side quests were SO good, and all the characters were interesting and super hot, this just felt like a step back. Well, all the characters in BG3 except the gnomes (who all looked the way caricature artist draws a person with a giant head and a little body) and the dwarves (who all looked Ram Man).

I will definitely give you that a lot of the NPC faces have that BGS/Obsidian ugliness. But yeah, other than that, definitely exaggerating by saying the graphics are only a marginal step up from Skyrim!

Honestly, you can't compare the game to BG3 because you can't compare any RPG to BG3 for the next decade probably! It would be like judging every superhero movie based on whether it is as good as The Dark Knight, which many would say still has no equal almost 20 years later... (I feel really old now).

I think the way to think of Avowed is like a Robert E. Howard Conan short story versus BG3's Lord of the Rings. Both are classics. At a fraction of the length, it obviously will not have the same depth of character or complexity, but it is still fun, crisp with surprising insight. While not on the same level as BG3, the quest writing is still a massive step up from BGS games, which typically have no moral complexity of branching storylines.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I will definitely give you that a lot of the NPC faces have that BGS/Obsidian ugliness. But yeah, other than that, definitely exaggerating by saying the graphics are only a marginal step up from Skyrim!

Honestly, you can't compare the game to BG3 because you can't compare any RPG to BG3 for the next decade probably! It would be like judging every superhero movie based on whether it is as good as The Dark Knight, which many would say still has no equal almost 20 years later... (I feel really old now).

I think the way to think of Avowed is like a Robert E. Howard Conan short story versus BG3's Lord of the Rings. Both are classics. At a fraction of the length, it obviously will not have the same depth of character or complexity, but it is still fun, crisp with surprising insight. While not on the same level as BG3, the quest writing is still a massive step up from BGS games, which typically have no moral complexity of branching storylines.

Yeah that’s a good way to look at it. Though I would argue that there are actually some really good characters in Elder Scrolls Online like Naryu and Cadwell (I guess it’s more Zenimax than BGS but I’m not totally clear on how that all works over there). They are certainly a step up from the one-note characters in Skyrim (aside from my bae Serana of course). But yeah, there isn’t much moral complexity there; you’re basically just given the chance to do the “right” thing or die lol. And it’s an MMO so you can only play it for so long before it all starts to feel a bit stale, but I still really enjoyed some of the bigger quest lines.

Anyway though; yeah comparing anything to BG3 probably isn’t going to be fair for quite a while because BG3 raised the bar so high. I almost feel bad for whatever studio attempts to take on BG4 or whatever the next game in the Forgotten Realms universe is.