Obsidian New CRPG Avowed Has Average Media Ratings
Avowed will officially be released to all players on February 18, 2025, and players who pre-order Premium Edition can play the game five days in advance. The media believes that Avowed is a relatively conservative CRPG overall.
On February 14, 2025, Obsidian Studios’ highly anticipated fantasy RPG Avowed officially released media ratings.
Media Ratings
As Microsoft’s first-party AAA project, this work that shares the world view with Pillars of Eternity scored 80 points (Xbox version) and 79 points (PC version) on Metacritic, and an average score of 82 points on OpenCritic, with a recommendation rate of 84%-85%. Despite the overall impressive reputation, media such as IGN and GameSpot also pointed out its lack of innovation. IGN gave a 7-point rating while GameSpot only gave Avowed 6 points. The media gave an overall evaluation of a game that is both classic and conservative.
Avowed continues Obsidian’s ability to excel in narrative and world view construction. TheSixthAxis called it “a gem of role-playing games”, praising its script that balances drama and humor, its vibrant world and its strong cast, and even regarded it as another masterpiece of Microsoft’s game revival. MondoXbox scored 93 points, believing that Obsidian created a “classic that everyone can experience” by simplifying traditional RPG mechanisms and combining first-class narrative and scene design. VGC compared it to “Obsidian’s version of The Elder Scrolls”, affirming its solid combat system and environmental details.
However, the scores of IGN and GameSpot reveal controversial points. IGN believes that although “Avowed” performs well in combat system, character customization and decision weight, it lacks breakthroughs overall, the fantasy adventure framework is “too conventional”, and the lack of enemy diversity leads to a decline in fun in the later stages. GameSpot criticized its equipment upgrade and resource management mechanisms for limiting creative freedom, and the later experience gradually tends to be “frustrating”. Manual dos Games and other media also pointed out that the simplification of game mechanisms and the imbalance of difficulty curve weakened the depth.
Traditional CRPG
As a first-person action RPG, Avowed is set in the lush land of Eora world. Players play as imperial envoys to investigate mysterious plagues and explore open areas full of fungal infection crises. The game inherits Obsidian’s iconic branching dialogue system. The character attributes directly affect the dialogue options, support conflict resolution through dialogue or violence, and provide rich choices for plot parties. The combat system emphasizes fast-paced action, combined with dynamic operations such as jumping and sliding, supplemented by energy slots to limit the rhythm of attack and defense, taking into account both fluency and strategy.
The skill and equipment system presents polarized evaluations. The skill tree is divided into three systems: warrior, ranger, and mage, allowing free mix and match, and the upgrade benefits are significant (such as a 25% increase in melee damage), but the upgrade speed is slow, and the scarcity of resources leads to growth pressure. The equipment quality is divided into five levels, and high-level equipment can crush low-level enemies, but some media believe that this design is too rough and weakens the fun of exploration and strategy.
Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier had a very pleasant trial experience. He praised the game for “secrets in every corner” and was still unsatisfied after 40 hours of exploration, but he also worried that the “media and player evaluation split” phenomenon of Fallout: New Vegas might reappear.
Avowed is undoubtedly a solid RPG. It provides players with an immersive adventure experience with Obsidian Entertainment’s narrative, branching choices, and world view details. However, the conservative design concept may have made players feel bored. For fans who pursue the charm of classic CRPGs or Pillars of Eternity series, this game is worth getting; but if you expect disruptive innovation, you may need to adjust your expectations.