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Avowed’s Anniversary Update went live on February 17, 2026, adding new character options, New Game Plus, adjustable difficulty, a quarterstaff, Photo Mode, and quality-of-life changes. The additions are most useful in different ways: some reshape an ongoing campaign, while others give players reasons to start over or revisit the Living Lands. The update also launched Avowed on PS5, with the prior year’s updates included.
Obsidian’s update notes and Xbox Wire’s announcement describe the changes and their limits.
1. More character choice, including mid-run species changes
Dwarves, Orlans, and Aumaua join Humans and Elves, bringing the total to five playable species. Species now grant stat bonuses, and a chosen background adds another stat boost. That gives new characters more ways to align their starting attributes with a preferred role or build, alongside the role-play possibilities of choosing a different people of the Living Lands.
The choice is not locked to a new save. At the Party Camp, a mirror lets players change their appearance—including species—during an existing run. It also supports new godlike feature variants and presets. That makes character experimentation less costly for players already invested in a campaign. The update notes describe these as appearance and character-creation options; they do not promise species-specific dialogue.
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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.
- Explore an island home to many different environments and landscapes, each with their own unique ecosystem
- Mix and match swords, spells, guns, and shields to fight your way
- Companions from a spread of species will fight alongside you, with their own unique set of abilities.
2. New Game Plus gives completed campaigns another route
New Game Plus unlocks after completing the main story. It is aimed at players who want to revisit the campaign with an established character, but carryover is selective rather than comprehensive. Obsidian’s list of what carries over includes:
- Unlocked abilities, except godlike abilities, and spent attribute points.
- Enchantments, unique weapons and armor (reset to level 1), unique gloves and boots, jewelry, and trinkets.
Common equipment, resources, consumables, quest items, and god totems and trinkets are among the things that do not carry over. Companions must be reacquired as the story progresses. Enemies can receive modifiers, and the attribute cap increases from 15 to 30, so the mode can offer a tougher replay as well as room to develop a character further.
Rank #2
- Requires base game, Game Pass Ultimate, or PC Game Pass Membership (Sold Separately)
- Premium Upgrade includes: Premium Skin Packs: 2 sets of bonus skins for your companions, and access to Avowed Digital Artbook & Original Soundtrack
- 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.
- Explore an island home to many different environments and landscapes, each with their own unique ecosystem.
- Mix and match swords, spells, guns, and shields to fight your way.
Players who finished the story before the update may need to load a save from before the point of no return and complete the ending again to create a valid New Game Plus save. Check the relevant save before assuming a completed campaign can be carried directly into the mode.
3. Custom difficulty modifiers let players tune a run
Custom game options provide granular control over player, enemy, companion, and general settings. Options cover areas such as damage, survivability and resources, status thresholds, enemy speed and aggression, merchant prices, upgrade costs, fall damage, and trap damage. Settings can be changed during a run, allowing players to adjust the experience without beginning a new campaign.
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- Premium Edition includes: Avowed base game, Premium Skin Packs: 2 sets of bonus skins for each of your companions, and access to Avowed Digital Artbook & Original Soundtrack
- 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.
- Explore an island home to many different environments and landscapes, each with their own unique ecosystem.
- Mix and match swords, spells, guns, and shields to fight your way.
- Companions from a spread of species will fight alongside you, with their own unique set of abilities.
There is one important achievement trade-off: Obsidian warns that using these modifiers invalidates the Path of the Damned achievement. The studio says most other achievements are not negated, so players pursuing that specific achievement should avoid custom modifiers.
4. The quarterstaff adds a weapon for spellcasters who want close range
The quarterstaff is a new bludgeoning weapon with wand-style stun finishers. It offers another combat option for players drawn to spellcasting but who also want to fight at close range. The update announcement establishes the weapon’s style and finishers; it does not claim that the quarterstaff replaces other weapon choices or is universally stronger.
Rank #4
- L'édition Premium SteelBook comprend: le jeu de base Avowed, jusqu'à 5 jours d'accès anticipé, le SteelBook Avowed, la carte des Terres Vivantes, deux packs de skins Premium et l'accès à l'Artbook numérique Avowed et à la bande-son originale
- Vous êtes l'envoyé d'Aedyr, une terre lointaine, missionné pour enquêter sur les rumeurs selon lesquelles une épidémie se propagerait dans les Terres Vivantes, une île pleine de mystères et de secrets, de dangers et d'aventures, de choix et de conséconsés. quences, et d'une nature sauvage
- Explorez une île qui abrite de nombreux environnements et paysages différents, chacun avec son propre écosystème unique
- Mélangez et associez des épées, des sorts, des armes et des boucliers pour vous frayer un chemin
- The compagnons d'un large éventail d'espèces se battront à vos côtés, avec leurs propres capacités uniques
5. Photo Mode makes the Living Lands a subject, not just a setting
Photo Mode lets players capture the envoy, companions, and the Living Lands from different angles. It is a presentation feature rather than a change to combat or progression, but gives virtual photographers a dedicated way to frame scenes and characters during a playthrough.
6. Quality-of-life polish smooths the experience
Obsidian highlights improved lighting and the ability to skip certain conversations that previously could not be skipped. Xbox Wire also notes that enemies now respawn in some areas. These are smaller changes than a new game mode or character system, but they can make revisiting familiar locations and moving through repeat dialogue more convenient. The respawn change applies to some areas, not necessarily every location.
When each addition matters most
- Starting a new character: New species, stat bonuses, and background boosts expand character-creation choices.
- Already partway through a campaign: The Party Camp mirror enables species and appearance changes without restarting; custom difficulty settings can also be adjusted mid-run.
- Finished the main story: New Game Plus offers another playthrough, with selective carryover and enemy modifiers.
- Looking for combat variety or a creative tool: The quarterstaff adds a close-range weapon option, while Photo Mode focuses on capturing characters and scenery.
Avowed is a first-person fantasy RPG available on Xbox, PC, cloud, PS5, Battle.net, and Steam, according to Xbox Wire. The Xbox product page lists Xbox Series X|S and Windows 10/11.
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