Obsidian
Entertainment’s
newest
and
shiniest
RPG

Avowed
becomes
playable
today
for
anybody
who
opted
for
the
early
access,
while
everyone
else
has
to
wait
until
the
18th
of
this
month.
But
is
it
worth
paying
extra
to
play?
Well,
the
reviews
seem
to
indicate
that
it
might
be.

The
review
embargo
has
been
lifted,
and
based
on
over
90
critic
reviews
the
game
is
currently
holding
a

fairly
impressive
score
of
81
on
Opencritic.
That
would
put
it
at
roughly
the
9th
highest
reviewed
game
of
the
year
so
far,
with
Kingdom
Come:
Deliverance
2
currently
reigning
supreme
at
the
top
of
the
list
with
a
score
of
89.

Robert
Purchese
handled
the
review
for
Eurogamer,
awarding
Avowed
a
score
of
4
out
of
5.
He
talks
of
a
game
that
shows
a
surprisingly
tight
budget
in
places,
can
be
clunky
and
sometimes
feels
like
an
Xbox
360
title.
And
yet,
it
obviously
manages
to
overcome
some
of
those
issues:

“This
isn’t
the
triple-A
Microsoft-funded
showcase
I
once
believed
it
would
be.
It’s
closer
in
spirit,
perhaps,
to
the
double-A
games
that
had
their
heyday
in
the
360
era,
which
I
promise
you
isn’t
meant
to
disparage.
Rather,
it’s
to
invoke
the
spirit
of
that
age
and
how
many
of
those
games
overcame
their
limitations
to
become
classics,
with
a
clarity
of
vision
and
a
sense
of
fun
that
resonated
with
audiences.
Avowed
has
been
more
generous
than
I
thought
it
would
be
–
in
length,
in
heart,
in
depth
–
and
it
never
loses
sight
of
being
a
game,
of
being
an
adventure,
of
taking
you
places
you
would
never
normally
go,
or
of
simply
providing
a
few
dozen
hours
of
unabashed
escapism.
I
think
it’s
one
of
this
year’s
most
pleasant
surprises.”

Travis
Northhup
was
in
charge
of
the
IGN
review,
giving
the
game
a
7
out
of
10.
amusingly,
he
describes
the
game
as
having
abundance
of
bears,
“Even
when
it
really
doesn’t
make
sense.“That
probably
explains
his
bear
pun
in
the
closing
section
of
the
review
where
he
wrote:
“With
awesome
worldbuilding
and
stellar
character
writing,
Avowed
reminds
me
why
I
fell
in
love
with
Obsidian’s
RPGs
in
the
first
place.
However,
the
bigger
picture
is
that
it
plays
it
quite
safe,
with
a
by-the-numbers
fantasy
adventure
that’s
more
familiar
than
evolutionary,
and
there’s
bear-ly
any
enemy
variety
to
keep
its
swords-and-sorcery
battles
interesting
for
long. “

Over
on
VGC,
it
was
Chris
Scullion
on
keyboard
duty,
tapping
out
a
review
score
of
4
out
of
5.
He
was
impressed
with
the
game,
and
I
very
pleased
when
he
stated
that
you
can
wield
a
grimoire
in
one
hand
and
a
mace
in
the
other.
That
means
I
can
cast
a
magic
spell,
and
then
also
cast
my
favourite
magic
spell
known
as
blunt
force
trauma.
Anyway,
here’s
how
he
cosed
out
his
review:

“However
you
decide
it’s
best
to
play
Avowed,
we’d
certainly
recommend
you
play
it
regardless.
It
may
not
reinvent
The
Wheel
–
trust
me,
you’ll
soon
discover
that’s
a
great
reference
–
but
very
little
about
it
is
presented
to
anything
other
than
a
high
standard.
Whether
it
takes
you
25
hours
or
100
hours
to
reach
the
credits,
as
they
roll
you’ll
agree
it
was
time
well
spent.”

Youtuber
ACG
was
someone
else
who
noted
the
game’s
weird
focus
on
bears.
He
doesn’t
usual
the
traditional
ranking
system,
instead
using
his
own
unique
scale.
In
this
case,
Avowed
got
a
“Wait
for
a
sale”
rating.
Here’s
what
he
had
to
say:

“I
personally
had
a
great
time
with
this.
The
actual
fun
factor
of
this
game
was
higher
than
I
expected.
I
did
not
actually
think
I
was
going
to
enjoy
the
gameplay
and
I
didn’t
think
the
world
was
going
to
be
this
expansive.
Now,
at
the
same
time,
that’s
because
really
monsters
are
in
a
particular
place.
They’ve
made
that
quite
clear
for
months,
where
they’ve
been
saying
that
a
lot
of
these
enemies
are
not
procedurally
placed
or
in
any
way
random,
they’re
hand
placed
so
it’s
an
event-driven
style
game
and
in
that
way,
those
events
are
pretty
goddamn,
well,
eventful.”

To
my
surprise,
there
were
no
low
review
scores,
with
almost
all
of
the
critics
agreeing
that
it
was
in
the
7-8
range.
But
in
an
effort
to
balance
things
out
I
did
browse
the
reviews
to
find
a
lower
one.

Stacey
Henley
was
the
voice
of
The
Gamer
for
this
one,
writing
a
review
in
which
she
describes
the
game
as
“unfinished
on
a
deeper,
and
unfortunately
far
less
fixable,
level
than
simply
needing
a
couple
of
weeks
to
work
out
the
kinks.”

She
did
still
score
Avowed
a
3
out
of
5,
though.
She
noted
a
general
lack
of
choice,
simple
side-quests
and
that
“Every
avenue
you
explore
in
Avowed
feels
like
a
dead
end.”
In
the
end,
it’s
he
varied
approaches
to
combat
and
game’s
charm
that
helps
balance
out
the
score.
As
she
writes
in
her
conclusion:

“Avowed
is
a
valiant
attempt
at
fantasy
you
can
play
your
way,
but
while
it
delivers
well
enough
with
combat,
the
narrative
just
isn’t
there.
Too
ambitious
in
what
it
wants
to
do,
it
falls
way
short.
It’s
a
very
mediocre
version
of
the
masterpiece
it
tries
to
be,
but
it’s
also
a
solid
version
of
Just
Another
Video
Game.
The
story
goes
nowhere
and
all
ends
the
same
way,
but
maybe
the
journey
is
just
about
worth
it.”

And
finally,
I’d
recommend
the
excellent

Mr.
Matty
on
Youtube.
Despite
being
a
self-confessed
lover
of
Obsidian,
he
was
left
“bummed
out”
by
Avowed.

If
you
don’t
want
to
watch
the
whole
video,
here’s
his
summary
from
the
closing
minutes:

“Unfortunately,
Avowed
left
me
pretty
bummed
out
by
the
end
of
it
all.
I
was
like,
‘yeah,
it
was
alright
but
that’s
not
the
Obsidian
I
know.’
“

He
goes
on
to
say
he’s
still
very
hopeful
for

The
Outer
Worlds
2
from
Obsidian
as
that
is
being
handled
by
a
different
internal
team.
And
he
also
states
that
he’s
okay
with
Avowed
just
being
okay
given
how
much
of
Obsidian’s
past
work
he
has
loved.
After
all,
in
his
words

“the
drop-off
had
to
happen
somewhere.”