Avowed is the latest offering from big-hitting developers Obsidian Entertainment, who can boast The Outer Worlds, Pentiment and Fallout: New Vegas amongst their repertoire. With the latter of those games being a firm fan-favourite and one of the best action RPGs of all time, expectations were understandably high for this foray into a more fantastical setting with Avowed.

The game takes place in the same universe as the Pillars of Eternity series of top-down, turn-based CRPGs. However, the pivot towards a real-time combat system will no doubt garner comparisons with archetypal action RPGs like Skyrim and the other Elder Scrolls games.

So, with such pressure resting on the game’s shoulders (and hefty AAA price tag), can Avowed live up to the hype?

In Avowed, you take on the role of an imperial envoy who is sent to the Living Lands to investigate the Dream Scourge, which is a mysterious plague affecting the minds of the infected—so far so cliché. Your character also has access to a number of powers and revelations on account of their status as a Godlike (a chosen mortal representative of a divine entity). As you start your investigation in the city of Paradis, you’ll begin to unravel the enigma of the Dream Scourge, explore your role as a Godlike and, of course, get distracted by all manner of facile fetch-quests and companion-oriented side-missions.

Right out of the gate, Avowed presents a veritable visual feast in the form of a stunning opening cutscene and beautiful tutorial area. The island on which you begin your journey is vibrant and bewitchingly composed, in addition to being well rendered in a technical sense. The extravagant colour palette of pinks and blues really distinguishes Avowed, especially when compared with the dour beiges of other staple fantasy games like Skyrim or The Witcher.

Happily, this unique visual style extends to most of the game’s playable areas, with a few notable exceptions later in the game for narrative effect. Together, this has the rather refreshing effect of creating a coherent and genuinely novel world to explore, filled with some rewarding and breathtaking vistas, including eye-catching caves, sumptuous sea views and even a spectacular volcanic landscape. You may, however, end up feeling a little short-changed in terms of quantity, as the four playable areas are relatively small, and there are only really a handful of settlements to discover.

There are also some creative character design elements that make full use of the impressive art style, such as the many Orlan characters with their colourful fur coats. The possibility of adding mycelial and fungal protuberances to your custom character also feels rather unique and in keeping with the world.

However, there are a few issues worth mentioning. Firstly, whilst the general environs look great, the facial animations are positively Oblivion-esque, and some expressions look so forced that you’ll wonder whether your companion has taken a 10cc shot of botox straight to the face just before your conversation. The descent into the uncanny valley is steep and, in the post-Baldur’s-Gate-III world of today, this aspect feels markedly sub-par for a supposedly top-tier game.

On the whole then, Avowed does a great job at presenting a coherent and picturesque world that invites discovery and investigation, but struggles in terms of scope and when trying to capture living people.

Without a doubt, the most enjoyable aspect of Avowed can be found in its writing. The main storyline feels multi-layered, diverse and anchored to the location in which it takes place. Elements of the lore also feel well thought out and appropriate for the world.

The main thrust of the story and the mystery around the Dream Scourge is generally engaging enough to have the player constantly wanting to take a peek around the next corner, although some of the best storytelling is conveyed in the form of side quests. From rescuing lost patrols to helping a resident reclaim her house from some reptilian squatters, there’s a lot of variety. Whilst the twist endings can sometimes be a tad predictable for these quests, they’re normally executed in a way that makes them satisfying regardless.

One minor disappointment was that the game doesn’t always get the “show-tell” balance right. For example, characters often talk about Paradis being a sort of ruthless frontier town, where you have to fight to survive. However, aside from some bar fights and a few overturned barrels, the place doesn’t exactly feel like the wretched hive of scum and villainy it often purports to be. To this end, Paradis could do with a few more dark moments or seedy quests that make you feel dirty, but instead of displaying the true darkness of the city, everything feels a little tidy and uncomplicated.

The companion characters that travel along with you are interesting enough, but they don’t have anything like the depth and development of companions from, say, the Mass Effect or Red Dead Redemption series. In short, this means that the characters, and their personal quests, generally feel rather irrelevant and unintegrated. At their worst, companions can feel thoroughly one-dimensional.

Notable eccentricities can sometimes be found in the order of storytelling too. In one conversation, for example, the player is asked to elaborate on their relationship with Lödwyn, designating them as either a past lover or rival, among other options. The only issue is that Lödwyn hasn’t been fully introduced as a character yet, and very little information about her is available. This creates a rather jarring scenario in which the player is asked to roleplay with zero knowledge of the situation (unless you’ve played the previous Pillars of Eternity games). Whether this is a bold new approach that emphasises our epistemological limits as regards the consequences of our own actions or an odd oversight by the developers is still unclear. However, it can definitely leave the player feeling as if they have missed something.

Now, here’s the crux of the issue, Avowed’s gameplay is…just okay. It’s not breathtaking in its depth and complexity, nor is it completely meritless, rather it falls into middling obscurity.

When it comes to combat, you can pick between melee weapons, ranged weapons and spells, just like in Skyrim. You have a health bar and limited reserves of mana and stamina, just like in Skyrim, and you and your companions will clown on some generic enemies until their health bars are depleted, just like in Skyrim. However, it’s not completely derivative of Skyrim, as you can also deploy your companions’ special abilities, which feels derivative of Dragon Age instead. The only real innovation is that you can use flintlock firearms in Avowed…so I guess that’s something?

The issue is that everything that’s done here has been seen before—over ten years ago. It’s not bad, and it’s even reasonably enjoyable for the first few hours, but it gets old pretty quickly, and you’ll soon feel as though you’re having the same fight over and over again.

What about away from combat? Well, puzzles generally consist of hitting switches to open doors, and magic feels incredibly underutilised in general gameplay. Forget poisoning cauldrons, shapeshifting to fit through narrow passageways or stacking crates to reach a high ledge á la Baldur’s Gate III, the best Avowed can do is take you back to the clumsy parkour that plagued the 2010s.

The progression system is equally as uninspiring. Obsidian have decided to implement a system that is heavily based on gathering and crafting better gear, as opposed to gaining experience and levelling (although that does play a part). Presumably the idea was to encourage exploration in order to find materials, but in the end it just feels like the game is forcing you to do a list of chores before you can advance.

Avowed feels like the gaming equivalent of a middle child. It constantly feels as if the game is trying to find its own identity and emerge from the shadow of its spiritual big brother, the Elder Scrolls. It adopts eccentricities like flintlock weapons and mushrooms to try and seem noteworthy and interesting, and yet it still wants to borrow from the great action RPGs that have preceded it.

Had the game come out ten years ago, it would no doubt have been hailed as a great game, but gaming has advanced so much since then. Whether it’s the rich and beautiful world of Red Dead Redemption 2, the innovative problem-solving of Baldur’s Gate III or the intricate and challenging combat of Elden Ring, more is to be expected of modern games. This is especially true of a game that markets and prices itself as a AAA game.

In conclusion then, if you’re a fan of action RPGs, you already have Game Pass and you’re waiting for the next big game to come out, you should give it a go in the meantime—you’ll probably have a moderately fun time. Otherwise, save your money, because it’s not worth the price tag.

Score: 5/10