Avowed PS5 Review
Shiitake Happens!
Climate change is happening all around us, from land erosion to melting polar ice caps. In some ways, many writers have been conjuring stories of how the climate crisis could destroy the world. While I've not played Obsidian Entertainment's Pillars of Eternity series, I am a sucker for well-realized fantasy settings, and I find the subject of climate disasters both horrifying and intriguing from a narrative standpoint. Avowed is one of those games with an interesting narrative and a world that will leave players wanting to explore and understand the finer details. While the game doesn't translate perfectly to consoles, its presentation and world-building certainly keep it exciting.
Taking on the role of a godlike envoy from the Aedyr Empire, the player is tasked with investigating the "Dreamscourge," a mysterious plague that is corrupting the inhabitants of the Living Lands. The infection begins as erratic behaviour but eventually leads to its victims transforming into fungi-like creatures known as Dreamthralls. After escaping a plague-filled island, the Aedyrian Envoy ends up in the metropolis of Paradis, where they are swiftly murdered, but then revived by a god hidden inside them. This deity decides to assist the Envoy, though their motivations are vague. With each part of the Living Lands in both ecological and political strife, the Envoy and their companions are forced to mediate the political discourse amongst the various elites and the zealots known as the Steel Garotte, all while trying to identify who or what started the Dreamscourge.
There is a lot of gripping and mysterious political intrigue in Avowed . From how each political group grasps the Dreamscourge and their lack of understanding of each other, there is constant drama to capture the player's attention. Players will get to solve their own murder, assist in moving illegal substances from different areas, and even give Dreamscourged individuals their last rites. Decision-making in many of the sidequests can be quite the challenge, as many of the choices never feel like they truly solve the problem, but they feel right at home with the usual morally grey nature of Obsidian games. While sidequests are plentiful, some of the best come in the form of companion quests, which do a phenomenal job of making the player care about their party members. Kai and Marius, in particular, have some of the best and most emotionally rewarding quests that offer insight into their traumas surrounding their relationships with their relationship to their home nations and the Living Lands themselves.
[caption id="attachment_160795" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Don't mess with everyone's bestie, Kai![/caption]
This is on top of the fact that the game's writing is truly wonderful. There is so much character banter, and it balances both humour, heart, and struggle spectacularly. Players will go from wholesome moments, such as the party stealing all of Marius' travel snacks, to having to make a horrific decision about putting down someone's life, only to find out there are more complications than merely giving them mercy. While main quests and sidequests are well written, it's the relationship between the Envoy and their companions that truly brings everything together in the game's storytelling. It also helps that the companions are well-voiced, providing emotion and quippiness to each character. Anjali Bhimani's portrayal of the curious, coy, and quirky Yatzli is a standout, and Brandon Keener, who voices the affable Kai, gives a wonderful performance for a character who feels like an everyman, but doesn't fit in anywhere in the Living Lands. The story and characters truly do a great job of enticing players to explore the Living Lands to the fullest, making players explore every nook and cranny for more narrative kernels.
While exploring the Living Lands, players will have to engage in action-based combat, wherein the Envoy and their companions will battle tons of possessed creatures and fungi. Players only control the Envoy, but they are granted tons of flexibility in how they wish to build their character. While there are three main classes — Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard — players are not limited to where they can put their skill points. Multi-classing is encouraged, and there are tons of unique and useful abilities within each class. Players can readily wield a sword in one hand and a magic tome in another, and both are effective ways of mowing down enemies. If players do not like their build at any time, they can also reset all of their skill points for a small fee. In addition, the Envoy also has unique abilities gifted by the deity inside them throughout the story, and these abilities are game changers in tough encounters. The ability to raise party members when they have been knocked out, instead of having to hold down a button and hope they stand back up, is a lifesaver.
Even with all this flexibility, the combat itself is serviceable, but nothing amazing. There are tons of opportunities in the game to experiment with skills and weapons, but many of the weapons don't feel very unique, lacking a wow factor that makes them truly stand out. There's also not much in the way of customizing the Envoy's companions outside of their skills, and even then, it feels very barebones. Even with the godlike's ability, which is fantastic and unique to the Envoy, it just feels like the companions didn't get the same amount of care or flexibility, which is a real shame. Overall, combat is solid, but it needs more oomph to avoid feeling so repetitive in each encounter.
[caption id="attachment_151556" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Don’t truffle with me.[/caption]
First-person platforming is a large part of Avowed 's gameplay to navigate the maps in the Living Lands. Sometimes it can be very difficult to assess whether or not a player can make a jump or potentially fall to their death. The game can be a bit difficult in terms of understanding an area's size and scope, meaning players will have to either experiment with how to solve their navigation problems, such as throwing ice bombs into rivers to make platforms. Navigating the Living Lands can be quite challenging, as everything in the game feels quite vertical. The areas are small, but dense, with Obsidian taking advantage of both vertical space and underwater. While the world is interesting, the areas feel a bit small, so players must constantly guess whether they need to traverse vertically or go underwater.
Clocking in at over thirty hours, Avowed feels as though it has the right amount of content and busywork for players to enjoy without getting tired. Outside of the fantastic sidequests, players can hunt down bounties, map the Living Lands for a local cartographer, and find powerful totems to enhance the Envoy's godlike abilities. There is also a robust crafting system in the camp menu, wherein players can craft or dismantle weapons for ingredients, to magically enhance their weapons for better combat bonuses, and cook food to replenish health and mana. All of these gameplay elements have been streamlined to respect the player's time and allow them to focus on exploration and story.
[caption id="attachment_165242" align="aligncenter" width="640"] I'm always told I am never ready for the answer. I want to be ready for the answer, dammit![/caption]
Unfortunately, as has been the case with many of the developer's previous titles, performance issues need to be addressed, and Avowed is not immune to them. The game has tons of textures popping in and out during cutscenes, as well as instances in camp conversations where the companion isn’t making direct eye contact with the player, but often looking in the opposite direction entirely. The audio mixing in some areas of the game is also off, with cutscenes where voiced audio should be heard, but isn't. There are also moments where the visuals do not feel crisp or clean, but rather quite fuzzy. These issues are a shame, given that the world itself is beautifully designed, popping with tons of colour, unique architecture, and even character and monster designs simply burst with personality. In terms of audio, the voice acting is well-done, and a lot of the game's score is mostly pleasant, but again, not completely memorable.
I haven't played an Obsidian game in a long while, and I have to say that in terms of characters, storytelling, and worldbuilding, I felt right at home with everything that was happening throughout Avowed 's modest runtime. Even with the uninspired combat and the performance issues, I found myself constantly wanting to explore the Living Lands, make potentially life-altering decisions that could affect the world, and steal Marius' snacks for good measure. Avowed does a fabulous job of keeping players on their toes while also weaving stories that make players want to see everything through to the end. While Avowed has some blemishes, there is a lot to love in this world, and I want to see more of it.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
The post Avowed PS5 Review appeared first on RPGamer .
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