Avowed

Avowed
Details
Developer(s)	Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Xbox Game Studios
Type	Game
Genre	Action role-playing game
Mode	Single player
Platforms	Microsoft Windows Xbox Series X/S Xbox Game Pass
Release date	February 18, 2025
Engine	Unreal Engine 5.3
Icon
Credits
Director	Carrie Patel
Designers	Gabriel Paramo (gameplay) Raison Varner (sound) Constant Gaw (region) Roberto Ritger (region)
Artist	Matt Hansen
Writers	Kate Dollarhyde Paul Kirsch Robert Lo
Composer	Venus Theory
All credits

“

Forge your destiny.

”

Avowed (original working title Project Alabama) is an upcoming single-player fantasy action role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. It was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase on July 23, 2020, and is set to be released on February 18, 2025 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Game Pass, and Microsoft Windows.

Set in the world of Eora, it is a spin-off of the Pillars of Eternity series.

Setting

See also: Avowed world map

Avowed takes place in the fantasy world of Eora, on the far northern continent and island of The Living Lands. The Living Lands is an undiscovered frontier, home to bustling port towns and rolling hills and valleys adorned with weird and fantastical plant life. It's a dramatic landscape full of different unique biomes and is host to a diverse range of ecosystems.

The game takes place over four regions, including Dawnshore, a coastal region which is overlooked by the Eastern Overlands, containing the bustling port city of Paradis, where the player first embarks upon the continent, Emerald Stair, a lush and hilly region and the town of Fior a settlement of animancers, Shatterscarp, an arid environment containing the Rauataian settlement of Thirdborn on the coastal cliffs, and Galawain's Tusks, a rocky mountainous area with an active volcano nearby with the pargrun dwarven keep of Solace.

Many factions have established colonies on the Living Lands, including the Aedyr Empire, Príncipi sen Patrena, Eir Glanfath, Rauatai, Vailian Republics, and other smaller populations.

Fungi is a consistant theme in all of the regions in the Living Lands. Fungal growths and mycelium of all kinds are commonplace, and are emblematic of symptoms of the dreamscourge, and its effects on the land and the plants and animals.

The settings of Avowed do not overlap with the settings explored the Pillars franchise.

Plot

“

Is an oath worth the weight of a crown?

”

~ Teaser trailer tagline

In the game, you assume the role of an envoy from the Aedyr Empire, the personal representative of the emperor who is tasked with investigating rumors of a spreading plague corrupting souls on the distant island of The Living Lands. As a threat to the Aedyran Empire and its interests in the region, the emperor sends you to uncover the source of the plague and put an end to it. Locals in the Living Lands agree that something must be done, but are wary of the Empire's encroaching presence on the frontier.

Meanwhile, Inquisitor Lödwyn, leader of The Steel Garrote, an extremist paladin order from Aedyr – believes there's something more sinister at play and calls on you not only to eradicate the Dreamscourge, but also to bring the island's unruly factions to heel. She believes that the scourge is symptomatic of a larger problems, the disunity, destruction and chaos in the Living Lands.

Giatta, a companion you meet on your journey, has a different perspective on the chaos in the Living Lands. Unlike others who may want to control or stop it, Giatta believes this chaos is an intrinsic part of the Living Lands' identity and what makes it special. She wants you accept the wildness, cherish it and even nurture it. She pushes you to uncover the Lands' secrets and mysteries, so you may become its protector against external threats.

Ultimately, the player is given three choices: put an end to the Dreamscourge, tame its chaos that plagues the Living Lands, or become its sole protector.

As a godlike, being with a unique physical appearance due to a connection to one of the game's deities, the player does not know what god they're attributed to, which is a mystery the player has to uncover themselves throughout the course of the game.

As you delve into the mysteries of the Living Lands, you discover a personal connection to the land itself and its inhabitants. You encounter danger, adventure, and secrets that gradually unveil an ancient and perilous secret threatening to destroy everything. As the forces behind this ancient secret aim to tear apart the island and your soul, it falls upon you to save both.

Chronologically, Avowed takes place shortly ("a few years") after the events of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, but is not narratively connected to it. This would place the start of Avowed at around the year 2830 Anni Iroccio. In an interview with Eurogamer, Carrie Patel explained that the stories are "as separate as the continents they take place on", and that the changes set into motion by the god Eothas at the end of Deadfire "slowly change the world over generations, not overnight."

During a podcast in early 2024, Patel stated that Avowed's plot would be a grounded political story, with a framework of conflicting factions, nations and people, alongside a metaphysical story of the gods, souls, and deeper, abstract topics.

Gameplay

Quests

Main articles: Avowed quests, Avowed endings

Choices and consequence are an important factor in Avowed, and have varing degrees of effect and how they cascade onto other parts of the world. For example, some choices can have smaller immediate and obvious impacts, others influence the outcome of companion quests and how companions view the player, and some have a significant impact on the overarching narrative, the main quests, and in turn the continent as a whole.

As the story unfolds, new areas open up, giving the player access to new main quests, side quests, towns to visit and dungeons to explore. Each of the regions are a leg of the critical path, containing their own series of side quests, and their own set of local concerns that, reflect more broadly on the larger stories of the Living Lands.

As with previous Pillars titles, many outcomes are a result of various choices you've made leading up to that point, making it possible to get different endings depending on how you play.

The overall playtime and the ratio between main quests and side quests is most comparable to The Outer Worlds, consisting of about 30 hours of gameplay.

Exploration

Main article: Avowed world map

The scope of the game is "more focused on depth than breadth," with a focus on narrative, stories and companions. It is less open world than that of titles like Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or Fallout 4, and more comparable in scale to Obsidian's past titles like Knights of the Old Republic II and The Outer Worlds.

The game is set up "as a series of interconnected and open zones that players can explore at their own pace", as opposed to a game where the player is dropped into a gigantic sandbox and is free to travel to any location they choose. Progressing the story unlocks regions in a set order, although the player is free to backtrack to prior regions as they see fit, up to a certain "point of no return."

Most of the world is explored on foot, with no mounts available. The player can swim and dive underwater, but cannot fly or glide, and can traverse difficult terrain by jumping, ducking, and climbing (limited to small ledges). A "parkour" system is present, which lets the player quickly vault over objects they'd otherwise have to walk around. Certain abilities may be used to traverse the world, for example Charge, which provides a way to close the gap between the enemy and the player in combat, may also be used outside of combat to zoom over gaps that would otherwise be too far jump.

This freedom of movement, while not a core part of gameplay, or as fully fleshed out as mechanics in Mirror's Edge and similar games, meant that developers were able to build more verticality into areas, and reward players who take the time to explore an area and get to a part of a level only accessible using parkour.

Some areas of the game are hidden behind "lock and key" mechanics, where in order to progress, the player must be able to bypass some sort of obstacle. An example shown in the Xbox Games Showcase Deep Dive was brambles, which blocked the path until the player used Fan of Flames on it. These instances may be overcome in a variety of ways to avoid situations where the player could be locked out, including having your companions assist you, or purchasing an item from a vendor.

While not exploring the world, you can return to the party camp, which serves as a narrative hub and a place to upgrade your weapons and skills. Companions always return to the party camp when not in your party, and you can talk to them there.

Perspective

The game uses a primarily first-person perspective, with most of gameplay occurring through the eyes of the player character.

Third-person is available as an option, although developers have described the game as "a first person game with a third person perspective", where the movement systems, combat, and animations were designed and tuned for first-person as a priority. The perspective may be freely changed to third person in middle of gameplay to let the player view their character, and is provided as an accessibility option for players who feel more comfortable playing in that mode.

Third-person was in consideration early on in development, and its inclusion was intentional because of the development time required to support it, which involved creating seperate animations for both first-person and third-person which are switched between as the player changes perspective.

Combat

Main article: Avowed combat

Avowed's combat has a focus on visceral real-time action using traditional melee and ranged weapons, in combination with cast abilities and spells. The player may approach combat encounters any way they desire, and can mix-and-match combat styles at a whim. Developers cited games like Warhammer: Vermintide and Vermintide 2 as the inspiration for the combat feel of Avowed.

Enemies must be approached with different strategies, and each has their own strengths and weaknesses. The game has a range of different unit types to provide a constant challenge, and convince players to mix up their approach to different encounters.

The game is systemic, where elements like water and lightning, fire and ice, etc interact with each other. These elements are applied in combat as a result of elemental damage from weapons, which results in statuses that apply as damage is built up, depending on the element.

Avowed gives the player some options to avoid combat, and employs dialogue solutions to be able to talk your way out of an encounter, or stealth options to avoid it entirely. Completing the game as a pacifist - without killing enemies - is not possible. Enemies are able to detect party members based on line of sight and noise they make, and call to their allies to help them if they detect you, so the player has the option to crouch down, hide in tall grass or behind cover, or use the wizard ability Shadowing Beyond to go invisible to avoid attention.

Conversely however, the game is restrictive on where you can engage combat, and who can and can't be killed. You won't be able to aggro an entire town or go on a killing spree, and quest-critical characters won't be able to be killed.

Weapons

Main article: Avowed weapons

A variety of weapons are available to the player, including melee weapons (swords, maces, shields, etc.), ranged weapons (bows and arrows, crossbows, and firearms), magical implements (wands, scepters, and grimoires), and throwable items (e.g. grenades).

The player can quickly switch between two present loadouts, consisting of different sets of weapons and off-hand items. Loadouts may be switched mid-encounter as the player sees fit.

Weapons are handled at different speeds, with some being fast, low stamina cost and typically low damage, and others being slow, high stamina cost and typically high damage. Likewise, the player may perform different types of actions, like regular and power attacks, stun, parry, block, modes that are shared by all weapons.

Abilities

Main article: Avowed abilities

Abilities may be cast in the midst of combat, with some abilities taking a long time and requiring free hands to cast, and some having a short cast time, and able to be cast even with your hands full. These abilities require essence to cast, but some abilities' effects apply permanently to the player.

Abilities are cast with a single pre-assigned key or button press, each with their own dedicated button. This extends to companions, who will have context-sensitive abilities that the player can ask to cast.

Into the Fray is an example of an ability, which pulls an enemy towards the user. Knock Down is another, which causes the user to charge towards an enemy. Tanglefoot binds an enemy for a time. Most abilities cost Essence to cast, and the player can only hold a finite amount of essence at a given time.

Difficulty

The game has a similar range of difficulty options to Pillars, from an easy difficulty made to experience the story and characters, which provides little challenge to the player, to a very hard difficulty which is incredibly challenging and punishing.

Progression

See also: Avowed abilities, Avowed attributes and Avowed upgrades

Experience points are gained by killing enemies and completing quests. As the player levels up, the focus is on unlocking abilities contained in a series of categorized trees, that are sampled from and progressed through. The trees are based on typical fantasy archetypes, and each play into a specific style of play or role in combat. Abilities themselves are able to be upgraded to be more powerful, each ability has 3 ranks that the player can spend points on instead of learning a new ability. Abilities are only gated by player level (with a few exceptions), not by stat requirements or other prerequisite abilities, so players won't have to invest points in areas they're not interested in to get to abilities they actually want.

Avowed is considered a "classless" game. Classes aren't present in the traditional sense, and players aren't restricted to a single set of abilities or weapons for a particular class, or railroaded into a specific playstyle that is often the case with a class-based system. Notably, ability trees aren't tied to dialogue options or significant gameplay outside of combat, such that the player isn't forced to choose between effectiveness in gameplay and combat versus effectiveness in dialogue and roleplaying options.

Attribute points are granted as you level up, which can be distributed into attributes to gain bonuses like additional health, damage, and resistances. But aren't required to be able to use certain abilities, and as such you aren't able to spec yourself into a corner by picking stats that are mismatched with your style of play.

The game gives feedback in the form of visual and audio cues to tell the player when their attacks are not powerful enough. For example, attacks that are weak result in muted and less "punchy" sound effects, and appear to be deflected more easily by enemies. This is used to tell the player that they need to upgrade their weapons or engage in other game systems to progress.

Players are able to easily respec both their attributes and abilities using in-game currency to try different builds and ways of playing.

Weapons are able to be upgraded and enhanced. The developers aimed to give weapons fewer but more meaningful upgrades between weapon tiers, so that the difference between two different weapons is more apparent to the player.

Character creation

Main article: Avowed character creation

The game features character creation, where the player is able to select from a number of options that define their character. The player's origin and role (of an Aedyran envoy) is fixed and unchanging. As part of the story, the player character is limited to godlike, a member of one of the kith races that have been blessed one of the gods, and which manifests as a unique appearance, typically facial appendages, and different coloured and textured skin. The player is able to change what that manifestation looks like, or hide it entirely (only for the player), as well as select the underlying race (which is limited to either human or elf, as Aedyrans are primarily those two races).

Things like your background, personality, appearance, and philosophy are up to the player to decide. Most character options have an effect on dialogue options, roleplay, and how the player is percieved by characters in the world, others directly impact game mechanics, while some options are purely cosmetic.

Dialogue

The player's interaction with other characters resembles Obsidian's previous titles like Pillars of Eternity, The Outer Worlds, and Fallout: New Vegas where dialogue options allow for different tones of communication. The developers aimed to strike a balance in writing these options, infusing them with enough personality to be enjoyable and engaging, while also allowing enough flexibility for players to inject their own character's headcanon into the choices they make.

Dialogue is branching, where the player can make dialogue option choices which influence the story's direction. Dialogue is often impactful, and changes the outcome of a quest, or affects the wellbeing of characters or communities. The choices made in dialogue aren't always simple or obviously "right" and "wrong", and can involve dilemmas that are more complex and nuanced.

Skill checks are present, which assess the player character's traits (including choices made during character creation, their Attributes), and the choices they've made in the past in the quests they've completed. These gated checks add complexity to the dialogue by giving dialogue outcomes certain criteria, making the world feel reactive to the player. Notably, no checks are based on random chance, only whether a threshold is met or not.

The dialogue in Avowed is fully voice acted, with the exception of the player character.

Companions

Main article: Avowed companions

There are a total of four companions in the game: Giatta, Kai, Marius, and Yatzli. Unlike optional recruits in other games, the companions in Avowed are required, as they are core to the game and are deeply intertwined with the story and the party. Each companion has their own combat specialities, unique personalities, and story arcs to explore.

Only two of the four companions may accompany you at a time. Some companions can be recruited at earlier or later, but they'll all join your party by certain known points in the game. When not in the party, companions can be found at a "party camp", where they can be interacted with, will interact with each other, and asked to rejoin the party. There are "a few cases" where you must include a particular companion in your party because their knowledge or expertise is relevant to the situation, otherwise it's up to you.

The player has quest-based interactions with companions, and talking with them can influence them down a particular course and shape the outcome of their story arc and personal quests. Companions don't have a strict approval system, and you won't have to "maintain" your companions and their relationship with you to keep them in the party. There are no romance options for companions, as there was in both Pillars games. Developers stated that adding these options would have been a significant resource investment, taking time away from developing a deep and meaningful non-romance path. Companions will often engage in "ambient" banter with one another, often in response to events and quest outcomes. Engaging with one-on-one dialogue with your companions and getting to know your them better lets you unlock certain bonuses.

You can issue basic orders to companions both in and out of combat, but you won't have to micromanage them, or pause to give them granular instructions. For example, you can ask them to interact with the environment, perform a basic task, or cast a context-aware ability. Generally, however, they will be able to fight on their own and assist the party without intervention.

Like the player character, companions also gain experience, level up, and you can choose where their skill points go. Each companion has their own unique skill tree which is focused around the combat archetype of that companion, and is not as extensive as the player character's tree.

News and development

See: News/Avowed

Pre-production

Avowed was in its early stages prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Obsidian Entertainment on November 10, 2018. The project was originally concieved by Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, within a year of the release of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. At that time, Obsidian was pitching the project to multiple potential publishers as the studio's take on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which has a massive open world. However, as development progressed, the studio chose not to imitate Skyrim's style of gameplay, and chose to work on a game that is more akin to Obsidian's previous RPGs, one that has a more confined scope but a heavier focus emphasis on story and characters. A long-standing comparison exists between Avowed and Skyrim, however, the developer has repeatedly emphasized in interviews that the game's scope is distinct from Skyrim's, presumably to set player expectations.

During the Obsidian 20th Anniversary Documentary, Urquhart said that he originally pushed for the game to have a strong focus on multiplayer, as a way to entice and provide a "more interesting" product to potential publishers prior to Obsidian's acquisition by Microsoft. This focus meant a significant amount of time and resources were spent attempting to restructure their existing development pipelines for features like quests and dialogue, which up to that point had not been geared for cooperative gameplay. Ultimately the game pivoted, and multiplayer was dropped to shift focus on things that Obsidian "was best at".

Obsidian posted a number of job listings in late September 2019, seeking applicants for range of roles, including artists, programmers, and game designers. Some of the listings mention "combat with an emphasis on an exceptional first-person melee experience", "combat actions utilizing both first and third person animations", "branching dialogue", "conversations and cut scenes", and "day/night cycles". Several jobs mentioned "experience with Unreal Engine" as a requirement. Microsoft's acquisition of the studio had driven attention and focus towards new intellectual properties as a result of the additional funding and support. Development on Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, another first-person title was wrapping up before its release in October 2019, suggesting work was ramping on a new title at this time.

Teaser cinematic and early development

Avowed was announced by Obsidian Entertainment on July 23, 2020, and a teaser cinematic was shown at the Xbox Games Showcase.

After the reveal trailer for Avowed was released, when asked, Josh Sawyer, the director for Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, said that he would not be involved in its development, and would only be giving advisory feedback on the project as the studio's design director. He said that he was not interested in directing, having suffered significant burnout from Deadfire. In a follow-up question, when asked how he feels about a world he helped create being in someone else hands, Sawyer stated that the Pillars universe is not and was never his, that the choices about what happens or does not happen with the IP are not his to make, and that it's a matter of intellectual property.

Later, in an interview with Tom Caswell during PAX West 2024, when asked about "what it's like watching the baton pass" to a new team, Sawyer said that he never considered the setting of Eora to be his, and while he personally likes many of the things in the setting, it's something he conscientiously worked on for Obsidian and for the company to use. He stated that Avowed is not a Pillars of Eternity 3, and that while it might appeal to fans of Pillars, it's made for a subset of those fans, and a greater audience. Sawyer stated that it's "less about completely recreating something", and that it's more about "maintaining enough continuity that the IP feels like its adjacent, like we're moving into a different space for the IP to be explored."

In June 2022, Avowed was rumored to have been going through development issues, as Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier stated in a forum post that it had undergone multiple reboots and directorial changes.

As of January 2021, Carrie Patel was brought in to direct the project, who originally served as a narrative designers on Pillars of Eternity and narrative co-lead on Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. By this time, the project had already pivoted away from its original multiplayer roots. In an interview during the Obsidian 20th Anniversary Documentary, Patel said that she was stepping into a role where the goal was to stay true to the Pillars of Eternity universe and create a game that was more approachable and accessible to those who hadn't played Infinity Engine games, or who may not have even played the original games at all. Patel and the team had to refocus and create a vertical slice in only 8 months' time.

During this time, the thematic direction of Avowed underwent a significant change. The teaser trailer presented a darker and more serious atmosphere. However, the actual game ended up emphasizing a more vibrant and dynamic world. In a 2024 interview, Patel elaborated on this shift, and said the goal was to align the tone with Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, encompassing a blend of grounded political intrigue, otherworldly mysteries, and moments of levity and lightheartedness.

The trailer itself was produced in a partnership with advertising and video production company Buddha Jones, who would also go on to produce the gameplay trailer and story trailer for the game.

Raison Varner was stated as the Audio Director and composer on the game, Paul Kirsch was confirmed as a senior narrative designer, and Constant Gaw is one of the game's "Region Directors".

Gameplay trailer

On June 11, 2023, the first gameplay trailer for Avowed was shown at the Xbox Games Showcase. It showed in-game footage and graphics, and confirmed the setting of The Living Lands, additionally detailing some information about the plot and gameplay. It was narrated by Kai, a coastal aumaua and one of the companions in-game.

A prominent still from the Gameplay Trailer, of the companion Kai)

Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart wrote a blog post on Xbox Wire, further describing some of the features of the game in reference to the trailer. During an exclusive interview with PC Gamer, Carrie Patel - the director of Avowed - gave more details about the gameplay, progression systems, combat, and the scope of the game. In an additional interview with Feargus Urquhart, Avowed was confirmed to be using Unreal Engine 5, where previously it had been based on Unreal Engine 4.

At Xbox Games Showcase Extended 2023 on June 13, 2023, in an interview with Tina Amini, the director of broadcast and events at Xbox Games, Patel elaborated on the gameplay trailer and provided some additional insight. She stated that Avowed was made for both new players and fans of the original series, but that returning players would recognize many tidbits. Notably, a couple of characters from Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire in particular were returning, as well as some of the factions and settings featured in both games. She also confirmed that the player is not a Watcher, but does have a soul connection with the Living Lands and the mysterious forces at work there.

Goodname Digital Art Studios were hired to create some of the concept art shown, including the portraits of Kai (and later of Giatta, Yatzli, and Marius) along with a series of cosplay guides featuring renders of the clothing, weapons, and accessories worn by the companions.

Devoted Studios, a company specializing in outsourced and co-produced content, were brought onboard to assist in the development of 3D assets for Avowed, including characters, creatures, props, and ships.

Developer_Direct 2024

Avowed's key art was first shown at Developer_Direct 2024, and received significant praise from fans.

On January 18, 2024, Carrie Patel presented a "deep dive" look at Avowed during the Xbox "Developer_Direct", alongside gameplay director Gabriel Paramo, who demonstrated the various combat styles available to the player, and art director Matt Hansen, who showcased the unique art that has been created for the game. Dialogue was also shown for the first time, featuring the companion Giatta who was originally seen in the first gameplay trailer. It was announced that Avowed would be released in "Fall 2024".

Shortly thereafter, on January 22, 2024, game director Carrie Patel and gameplay director Gabe Paramo made guest appearances on the Official Xbox Podcast. During the show, they offered an in-depth exploration of Leviathan Hollow, a location featured in the Developer_Direct. They provided more detail on the moment-to-moment experience of the flexible combat system, and discussed how this particular quest fits into the larger narrative of Avowed. Later that month, Patel and Paramo were interviewed by several media outlets, including Eurogamer and PC Gamer, and made appearances on more podcasts, including the Creature Cast and Dropped Frames podcasts.

In mid-2024, the game moved from Unreal Engine 5 to 5.3. The Coalition was brought onboard to aid development.

Story trailer and extended gameplay

As part of the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, 2024, Xbox Game Studios and Obsidian presented a story trailer for Avowed, alongside a blog by Carrie Patel, which gave players an insight into the story. The trailer featured narrations by the Aedyr Emperor, Inquisitor Lödwyn - leader of The Steel Garrote, and the animancer and player companion Giatta. During the trailer, a number of new locations were shown, including Fior, and a new unnamed dwarven companion.

Via a post on their site, Obsidian announced that the game would be released on November 12, 2024, giving it a specific release date. Shortly after however, the blog post was amended and the date was removed. In an interview with PC Gamer, Feargus Urquhart said that he's confident the studio will get the RPG out in 2024 as planned. PC Gamer speculated the change could have been to avoid conflicts with release of Assassin's Creed Shadows on November 15, 2024. Urquhart confirmed that Avowed is built on top of a lot of the systems that already existed in The Outer Worlds, as both games have a similar scope and use the same engine.

The first appearance of Yatzli, one of 4 companions in the game.

After the showcase, on June 10, 2024, Patel went on the Official Xbox Podcast to show a gameplay and story "Deep Dive", her second appearance on the podcast after the Developer_Direct Deep Dive in January. During the show, Patel and the hosts talked through the story trailer that was shown during the showcase. We were also given a closer look at a later region of the game Emerald Stair, where we met the other two companions in the game, Yatzli a hearth orlan, and Marius a mountain dwarf. Patel spoke more about the party camp, and showed some of the equipment, attribute, ability upgrade options in the game. We also learned that the game supports third-person perspective (in addition to first-person) as an option for players who prefer it. Patel revealed that the player character is a godlike, a being with a unique physical appearance due to a connection to one of the game's deities (previously, the player race was limited to human and elf). The player doesn't know which god they are connected to, which is a mystery to be explored in the game.

In a number of post-Showcase appearances, Patel and Paramo highlighted changes that the team had made to the feel of combat, some of which were a direct response to some of the criticisms and concerns that users had with those systems after the Developer_Direct in January. Paramo led a multi-diciplinary internal stike team made up of animators, VFX artists, combat designers, and UI designers, which ran for several weeks, with the single goal of improving the feel, weight, and impact of combat.

As of the Showcase, Avowed was considered "content complete", with the content, gameplay, and systems all finalized. The remainder of development time leading up to release was dedicated to polishing, playtesting, and bug fixing.

A cosplay guide to Yatzli was made available on June 11, 2024, which was followed by the cosplay guide to Marius on June 19, 2024.

On August 1, 2024, Obsidian was rumored to have shifted the release date of Avowed from late 2024 to early 2025. This was confirmed when Xbox announced via Twitter that the game would be released on February 18, 2025 to "to give players' backlogs some breathing room", likely to avoid conflicts with other games being released at the same time.

Gamescom 2024

The Avowed booth at Gamescom 2024

In the lead-up to Gamescom 2024, on August 17, a brief visual trailer on NVIDIA's website announced that Avowed would feature day-one support for DLSS 3 upscaling and NVIDIA Reflex low-latency on NVIDIA graphics cards. During the trailer we briefly see a character, Sargamis, a dawn godlike with gold-colored skin, and a large makeshift wooden statue or effigy, which resembles the adra titan carved in the likeness of Maros Nua featured in Pillars of Eternity, and more prominently in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire as the incarnation of the god Eothas.

At Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Avowed had a prominent presence in the Xbox area, with a booth designed to resemble a fortress in the visual style of the game, decorated with banners of the various factions of Eora, including the Vailian Republics, Príncipi sen Patrena, Rauatai, and Eir Glanfath, and The Envoy's personal banner. Attendees could watch demos of the game, pose for photos with themed backdrops, and purchase enamel pins of Inquisitor Lödwyn and three creatures found in-game at the Xbox Gear Shop.

Members of the press (and later the general public) were given access to a playable demo at Gamescom, where they could select from a few pre-defined character builds (Mage, Barbarian, Ranger) and play through a section of the game involving a search for a lost expedition in a partially-submerged dungeon in the region of Dawnshore, during the quest called Dawntreader.

IGN's Brian Altano and Stella Chung interviewed Carrie Patel, showcasing additional gameplay footage from Avowed, including unedited clips of the game's HUD and combat UI for the first time. The interview revealed that the game would feature a "double digit" amount of different ending slides, which - like Avowed's predecessors - consist of text shown at the end of the game in response to specific actions that the player has taken throughout the game. For context, Deadfire had over 200 sets of different slides, each of which corresponded to a different outcome of a quest or choice made during gameplay.

In a concurrently-running event in Los Angeles, some outlets were shown a demo featuring other builds and had the opportunity to interview different members of the development team, including region director Roberto Ritger, art director Matt Hansen, and production director Ryan Warden. In an interview on the Iron Lords Podcast, Hansen stated that they were targeting a minimum framerate of 30 FPS, a statement which later was the center of a controversy surrounding the expectations of performance on the Xbox Series X/S. Via a Tweet, Mike Dowling, director of communication, posted a screenshot of the HUD settings menu, showing players the amount of different HUD configuration options available.

On day 3 of Gamescom, August 23, 2024., Avowed was showcased in a feature presentation in which narrative designer Kate Dollarhyde and community support manager Chris Stanick played through the demo that was being shown during the show, while Dollarhyde talked about the different features of the game. Parts of the gameplay footage were previously shown in the days prior.

PAX West 2024

Following Gamescom, on August 31, 2024, Carrie Patel and area designer John Cotto appeared on a panel at PAX West 2024, where they talked about the transition from Pillars of Eternity to Avowed from a developmental perspective. The pair talked about how the prologue and the start of the game underwent a significant change towards the end of development, at first being one where the player was simply dropped into the world and set free, before becoming more of a structured narrative-driven affair.

Patel also spoke about the ending, and how it was also restructured to break it up and make it flow better. It was revealed that game has a set "point of no return" later in the story, but does not have post-game content, replayability comes from creating a new character, using new skills, and making different choices throughout the game.

In a segment towards the end of the panel, they talked about five different bugs that were encountered during development, and showed a trailer of the Dawntreader quest featured at Gamescom, with narrations by Matt Mercer.

PAX Australia 2024

Ryan Warden, Production Director on Avowed, spoke in a fireside chat with Stephanie Bendixsen at PAX Australia 2024 on October 11, 2024, going behind the scenes in a deep dive about the production process of the game.

During the interview, Warden announced that Venus Theory, a musician and popular audio production personality, had collaborated with Obsidian to compose the soundtrack for the game, being contracted around the start of 2024 to produce a score that was "recognizable but not generic fantasy" that drew inspiration from the game's key art. On Twitter, the Avowed account announced the partnership in order to "...bring the Living Lands to life with an immersive auditory experience", while Venus Theory himself made an announcement via Twitter and Instagram. It is unclear what role he would take following Raison Varner, the Audio Director on Avowed, who had previously been credited as the game's composer.

Latest developments

Avowed is Obsidian's third foray into first-person gameplay using their own setting, following The Outer Worlds and Grounded. It is developed by around 100 employees at Obsidian, with some work being both co-developed and outsourced. The game is currently in the final stages of development, and has a release date of February 18, 2025.

Gallery

• Gamescom 2024 Blog
• NVIDIA Premiere
• Showcase Deep Dive Screenshots
• Story Trailer Blog
• Story Trailer Screenshots
• Developer_Direct Extended
• Developer_Direct Blog
• Developer_Direct Deep Dive Screenshots
• Gameplay Trailer Blog
• Gameplay Trailer Screenshots
• Promotional
• Logos

Note: These screenshots are from the Xbox Wire article Avowed Hands On: Playing One Quest in Two Very Different Ways

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Note: These screenshots are from the NVIDIA DLSS 3 & Ray Tracing Premiere

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Note: These screenshots are from the Xbox Games Showcase Deep Dive, shown on the Official Xbox Podcast on June 11, 2024

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Note: These screenshots are from the blog post that was shown during the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, 2024, but themselves come from the Xbox Media Portal.

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  Story trailer banner shown on Obsidian's website

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Note: These are screenshots from the Avowed Story Trailer, shown during Xbox Games Showcase 2024.

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Note: These screenshots were shown during the Developer_Direct Extended Gameplay Breakdown on the Official Xbox Podcast, January 22, 2024.

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Note: These screenshots were shown on the recap blog post for Developer_Direct 2024.

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  Companions Kai and Giatta

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  The weird and wonderful lands

Note: These are screenshots from the Avowed Deep Dive, shown during Xbox Developer_Direct 2024.

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Note: These screenshots were shown on the blog post that accompanied the first gameplay trailer, shown during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023.

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Note: These are screenshots of the gameplay trailer, shown during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023.

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  Kai, a coastal aumaua companion

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Videos

• Official Trailers
• Deep Dives
• Interviews

Reveal Trailer (July 23, 2020)

Gameplay Trailer (June 12, 2023)

Avowed Story Trailer (January 9, 2024)

Avowed | NVIDIA DLSS 3 & Ray Tracing Premiere (August 17, 2024)

Avowed Deep Dive (January 18, 2024)

Avowed Extended Gameplay Breakdown with Obsidian | Official Xbox Podcast (January 23, 2024)

Xbox Games Showcase Deep Dive | Avowed (June 10, 2024)

Avowed - Demo Gameplay Deep Dive | gamescom 2024 (August 23, 2024)

Suicide Squad Impressions + Interview w/ Avowed Director - Carrie Patel | Dropped Frames Episode 377 (February 5, 2024)

Creature Cast - Obsidian's Carrie Patel & Gabe Paramo Return To Discuss Avowed (June 20, 2024)

Avowed: Obsidian's Handcrafted RPG - Kinda Funny Gamescast (June 28, 2024)

Avowed's Possible Endings Reach Into Double Digits | gamescom 2024 (August 21, 2024)

Talking Avowed with Obsidian Entertainment (August 22, 2024)

Exclusive Avowed Interview Ft ‪@MrMattyPlays‬ | Gameplay Q&A | Xbox Consoles 30FPS? | Gamescom 2024 (August 22, 2024)

Avowed: We Finally Played Obsidian’s Latest RPG and It’s Fantastic (August 22, 2024)

From Pillars of Eternity to Avowed: Exploring the Evolution of a New Game within the Pillars of Eter (August 31, 2024)

PAX Aus 2024 - Xbox Presents: In Conversation with Ryan Warden, Production Director of Avowed: Lifting the Lid on Production (October 11, 2024)

Notable points (reveal trailer)

• 0:14 Symbols to Woedica.
• 0:25 Statue of Galawain.
• 0:52 Aedyran symbols on sword, spelling "OATHBINDER" from top to bottom on left, and the reverse on the right, a reference to the deity Woedica, sometimes referred to as "the Oathbinder".

Notable points (gameplay trailer)

• 0:46 The coastal aumaua companion, Kai.
• 0:57 Adra pillar and animancy.
• 1:01 The player dual-wielding pistols.
• 1:03 Day/night cycle.
• 1:06 Xaurips, a maegfolc.
• 1:19 The player, Kai, and another companion.
• 1:22 Player casts a Fireball from a grimoire, and a number of other spells (likely Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring, Binding Roots, a missiles spell, and lastly Pull of Eora).
• 2:06 An ocean folk companion.

Media

• Cosplay Guides (Kai, Giatta, Yatzli, Marius)
• FanKit

External links

• Official website
• Developer website
• Avowed on Xbox
• Avowed on Steam
• Avowed Wiki - Fandom
• Wikipedia