I was facing a massive beetle when it stepped into a puddle, and I trapped it with magical vines before blasting it with my electric pistol, sending shocks through the water to hit some skeletons nearby.
Playing Avowed by Obsidian Entertainment was exciting because of its smooth combat and element combinations. It reminds me of Skyrim, especially with weapons in both hands. Using different styles like elemental pistols, sneaky bows, or throwing explosive jars was fun and hinted that there’s more to explore in the game.
Obsidian gave us an hour-long preview of Avowed at an Xbox event in Los Angeles, similar to what’s shown at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. The preview starts early in the game as you look for a missing expedition from the Aedyran Empire in the dangerous Living Lands. You play as the empire’s envoy and explore vast underground caves with a companion named Kai.
Avowed’s trailers show your mission is to find out what’s causing the Dream Scourge illness affecting people and animals. This sickness looks like a spreading fungus, but its exact nature is still unknown early in the game.
The cover art made me think of Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer and its movie adaptation by Alex Garland. Exploring the bright, beautiful underground cave filled with plants and glowing flora in the demo reminded me even more of it.
Art director Matt Hansen and production designer Ryan Warden were thrilled when I mentioned Annihilation during our interview. Hansen said everyone on the team brought various inspirations to Avowed, but Annihilation was significant.
“It’s a very vibrant world,” Hansen said. “Vibrant colors can be dangerous. We wanted to play with that contrast because Living Lands is supposed to be very dangerous.”
In Annihilation, a strange phenomenon isolates Area X, and an expedition goes in to study it with strange results. In the movie, they pass through an odd barrier called the Shimmer.
“It’s about duality,” Warden said. “The group’s hesitation before entering the Shimmer is like facing danger in Living Lands.”
Avowed is set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity but feels more like The Outer Worlds because of its first-person view and fast gameplay. Moving through caves involves jumping gaps and climbing ledges; it’s not exactly free-running but has lots of vertical exploration.
“Working on The Outer Worlds,” Hansen told me, “we realized we could go more vertical.”
Momentum is key in Avowed’s combat and exploration. There are running, jumping, platforming aspects, plus a short-range dodge move for combat or sliding from a sprint—just for fun!
Fans love discovering new moves.
“When you’re an isometric game,” Hansen said, “it’s slower than first-person combat games.”
As we went deeper into the cave with Kai (voiced by Brendan Keener), he commented on everything we found—signs of life not just from our expedition but also from hostile lizard-like xaurips and deadly traps.
We met Caedmon, a bleeding kid who worried about dying a virgin—classic Obsidian humor. You get multiple ways to interact with him based on your character stats and backstory.
Help him or tell him to toughen up; either way changes how he reacts or even if he survives! He directed us to Sargamis, an oracle who had set up traps in his underground temple.
Sargamis had little info about our mission but asked us to fetch something called the Splinter of Eothas. If you bring it back, he tries summoning his god using scientific devices—suggesting you sacrifice your soul!
You can convince him to use his own soul instead; either way ends badly for him—another character down soon after meeting them!
“Avowed isn’t purely comedic,” Hansen explained, “It mixes dark tones with light humor.”
Deeper into the cave after battling big beetles again, we found the Splinter on an altar. Taking it caused an Indiana Jones-style earthquake followed by a boss fight against the Godless Executioner—a tough skeleton warrior joined by other skeletons.
I played this part twice: once as a dual-pistol ranger sneaking around invisibly; another time as a barbarian smashing things with heavy melee attacks.
Though Obsidian gave us classic RPG types like ranger or barbarian for this demo , Warden explained that Avowed doesn’t have traditional classes ; you can mix weapons however you want .
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< p 디렉터 = " ltr "> Warden는 또한 리플레이 가능성과 여러 경로를 찾는 능력이 Avowed의 주요 초점이라고 말했습니다 . 한 플레이어가 투명화 주문을 사용하여 거대한 딱정벌레와의 전투를 건너뛰었다고 언급했습니다 . 그가 돌아오는 길에 전투에 직면할 줄 알았지만 지진이 동굴을 물에 잠기게 했기 때문에 그렇지 않았습니다 .
< p 디렉터 = " ltr "> 다른 사람들이 데모를 실행하는 것을 지켜보면 , 데모가 내가 생각한 것보다 짧다는 것이 분명합니다 . 빠르게 진행하고 우회하지 않으면 몇 분 만에 전체를 클리어할 수 있습니다 . 하지만 나는 동굴 퀘스트에서 한 시간 동안 전리품을 읽고 , 구석구석을 확인하고 , 숨겨진 스위치를 쏘아 열리는 비밀 위치와 측문을 찾았습니다 . 데모는 길지 않았지만 볼거리와 할거리가 가득했습니다 .
< p 디렉터 = " ltr "> 나는 Skyrim 같은 완전한 오픈 월드 게임이 아닌 Avowed에 대한 Obsidian의 접근 방식에 대해 Hansen과 Warden에게 물었습니다 . 대신 개발자는 맵을 탐색할 수 있는 여러 개의 크고 개별적인 영역으로 구성된 ‘ 오픈 존 ‘ 이라고 부릅니다 .
< p 디렉터 = “ ltr ” >< 강한 > “ 당신은 게임이 시각적 관심과 할 일로 가득 차 있다는 것을 알았을 것입니다 ” , 한센은 말했다 . “ 레벨이 클수록 그 밀도를 유지하고 실행하기가 더 어려워집니다 . 그리고 우리는 콘텐츠에 집중하고 콘텐츠를 가능한 한 좋게 만들고 싶었고 큰 오픈 월드를 수용하기 위해 너무 많이 다듬는 것에 대해 걱정할 필요가 없기를 원했습니다 . ”
< p 디렉터 = “ ltr ” >< 강한 > “ 우리의 영역은 여전히 거대합니다 , ” Warden은 덧붙였습니다 . “ 그 중 일부는 터무니없이 큽니다 . ”
< p 디렉터 = “ ltr ” > 데모는 내가 Sargamis에게 Splinter를 반환한 직후 종료되었습니다 ( 실제로 그는 자신의 영혼을 조각상에 항복하기 직전에 게임 스테이션의 전원이 꺼졌습니다 ). 탐험대가 어떻게 되었는지는 여전히 알 수 없습니다 . 그러나 노트와 책을 파고들며 두 캐릭터와 대화를 나누면서 Living Lands의 광대한 깊이에 대한 매력적인 통찰력을 얻었습니다 . 게임에 대한 나의 짧은 시선에도 불구하고 그것은 잠재력으로 가득 차 있었습니다 , 재미있고 재미있는 순간과 매혹적인 캐릭터들 , 풍부한 전통과 역동적인 전투 시스템이 그 모든 것을 뒷받침하고 있습니다 . Avowed는 Obsidian의 RPG를 깊고 매혹적인 경험으로 만드는 모든 요소를 포함하면서 스튜디오가 크게 도약하는 것처럼 보입니다 . 그것이 얼마나 큰 걸음인지는 게임이 PC , Xbox Series X | S 및 Xbox Game Pass에서 2025년 출시될 때 더 명확해질 것입니다 .
