Avowed, the upcoming open-world fantasy RPG from Obsidian Entertainment (Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds), is set to launch later this year. Set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian’s previous RPG which has been described as a spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale, Avowed looks set to lean heavily into Skyrim first-person RPG territory when it drops in 2024.
Avowed was first announced in 2020, and looks set to bring magic, dynamic combat, and branching storylines where player choice reigns supreme to the world of Eora. A new open-world RPG is always an exciting prospect, given the lofty heights we’ve seen other games of the same genre reach in the past few years (including Baldur’s Gate 3 & Dragon’s Dogma 2), and Avowed is no different.
Ahead of the game’s planned release window later this year, we’ve collated everything we know so far about Avowed into one spot. We’ll be updating this as more information drops, so if you’re keen to jump into Obsidian’s world once more, be sure to check back regularly for all the latest.
Avowed News and Leaks
- January 30, 2024: Obsidian’s Avowed Won’t Have Romance Options, Sorry
- Obsidian says Avowed won’t have romanceable NPCs because a) it just isn’t that kind of RPG and b) they don’t wanna (which is fair).
- January 24, 2024: Avowed Shows Off Slick Movement, Reveals First Companions
- Avowed, the new fantasy RPG from the team behind Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, continues to look sick as hell.
- January 19, 2024: Avowed Deep Dive Showcases Combat, Player Choices, And A Wild World
- A deep dive into upcoming Obsidian RPG Avowed shown during the Xbox Developer Direct features diverse combat, player choice, and wild lands.
Avowed: Release Date
There currently isn’t a confirmed Avowed release date, but we do have a release window of fall 2024 – that’s spring for the Southern Hemisphere, placing it somewhere between September and November. Given we’re hurtling fast towards the back end of 2024, we’d expect to see an announcement pretty soon for when we can jump into Eora.
Avowed: Platforms
Avowed will release on Xbox Series X|S and PC via Xbox and Steam, and will be available day one on Game Pass.
Avowed: Trailer
Over the last four years, there’s been a number of Avowed trailers, as well as a gameplay deep dive during the January Xbox Developer Direct. You can check them all out below:
Avowed Story
As mentioned, Avowed is set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity in the world of Eora. Obsidian studio head Feargus Urquhart told Xbox Wire last year that the upcoming game would “bring a new perspective, a new way to fight, and a new land to explore in the world of Eora.” As the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, you’re sent to the mysterious island of the Living Lands to investigate rumours of a spreading plague. However, during your travels, you discover a personal connection to the mysterious lands you journey to, and an “ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything.” You’ll have to try and save the island, and yourself, from the dark forces at play – all the while uncovering the secrets of a world shrouded in mystery.
Avowed: Gameplay
While Pillars of Eternity opted for the classic top-down RPG style, Avowed leans more into the first-person RPG gameplay of titles like Skyrim, in keeping with the trend of many major RPGs from the last decade. There’s at least one companion, Kai, that we’ve seen in trailers so far, although it’s likely there’ll be plenty more able to join players on their journey through the Living Lands when the game releases. It’s been confirmed that while you’ll be able to befriend your allies and join them in uncovering their own personal stories and struggles, players won’t be able to romance them.
When it comes to combat, Avowed embraces a wide range of combat playstyles and options, from melee, ranged battles with guns, to spell slinging with dual wands. Gameplay director Gabriel Paramo says the team had developed a “flexible combat system,” which allows for quick switching between loadouts depending on player preference in the heat of battle. Different abilities like Tanglefoot (which appears to bind enemies to one spot using roots and vines) can be used to tactically take down multiple enemies without getting swarmed, with another gameplay snippet from the January deep dive showing the player freezing an enemy before shattering them with their offhand weapon.
The Avowed gameplay trailer also spotlights a range of different enemies with various combat tactics themselves – from highly defensive foes, groups with healing capabilities, to powerful creatures that employ brute force to knock you down. Overall, combat appears to be highly customisable thanks to the seamless switching between weapons, with Paramo saying Obsidian has created a system that goes beyond hack-and-slash gameplay to bring strategy and tactics to the forefront.
Beyond combat, player choice appears to be at the forefront of Avowed’s gameplay. Game Director Carrie Patel said the game would embrace “moral nuance and grey areas, trusting players to make tough decisions in complicated situations.” Players will get to see the consequences of their actions play out depending on their choices, both for better and worse – and the branching options seem almost endless, based on the previews we’ve seen so far.
Avowed: Review
When the game drops later this year, we’ll update this piece with any Avowed reviews or previews.
Are you excited to play Avowed? Let us know what you’re most keen for in the comments.
Image: Obsidian Entertainment / Kotaku Australia
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