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Avowed is much more than Obsidian’s take on Skyrim

Avowed is much more than Obsidian’s take on Skyrim

Too many people are watching DeclaredObsidian’s upcoming first-person action RPG, and I believe this is the veteran RPG designers’ interpretation. Skyrim. Microsoft invited me to dive into a short preview version of the upcoming title, and after immersing myself in its world for nearly 10 hours, I can say that this game aims for something beyond the typical hack-and-slasher open-world. Declared it’s about the basic themes of man vs. nature, society vs. anarchy, and it’s packaged in a world that symbolizes those extremes. As always, the middle ground is the hardest to walk.

Obsidian’s legacy is so intertwined with Bethesda’s efforts over the last 10 years. It’s more than just how he designed the studio Fallout: New Vegas in just a year and a half, making a more complicated, nuanced and challenging game than Fallout 3 could ever hope to be, only to find its developers denied bonuses over Metacritic scores. The company released The outer worlds in 2019, a game that won the excesses of capitalism under the guise of a similar Fallout 4-as a first-person RPG.

Now, with Declaredpart of the player base wonders if Obsidian—in its latest act of rebellion—has created a Bethesda-esque fantasy RPG, but with a plot and characters worth remembering. The developer needs to know that these comparisons will occur. But then, this game feels more in Obsidians wheelhouse than any possible comparison you could make. The world and its characters are bathed in a kind of bright, ultraviolet (and sometimes ultraviolet) hue. Beyond that, though, Avowed is a game that simply plays better than many of its contemporaries.

Declared The opening act emphasizes the strangeness of the setting

When I first tried to get into Obsidian’s Pillars of EternityI found myself a bit horrified by the avalanche of fancy names, concepts, gods and curses (of both the esoteric and declarative variety). I had very little idea of ​​his world Declared to begin with, but the game is very good at easing the player into its weirder concepts. Best of all, it takes the same glossary systems you’ve seen from Tyranny or other modern RPGs and package it so you can read it, even with a controller.

Eora, decoration for both Pillars and Declaredit’s already weird. The souls of men are tangible things. The power you hold is based on the power of your soul and says that souls could be split, wounded or divined by magic. These souls are taken and recycled, which is why you may come across a lot of characters talking about souls being taken to the “beyond”.

Your player is “godlike”, a mortal being somehow born touched by a god. which god you don’t know All you know is that you have mushroom-like growths and horn-like tree limbs growing out of your head. It’s enough to make most people distrust you, but luckily you have authority on your side. You are the official royal emissary of the Aedyr Empire, commissioned by the emperor to go to the Living Lands to investigate strange reports of a plague.

Avowed Dawnshore Combat 1p Hammer Bridge
© Image: Obsidian Entertainment

These Earths are very Alive indeed. The first part of your journey lands you on an island just off the coast of the mainland after an unknown force attacks your ship and leaves you for dead. Heading inland, you are joined by a lone shipmate and eventually meet Ilora, a locked up native woman. You have the choice to either trust her and free her, or keep her in the cell and steal her boat.

You can immediately understand the assignments at hand. You are a representative of an empire, a colonizing force that brings “civilization” to people who may not want it. The Living Lands are full of rough-and-tumble types—exiles, bandits, and the like—who have come there specifically to escape the empire you herald. Not only do people fear you because of how you look, but also because of what you stand for. You can empathize with the natives, assert your rights as an official Aedyran, or find a middle ground between these extremes.

I only got a taste of the story in my preview demo, though what I saw left me intrigued enough to continue exploring. There’s a sense of something extra mystical going on with the ongoing plague, the mysterious voice in your head, and your connection to the scattered Edra stones. But what really excites me are the characters, of which your original companion, Kai, makes me the most excited to get back into the game.

Declared Gives player choice, even without speech skills

Any veteran of Obsidian’s RPG knows that the best and most engaging games happen with characters with the best social stats. However, there is no such thing in Declared. Instead, your dialogue choices are dictated by your background and six attributes. At one point in my demo, I came across a group of grave robbers. He happened to be at the tomb I was planning to rob. I asked if we couldn’t just let bygones be bygones, but their leader didn’t like that idea.

Perhaps a high powered ability allowed me to intimidate the grave robbers, but instead my Higher Perception allowed me to talk one of the bigger thugs, the weasleys, into retreating. It made combat a little easier, as things usually go in this variety of action RPG. I don’t know how many fights you can completely avoid with nothing but dialogue, but there’s usually some talking to be done before the arrows and fireballs start flying.

This was not the case all the time. You’ll find groups of Lizardman-like Xarips who don’t ask questions before throwing their knives in your direction. Another group of wild natives housed in abandoned ruins, who all happened to be a much higher level than me, beat me up and took my lunch money (AKA, I died) without warning. This is not the RPG where you can start killing civilians. I slashed and stabbed at docks and merchants alike and nothing happened.

Avowed Dawnshore Combat 3p Kai Xaurips
© Image: Obsidian Entertainment

This RPG expects you to play beautifully, at least based on what I experienced in my short demo period. This isn’t a Fallout game where you can be the biggest badass in the room and get on with it. If you want that experience, try Obsidian’s other CRPG Tyranny. However, you can work within the limits of being an official and autonomous person. That’s clear with your first companion, the affable and sardonic Kai.

Kai is an Aumaua, a race of beings with a large, mostly marine-based empire. At the camp, I talked to him for almost 15 minutes, learning about his life and, as he described it, many, many mistakes. He joined his country’s navy, only to become disillusioned and deserted. He then connected with a company of mercenaries, and after too many misadventures, finally ended up penniless in the Living Lands. He’s not exactly ashamed of his past, but you can tell he has regrets. His sarcastic wit, both in and out of combat, endeared me to him faster than virtually any partner in most RPGs I’ve played recently, practically as quickly as Karlach in Baldur III’s Gate.

Kai may seem like the kind of character that would inspire a lot of fan art and fanfic, but Obsidian has already made it clear that you won’t be meeting any of your companions. Is it disappointing? Not necessarily, especially if you’ve played any of Obsidian’s more recent RPGs, all of which are pretty much sexless adventures. Writing additional dialogue for romances is really time-consuming and creates problems when you have to write a speech for each character, which includes both intimate and non-intimate relationships.

The writing quality was solid throughout, though I would need to play a lot more before I could get a sense of the overall plot and various side quests. One of my initial searches involved a woman who claimed a hoard of Xaurips had invaded her home. As I cleaned them up, I found a journal and drawings on the wall that told me she was more into critters than normal. When confronted about it, she admitted on good authority that her soul was split in two between her and one of these scaly creatures. It was a short but subtly interesting twist on a very mundane quest. It may not be on the level of side quests for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but it bodes well for the rest of the game’s content.

Declared It feels familiar, but much brighter

If you’ve played Outer Worlds, you’ll get a sense of the battle from within Declared. In a game like Skyrim, your attacks just swing your sword in front of you like a kid playing stick fight. In Obsidian’s RPG, your attacks are basically missiles aimed at the enemy in front of you. Each swipe of a blade hits with a crunch of flesh.

Even the humble wand has a wild flair that makes you feel less Harry Potter and more wild west gunslinger. Best of all, crits have their own special animation depending on the weapon. The wand animation turns the small wand into a sort of mystical machine gun that locks down opponents with your spells. It’s fast and satisfying, though I wouldn’t exactly call it tactical. You might find an ability that can bind an enemy for a short period of time, but I hit the attack button so quickly that I didn’t even have time to think about which spell might work better in a given situation .

Docks declared Dawnshore Environs
© Image: Obsidian Entertainment

You start Of the declared prologue with just a knife, but by the time you’re done, you’ll have learned to use a bow, sword, shield, and grimoire, and choose a power based on your various attributes. You can duel wield anything that takes up only one hand. This includes dual wands, but also a wand and a shield.

The grimoire is particularly interesting. You draw power not by reading a word from the book, but by literally pulling the spell from the pages and throwing it at your enemies. This uses the “Essence” character, which you fill with—you guessed it—a potion. However, pick up certain skills in the Mage track and you won’t even need a grimoire to cast flame or ice magic.

You have true freedom to throw your skill points wherever you want. I thought I was going for a magic build, but when I found out you could duel flint pistols, I immediately started throwing points into the ranger skills. Soon enough, I could throw ice missiles and musket balls at enemies and still be able to dance around attacks while dodging.

The fight from Declared it’s crunchy, but on normal difficulty, it won’t set the neurons in your brain searching for the best maneuver to defeat enemies. It’s more about the show, and the game has some of the nicest RPG combat I’ve played in a long time. The setting is interesting enough to keep me exploring, and the scenery is beautiful enough to keep me wondering what’s around the next corner. I just wonder how well it can hold up for a full run. I think all I want is that Skyrim feeling of “what’s over the next hill?” but with Obsidian’s dialogue and attention to detail. Based on what I played, Declared it’s almost there.

Declared It is currently scheduled for release on PC and Xbox Series S/X on February 18, 2025.