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Avowed is at its best when you are exploring the Living Lands and switching between weapons, spells, shields, and companion abilities in a fight. Its more uneven side is the fantasy story and the degree to which choices feel consequential. That split makes it a recognizable Obsidian role-playing game, but not an unqualified success.
What kind of RPG is Avowed?
Avowed is a single-player first-person fantasy role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment, set in the Living Lands of Eora. Xbox Game Studios published it, and Obsidian lists its release date as February 18, 2025. The official game page describes its combat as a mix of melee weapons, ranged attacks, spells, shields, and companion abilities, with room to experiment with different play styles. Obsidian’s official Avowed page
Exploration takes place across distinct zones rather than one seamless open world. An Xbox Wire feature published January 24, 2025, described the design as a sequence of zones and framed dialogue, combat, and exploration as different ways to engage with the game. That structure gives the adventure a more directed rhythm than a single continuous map; it is design context, not proof that every player’s choices reshape the story. Xbox Wire’s Avowed feature
How does the combat hold up?
Combat is the clearest strength in Gene Park’s Washington Post review, published February 13, 2025. Park praised its feel and reactive physics, and the game’s mix of close-range attacks, ranged options, spells, shields, and companions gives encounters room for experimentation. The appeal is less about choosing one permanent role than about combining tools to suit a fight.
#1 Best Overall
- 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.
Park’s verdict was explicitly mixed: the review’s headline praised the fighting while criticizing the writing, and its deck called the game a strong combat-and-exploration vehicle with an uneven fantasy story. That is one critic’s judgment, not a measure of universal opinion or an aggregate score. Gene Park’s Washington Post review
What are exploration, story, and choices like?
Exploration
The zone-based layout supports a succession of places to investigate instead of asking players to traverse one uninterrupted open world. Park found exploration compelling. The official Xbox feature also presents discovering places and pursuing different activities as part of the intended experience, though promotional descriptions should not be mistaken for independent judgments about how rewarding each area is.
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.
Story and characters
Park found the fantasy narrative uneven. He wrote that he stopped caring about some characters, a criticism that points to a gap between the game’s role-playing ambitions and the emotional pull he experienced. Players who value combat and environmental discovery more than a consistently gripping cast may weigh that weakness differently.
Do choices matter?
The game includes dialogue and quest choices, but Park felt that his decisions did not matter much to him. That distinction matters: choices can be present without producing consequences a particular player finds substantial. Game director Carrie Patel, speaking in Xbox Wire’s January 2025 feature, said players would not have identical experiences and highlighted the pleasure of making discoveries independently. Her comments describe the design aim; they do not establish that choices have large consequences throughout the game.
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Rank #3
- 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.
What changed after the original review?
The live Steam description now lists features beyond the game’s original release presentation: New Game Plus, Photo Mode, two-handed staves, custom difficulty settings, freely changeable character appearance, and three additional playable races. Steam’s description does not specify the update dates for those additions, so they should not be treated as features assessed in Park’s February 2025 review. Avowed on Steam
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where can you play Avowed?
Obsidian lists Windows, Steam, Xbox, and Battle.net among the platforms or storefronts for Avowed. Xbox’s launch announcement also listed Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Battle.net, Steam, cloud, and day-one Game Pass availability. Store listings and subscription access can change, so check the relevant platform’s current listing for availability in your region. Xbox’s launch announcement
Quick Recap
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
Who is Avowed for?
- Consider it if you want first-person fantasy combat with multiple ways to combine weapons, magic, shields, ranged attacks, and companions, or enjoy exploring a series of distinct zones.
- Be more cautious if a consistently compelling story, memorable character work, or choices that feel strongly consequential are your main reasons for playing an RPG.
- When comparing it with another RPG, look at combat feel and build flexibility, how exploration is structured, the writing and characters, and how much dialogue or quest choices affect your experience. The cited material supports those as useful comparison points, not a universal claim that Avowed is better or worse than any particular game.
