Avowed is quite simply the next game from Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind Neverwinter Night 2, Star Wars KOTOR 2, Fallout New Vegas, South Park The Stick of Truth, Grounded and especially the Pillars of Eternity series. which is considered by many to be the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate, before the third episode was released last year. Pillars of Eternity has grown so much within Obsidian that the studio decided to offer it a spin-off, in order to give C-RPG fans a treat. Four years after its announcement and a development that has not been easy, the game seems ready to defy the opinion of the press before that of the public. We were able to play it, I was able to play it, during Paris Games Week a few weeks ago, since the developers made the trip to the Porte de Versailles to present the game to us and above all allow us to play it. A demo of about an hour to test 3 different builds: Barbarian for those who like melee confrontations, Mage for cowards who like to stay at a distance and Ranger for people who like to pull the trigger. In 1 hour of time, I was able to test Barbare and Ranger and I’m going to give you my very first impressions, and you will see, there are some good and some not so good too…
Obviously, 1 hour of demo is never enough to form a clear opinion on a C-RPG of the caliber of Avowed, but it’s not bad to get a first idea of what awaits us on February 18, 2025 , its release date. First thing to know, Avowed will not be an open world, but rather a succession of open areas that we will be able to explore as we see fit. Some will see it as a disappointment, others will be satisfied with the loading pages between each area, but for Obsidian Entertainment, it is a way of refocusing their intentions and their technical ambitions. By choosing not to go with an open world, the developers can thus offer us a fairly satisfactory visual rendering.
OLD SCHOOL, IS IT COOL?
As you can see in these 4K gameplay images provided by Obsidian (we were not allowed to capture our gaming session), there is a beautiful visual richness, with quite a few elements that make up the scenery. Well, we are far from a state-of-the-art 3D engine and it is true that this Avowed is even quite outdated technically, particularly in the animations which really look like a 2005 game, but the game will try to compensate for these technical shortcomings with artistic direction. attractive and systemic gameplay. And then, as you will have also seen, we move away from the usual Dark Fantasy atmosphere of the genre to offer something more colorful, with weapons that we can even customize as we wish. We’re not going to hide it, but heading towards this mixture of colors has a precise goal: to try to attract a wider audience, younger no doubt, even if the studio keeps specifying that there will not be no compromise on the gameplay which promises to be deep and interesting.
It is also on this aspect that the demo focused with these famous three builds available straight away so that we can have an overall overview of the gameplay. So we started our game session by playing the barbarian, because we like fighting, and the first thing to note is that fans of the Pillars of Eternity series are likely to be upset because the developers have abandoned the dimension tactical for a more action-oriented approach. When we told you that the objective is to attract another group of players, that also involves this type of choice, which does not displease me personally. Likewise, Avowed favors the first-person view, instead of the isometric 3D of Pillar of Eternity, one of the reasons why Avowed is also compared to Skyrim. This is not the only reason, there are others, notably in terms of the slowness of the fights, but we will come back to that in a few moments…
SKYRIM-LITE
What you need to know before we begin the discussion around the combat system is that despite the choice of a class at the start of the game, with the customization of your character to be done as well, nothing will be set in stone. It will indeed be possible to develop your character, in particular through three skill trees to redirect your choice if you ever change your mind. The idea is therefore not to frustrate the player by giving him a certain freedom in controlling his destiny, which is not to displease us. Moreover, always with the aim of attracting a greater number of players, the fights are in real time, without any active pause, with a more Skyrim approach even in the sensations. This is obviously something that could be interpreted as a quality, except that Skyrim is a game that dates from 2011 and indeed, in the feeling of the combat, we really have the impression of a game that is dragging its feet. It is generally quite soft, the fights lack precision, there is not much impact in the blows given, and it sometimes happens that we do not hit in the right place, due to the inertia of certain attacks that take too long to trigger, even though you can continue to move around an enemy. There are fortunately some more impactful attacks, notably the charging ones when playing the Barbarian build, but when we tried Ranger with guns to use, there was even less ferocity in the clashes.
Is this due to technical issues, a lack of know-how or a deliberate choice on the part of the developers to minimize the ferocity in the combat? The question is worth asking, but where Avowed will be more interesting in its fights is in its systemic interactions, with the use of elements that can change the approach to a fight. Using electricity to blast as many enemies as possible who have their feet in puddles of water, that’s the kind of thing that the combat system pushes you to do. Knowing how to handle the elements intelligently so as not to prank enemies one by one is also the secret of a good strategy. It is also up to us to fully understand the use of the spells available to the companion who accompanies us on this adventure, especially since a menu allows us to give him orders, which is also strongly recommended, as we can be overwhelmed by the waves of enemies.
THE GAME IN WHICH I AM THE HERO
The other strength of Avowed will lie in its narration and the roleplay side which should be pushed to the extreme. According to Obsidian, the player will find himself at the heart of numerous moral choices, with dozens and dozens of response possibilities that we weren’t really able to explore with our just 1 hour session. But the game promises great freedom like Baldur’s Gate 3 with sprawling possibilities so as not to betray anything of the legacy carried by Pillars of Eternity. We have nevertheless observed that depending on the approach we decide to take with the interlocutors, the conclusion can be completely different. It is possible to leave certain characters alive, or outright kill them, just like shortening a dialogue which can end in a duel, as with Sargamis who can change his attitude completely. An hour of play is short for a title of this caliber, but we were nevertheless able to see some important elements in the game. There is some good as you could see with the systemic side, the dialogues and the possibilities sprawling, but also less good, especially in the technique and the fights which lack conviction. In any case, see you on February 18, 2025 on PC and Xbox for the final verdict.