Avowed Hands-On: A Funnier Skyrim Successor For Fantasy Fans

At Germany's Gamescom 2024 event, I was able to sit down and get hands-on playtime with the upcoming Xbox-exclusive Avowed. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, known for The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas, Avowed seems to have all the charm and clever writing we've come to expect from the beloved studio. This preview was exclusive for the press and set behind-closed-doors in Gamescom's business hall, while the massive booth on the showfloor showed off a video presentation for the public to enjoy.

We're still half a year away from Avowed's release date next February, but I left it feels excited. As a first-person fantasy action game, it reminded me a lot of playing Skyrim when I got into heated melee brawls, swinging my weapons and using abilities. But my chats with non-player characters were filled with amusing lines and the quest I followed was quite interesting in how it branched and could play out differently based on my actions, fitting Obsidian's reputation for well-written narratives. 

My preview lasted about an hour and followed one of the side quests of the game, though we weren't told  how far it was into the story. The PR at the booth noted that Avowed doesn't have specific character classes but they had set up save files each with a different build mimicking some of the more standard classes you'd expect in a fantasy action game. These included Mage, Rogue, and what I chose, Barbarian. This gave me a character that was dual-wielding a sword and an axe imbued with ice magic, which felt great to when freezing enemies on contact and allowing me more time to attack.

The quest started with me conversing with an NPC named Sargamis over his lost relic, while I searched for a party of missing knights. He led me to a cavern where his relic was supposed to be but expressed he hadn't been able to retrieve it since it had become full of water after a cave in. I began my search through the caves, fighting off giant spiders and orc-like creatures. This is also where the game taught me about the backstab mechanic. By crouching, moving slowly and not alerting the enemy, I was able to sneak up behind an opponent and get an instant-kill take down. 

However, if stealth isn't a choice, as most of my encounters proved, then an all-out brawl would begin. Each trigger button controlled a different weapon for my character which allowed me to get off successive attacks quickly. I also had several special abilities, such as a loud and wide spanning scream as well as a forward dashing slam attack, each assigned to different buttons on the controller's D-pad. The slam was especially useful since it could stun an enemy on contact, allowing me to get in a few extra hits before needing to back off.

My companion Kai, who joined me in fights, also had their own set of skills that I could unleash at will. By holding down the LB button, a radial menu of options would come up and pause the action – very similar to how Mass Effect's combat works. From there I could select my companion's skill and target and watch the chaos unfold. My companion's skills were arguably way cooler than my own. The first was a high jump and powerful downward slam while the second had them teleport to the selected enemy and then blast them with their close range pistol. 

One of the more comical moments in the quest was when I encountered an injured man in the caves. He needed a potion from me to stay alive, specifically because -- I kid you not -- he didn't want to die a virgin. Players familiar with modern RPGs will see a lot of similarities in the conversation trees you'll find here in Avowed. You're presented with a handful of options of how to respond, from kindly benevolence to sneering selfishness, and many will lead to different outcomes. In my session I handed the man a potion before continuing on. After talking to some of the other media people, it was revealed to me that if you kept the conversation going without helping the man, he would die mid chat.

After fighting and traversing my way through the sunken cavern, I came to find the relic at the end which led to a boss fight. This was a powerful skeleton knight that would often summon additional support for me to contend with. The only time I died during the preview was during this fight, so it was definitely a step up in difficulty. Successfully beating him allowed me to open a shortcut to return back to the quest-giving NPC but it also led me to a side area where I found the lost party of knights I had set out to find -- however, they had all been killed.

This led to a very interesting conversation when I returned the relic to its owner which hinted at the possible plethora of choices in Avowed that could lead to branching story paths. Sargamis revealed he believed himself to be a god and killing the knights was the only option. We chatted back and forth for a bit, him waxing poetic about his mission and me trying to understand. One conversation response kept coming up as an option: attack. After rolling my eyes at this character a few too many times, I decided I wasn't going to just leave and interrupted him mid-sentence with my fist.

This optional boss battle began and my companion and I took on the enemy and his fire sword. Luckily, this boss didn't have continuous support from additional spawning enemies so it was much easier than the last one. I was able to loot his body and claim that magic sword for myself. Allowing my character to wield an ice-ax on the left and a fire-sword on the right, a fitting end to the quest and my preview of the game.

I went into my preview with the basic knowledge that this would be similar to the ever-popular (and ever-re-released) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and came out surprised by how much funnier the writing and dialogue was. It has me excited for what else there is in the game and how differently this quest could have ended had I made other choices. In my game, that injured man will go on to find love (I hope), but maybe he won't in someone else's.

Avowed was recently delayed to February 18, 2025 in order to avoid a very busy fall release window later this year. It will be playable on Xbox and PC and available day one for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.