Avowed was a surprising delight to play for the first time. After a lot of questions about the shift in art direction from the teaser trailer, questions about the length, and a combat demo on the Xbox stage that had many asking if the game was earlier in development than expected, I’m happy to report that Avowed is feeling great, looking great, and offering a compelling story based on the early slice I played at an event.
My journey began just after the opening main mission in Avowed, and we’ve been sent on a task to find an Aedyran Expedition team. It turns out, as it often does with RPGs, that fate had other plans for them. Kai, our green-skinned companion who just happens to be voiced by Mass Effect’s Garrus Vakarian actor Brandon Keener, keeps things light-hearted with quips and remarks about this new area we’re exploring. The banter is welcome and sparse, only chiming in occasionally to make a quip, like when I paused to admire the view.
And the view is very pretty. Avowed has done a great job leaning into the art style the larger Pillars of Eternity series is known for and had me stopping to admire waterfalls in the distance and moss-covered structures that set the aesthetic tone for this mysterious cavern we are diving deeper into. Avowed’s world design is shaping up nicely too, and as I dove deeper I would discover walls that could be blown up to traverse a new path, or puzzles that would open a secret new area with a large chest if I threw my shock explosives at a few tucked away circuits I found by exploring off the beaten path, only to find a hole in the wall. These puzzles have the added bonus of revealing coveted loot like a powerful ring that would offer some choice stat bonuses for my character.
When I wasn’t exploring the depths of the oceanic cave I had to swim through it only to find myself facing off against a Xaurip. These are Lizard-like creatures with your standard human weapons like swords, shields, and bows, and they make for good fodder as you learn your beginning attacks. Combat in Avowed is much better than I had anticipated. You quickly become accustomed to using flasks to regenerate not just your health, but more importantly your essence, which allows the execution of your most powerful attacks. As the barbarian, I found myself stalking spiders in the caverns and plotting my attack. To begin, I use Kai’s ability Fire and Ice via the radial wheel you access by holding down the left bumper (if you’re playing with a gamepad, obviously). Fire and Ice sees Kai Teleport to the target and then unload a powerful bullet into the spider’s Chelicerae, aka its face. Then I command him to use his area of effect attack, Leap of Daring, that has him slam into the ground and briefly stun everyone around him. During that time I’d been closing the gap, and using the two weapons I first charged up my right-handed axe which offers a powerful attack that inflicts frost damage accumulation to nearby enemies. After holding the right trigger to empower this attack I manage to freeze my opponents for just a moment. Then I unleash my more powerful essence abilities. First I shout to push back the smaller spiders who are also surrounding me, and while stunned, I then select charge and ram my body with force into the biggest guy in the room. Then, I follow it up with a flurry of blows with the left trigger, which holds my nimble sword for a small flurry of strikes that results in the dispatch of the last spider standing in the room.
Later, I would return as a mage, which was described as the most difficult of the three classes available to use. Abilities for this character included an ethereal staff that you could materialize with essence, orb projectiles that would track your target, and standard attacks that had you flicking your wand to and fro while smaller spells did damage to your target. Additional Essense abilities included a spear that was a bit faster than the staff (as you’d expect), and several different protection or buff spells to help your hits land with a bit harder thud. My personal favorite, however, was an ability that had you snap your book of magic shut to send a wave of damage-dealing aura at everything around you. It just looked cool seeing a book wreck everything in the immediate vicinity.
Make no mistake though, combat was also challenging. I was chugging potions with recklessness as I knew this was just a demo, but it was clear that you’ll need to master the balance between your spell casting, defense, and gear options for maximum efficiency. Digging into the menus, I found that you could spec out your character with a 2nd weapon set that would be accessed with the press of the Y button on the controller. The potential that something so simple offers had me excited because with one press you could access a significantly different playstyle. Combat felt clean, intuitive, and had a depth I didn’t expect. I can’t wait to dive into it more. And fortunately, the oomph of your attack animations that many felt were missing from a demo on the Xbox stage earlier this year have seemingly been implemented; enemies react how you’d expect them to when you slash them with a sword or blast them with a spell.
Eventually, on our journey, Kai and I would run into Caedmon, a young explorer who had managed to survive the Xaurip assault. His friends from the expedition team weren’t so lucky, however. After lamenting that he’s “never touched a girl” and his looming fate wasn’t fair, we were given several conversation options:
- “Kai, we can’t let this kid die a virgin. Can you help him?”
- “Give Caedmon a healing option. Let’s get you back on your feet!”
- “Toughen up kid. I’m not wasting my supplies on you.”
I, of course, picked the top one.
Kai responded: “Not with that… OH you mean with healing him.” He would then go on to make me offer my potion instead. Caedmon was back on his feet and offered us some advice that would help us continue our journey.
But because I also wanted to try out combat as a Mage, I got to see what happened if you always picked the bottom option. “Toughen up Kid!” my character shouted. Caedmon said something Kai called nonsense, and pleaded with me to help him. I however refused to offer him the life saving potion, resulting in his immediate death. Did I loot his corpse? You’re damn right I did.
It’s situations like this that will make Avowed really stand out if they are plentiful enough. Can you really be that evil? Apparently so, and I look forward to doing a sane-person playthrough where I don’t murder everyone if I can avoid it, and a playthrough where I’m the biggest jerk possible because… well, that’s where the fun lies now, isn’t it?
The demo ended with an encounter where we met Sargamis. Sargamis is a gold-skinned deity-like creature who sent us to find an item and return it. But like our explorer friends from earlier in the demo, there were other plans afoot and it wasn’t long until we came face-to-face with the Skeleton boss and a pesky Skeleton priest that would heal the large group of enemies we were facing off against. This was all triggered immediately after getting to the object Sargamis sent us to retrieve, to which Kai quipped, “It can’t be this easy… can it?” No, Kai, it apparently cannot be.
Once in battle and realizing I was greatly outnumbered, I ran out of the room to survey the battlefield. After taking out a few of the lower rank-and-file skeletons just outside of the priest’s healing aura, I identified the one thwarting my plans of murder (can you murder a skeleton?) and I turned his bones to ice and dust. Just as I had cleared the grunts, I was finally ready to take on the Skeleton boss with Kai, but just as I had him on the ropes…. The power in the building went out for everyone playing the demo.
It’s OK, though, because Avowed had made its impression. My doubts about it have faded away, and I’m left excited for its release in February. This small slice Obsidian gave us the opportunity to play was a treat, and while it’s a tiny glimpse, our 50-minute demo session flew by in the blink of an eye. And that’s always a good sign.