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Reviewed with the current game in mind, including the February 2026 anniversary update and PS5 release. Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG with flexible weapon-and-magic combat, consequential choices and a story set in the world of Pillars of Eternity. It is worth playing if you want a character-focused adventure where exploration and role-playing matter as much as fighting—not because it is an uninterrupted open world or because every choice has an obvious outcome.
What is Avowed?
Developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios, Avowed is set in Eora, the setting introduced in the Pillars of Eternity games. You play an envoy of Aedyr sent to investigate a spreading plague in the Living Lands. The assignment becomes personal, while an ancient threat complicates what might otherwise be a straightforward investigation. Obsidian’s official game page describes the game and its premise.
You do not need to treat Avowed as a direct continuation of Pillars of Eternity to understand its central setup. Its appeal is the combination of fantasy adventure, dialogue, exploration and real-time combat, with companions joining the journey.
What is Avowed like to play?
Combat lets you mix weapons and magic
Combat is built around combining options rather than sticking to one prescribed style. Swords, shields, guns, bows and spells all feature, and companions contribute abilities of their own. That mix supports switching approaches as encounters change. In the 2026 update, Obsidian added the quarterstaff as another weapon type.
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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.
Choices have consequences, but not always clear signposts
Avowed gives conversation and action choices weight across quests, relationships and the people and places in the Living Lands. Not every consequence is announced in advance. Xbox Wire quoted Region Director Berto Ritger describing effects that can reach “entire settlements, individual people, groups of people.” That is a useful way to approach the role-playing: consider what your character would do, but do not expect the game to label every decision as a major branching point.
The game also aims to preserve uncertainty rather than presenting one obviously correct response to every problem. Narrative Designer Kate Dollarhyde told Xbox Wire that the team wanted quests to be legible without making the answer obvious each time. The result is a story-led RPG in which exploring, talking and deciding are all part of the play, not just pauses between fights. Xbox Wire’s January 2025 feature discusses the developers’ approach to choices and regions.
Regions, not one seamless open world
The Living Lands are divided into sequential regions rather than presented as one uninterrupted open world. Xbox Wire’s account frames this as a deliberate design choice: it lets the developers shape pacing and give each region a coherent story. If your ideal RPG is a single vast map you can cross freely from the start, Avowed’s structure may not be the fit you want.
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.
What did the Avowed anniversary update add?
The game has changed since its original February 18, 2025 release. Obsidian’s February 17, 2026 anniversary update added the following features:
- Three playable races, expanding on the existing human and elf choices.
- New Game+ for another playthrough.
- Custom difficulty modifiers.
- Photo Mode.
- The quarterstaff weapon type.
- Quality-of-life changes.
The anniversary announcement also notes earlier additions, including more fighter and ranger abilities and an arachnophobia mode. The PS5 release includes the updates released during the preceding year, so a new PS5 player is not starting with the original launch build. See Xbox Wire’s anniversary update announcement for the official feature and platform details.
Is Avowed on PS5, Xbox and PC?
Yes. In its February 17, 2026 announcement, Xbox Wire listed Avowed for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, Xbox Cloud, PlayStation 5, Battle.net and Steam. The PS5 version is a current release, not an announced future port. Platform availability and editions can vary by region and change over time.
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.
How the PS5 version compares
TechRadar’s Matt Cabral reviewed Avowed on PS5 Pro on March 6, 2026, reporting just over 40 hours of play, primarily on that console, and comparisons with standard PS5 and Xbox Series X. The review praises the story, action, characters, world and anniversary update, and calls out the DualSense adaptive triggers and haptics as a particular strength.
Cabral reports standard quality and performance options, plus a middle option for 120Hz displays. In that reviewer’s experience, standard PS5 and PS5 Pro looked and performed similarly, with little meaningful Pro-specific enhancement. These are one reviewer’s observations, not a universal performance benchmark. Read TechRadar’s PS5 Pro review.
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Xbox Wire’s February 2026 platform announcement lists Avowed as available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, and identifies it as an Xbox Play Anywhere title. Those are access options in the announcement, not a guarantee that the game remains in a particular subscription tier or is available on identical terms everywhere. Check the current Game Pass catalog and local store before subscribing or purchasing.
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
The same announcement listed standard and premium editions at $49.99 and $59.99, respectively. Those were listed prices as of February 17, 2026; they are not a claim about today’s price or regional availability. Xbox Wire’s platform announcement has the dated details.
Who should play Avowed?
Avowed is a strong fit if you want a fantasy RPG that combines first-person action with companion abilities, dialogue choices and a setting shaped by your decisions. It also makes sense for returning players interested in New Game+, extra character options, new difficulty controls or the quarterstaff.
It is a less obvious match if you want a seamless open-world map or expect every consequence to be explicitly signposted. On PS5, the DualSense features are a concrete platform advantage cited by TechRadar; the same review found little reason to choose PS5 Pro over standard PS5 specifically for enhanced performance. No aggregate review score or sales figure is needed to make the case: Avowed’s appeal depends on whether its blend of action, discovery and role-playing is what you want.
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