"Avowed" played: Adventures in the "Pillars of Eternity" world

Contents

“Avowed” begins the way good role-playing games begin: shipwrecked on some beach. As an imperial envoy, you are sent to inspect an island colony where a mysterious disease is going around. Annoyingly, the shipping is ruined by cannon fire – because the soldiers stationed in a barracks have fallen victim to the aforementioned malaise and gone mad.

That sounds pretty depressing at first, but the story is not told in a particularly serious way. “Avowed” spares itself any emotional depth in its early hours. Instead, developer Obsidian endeavors to create an inviting fantasy game world that tells its story boldly and occasionally with a wink.

First-person trip in the Living Lands

Avowed” benefits from the already established story of the two Pillars of Eternity games, in whose universe the new offshoot is set. It is somewhat amusing that “Pillars of Eternity” 1 and 2 were probably also reviled by the mainstream because of their classic bird's-eye view role-playing game approach – and Obsidian is now switching the “Pillars” series to a first-person role-playing game at a time when Baldur's Gate 3 has made the CRPG genre socially acceptable again. Obsidian last gained experience with the first-person perspective with “Outer Worlds”.

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It is a real pleasure to explore the world of Eora, and more specifically the island game world of the“Living Lands”, from a first-person perspective. Knowledge of the established background story from the predecessors makes it easier to enter the universe created by Obsidian, which, like Pillars of Eternity Deadfire, combines island flair with an Aztec look against a colonialist backdrop. Those who are already familiar with the game will feel right at home despite the change in perspective. However, you don't necessarily need to have played the previous games to find your way around. “Avowed” stands on its own two feet.

Stiff dialogs

A kind of dialog glossary is particularly successful. It can be called up at any time during conversations with NPCs and explains names and terms mentioned during the conversation. This means that even newcomers know what the conversation is about. It's just a shame that you can't access the glossary outside of the dialogs.

The conversations themselves are well written, mostly comprehensible and entertaining. Unfortunately, they lack life: Compared to the dynamic dialog scenes from games like “Baldur's Gate 3”, “Avowed” just looks lame. The protagonist and his interlocutors stand straight in the landscape and stare impassively into nirvana with petrified faces, while their arms perform unmotivated alibi gestures. The result is awkward and old-fashioned despite the professional soundtrack (exclusively in English!). Too bad.

Slashing and jumping

Better implemented is the combat system, which surprises with powerful blows and swift dodging maneuvers. In combination with an amazingly competent parkour system, “Avowed” at its best moments brings back memories of the great “Dark Messiah of Might and Magic” – only the kick button is missing.

After the release of the first trailers, many fans feared that the battles in “Avowed” might be a little bloodless. Obsidian has taken this as an opportunity to make some improvements – fortunately. The battles with lizard creatures, grave robbers and black bears are extremely lively: melee weapons have fast and heavy attacks that need to be charged first, while precise dodging maneuvers allow you to avoid enemy projectiles and plot the sensible use of the numerous special abilities.

Those playing on the higher difficulty levels also have to juggle mana and life force bottles and control the special abilities of their companions. The word action in action RPG cannot be ignored in “Avowed”.

The battles are particularly fun because abilities also interact with the environment: Fragile walls can be brought down with various skills, wooden planks can be smashed. With ice spells, you can even create floes on water to get to the other side of a pond dry. But you can also simply swim.

Hyperactive aids

The game world invites you to explore at every turn. “Avowed” consists of a largely open map that is interrupted by linear sections. It's always worth looking in every corner: If you're observant, you can actually always crawl, climb or hop your way to some hidden loot. There are also little hidden stories and adventures to be found.

It is somewhat unfortunate that Obsidian has made its game world a little too easy to see through in the standard configuration: Loot glows brightly, exclamation marks above heads indicate quests, quest markers show the exact path to the destination and a minimap reveals items in the immediate vicinity.

Thankfully, all of these somewhat overused aids can be switched off in the options if you want to engage more directly with the game world. “Avowed” supports this completely: quest givers do not simply rely on the quest marker, but also provide directions that you can follow.

The island is calling

The early hours of “Avowed” are entertaining with a brisk mix of action, exploration, and curiosity. It's not quite enough for the big hit because the dialog sequences in particular show some technical shortcomings and the narrative ambition is somewhat restrained compared to the flagship games of the role-playing genre, at least at the beginning.

Nevertheless, Obsidian knows how to keep role-playing fans glued to their screens. This is not only due to the first-class combat system, but also the unique setting. The island world of the Living Lands awakens an irresistible thirst for adventure, which you can live out with relish thanks to the excellent parkour system. In return, you can overlook the one or other superficial flaw.

(dahe)