Avowed looks like one of the heavy hitters in Xbox Series X’s line-up, alongside Halo Infinite and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. It’s the first first-person fantasy RPG that Obsidian Entertainment has ever worked on, but given its connection to Pillars of Eternity, the world is already filled with life.
We don’t know much about Avowed apart from the minute or so long trailer that dropped at the Xbox games event, but we have a pretty good idea that this is going to be reminiscent, if not better than one of The Elder Scrolls games (sorry not sorry, Bethesda). It’s even liable to look better as well.
Before we dive in, this title still has time to launch, so keep in mind our frequently updated lists of best PC games and best PC Game Pass games as well as our best Xbox Series X games and best PS5 games. If you haven't purchased the latest-gen of consoles, we highly recommend checking out our Xbox Series X|PS5 reviews. And if you're more into the imaginative play, see our best virtual tabletop software and DND tips pages.
Now, here’s everything we know so far about Avowed.
Avowed release date
It’s unclear when Avowed is going to be officially released, but given that we’ve seen no gameplay and very little cinematic work, it’s more than likely years away. That reality is even more evident when you realize that Obsidian is currently working hard on Grounded as well as The Outer Worlds 2.
We do know that it’s coming to the Xbox Series X and Windows 10, so if it’s skipping over the Xbox One, then it’s outside of the two-year cross-gen window. The earliest we might see this game is late 2022. But considering that we're already into 2022, it's more likely to launch in 2023 to 2024.
Avowed gameplay
While we didn’t get an official gameplay trailer, a sneak peek at the end of the reveal trailer showcased a glimpse of the combat, which resembles a first-person action-RPG experience, similar to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
This direction makes sense, as Obsidian Entertainment previously worked on a hit Bethesda game called Fallout: New Vegas, which people have argued is the best Fallout entry in the series. Given Obsidian’s expertise with RPGs, we’re more than excited to see where the studio goes with a game like this.
In 2019, Obsidian posted job listings that might give us an inkling as to what Avowed will be like. It’s unclear whether these listings were for Avowed, Grounded or even The Outer Worlds DLCs, but they talked about "combat with an emphasis on an exceptional first-person melee experience" and "combat actions utilizing both first and third-person animations." There were also mentions of day and night cycles as well as branching dialogue.
I predict that Avowed will not only launch sooner than The Elder Scrolls 6, but also be a better version of an Elder Scrolls game than anyone could’ve hoped for.
Avowed story and its connection to Pillars of Eternity
We know absolutely nothing about Avowed’s story except that it takes place in the world of Eora, which is the same universe that the Pillars of Eternity games are set in.
I’ve only played a bit of the first Pillars of Eternity, so I’m not very knowledgeable in the lore, but someone on the Pillars of Eternity subreddit noticed that the banners flying at the beginning of the trailer resemble the symbol for Woedica, the god of law and justice as well as oaths and promises. One of this god’s many aliases is the Oathbinder.
And guess what? Another reddit user translated the Aedyran text that was seen on the sword in the trailer, and it just happens to translate to Oathbinder. Ironically, Woedica was an unseen antagonist in the original Pillars of Eternity, and was exiled when that game took place. So it’s possible that Avowed is a prequel to Pillars of Eternity.
The opening monologue of the trailer reads: “We have always known war. It forged our empire, turned heroes into queens and kings and decimated our foes. Now our oaths are lost… forsaken. And you must face the monsters our sins have born. Is an oath worth the weight of a crown?”
Just relistening to the opening with the context of who Woedica is, it’s entirely possible that the protagonist is a servant of Woedica, or possibly even a servant-turned-enemy given that Woedica is an antagonist.
This is all just making me want to hunker down and finish the Pillars of Eternity games. And for those Critical Role fans out there, I see you, and hopefully Obsidian sees us and maybe throws the Mighty Nein in as a treat like it did with Vox Machina in Pillars of Eternity II.
Avowed minimum and recommended requirements
We have no idea what kind of PC requirements this game will need, but considering that it’s not launching for a few years, you better rush to upgrade your hardware or keep on the lookout for some of the best gaming laptops in the coming years.
However, if we’re going by games of today’s standards, we imagine that Avowed would have similar requirements as The Outer Worlds. The bare minimum you need is an Intel Core i3-3225 or AMD Phenom II X6 1100T CPU, an Nvidia GTX 650 Ti or AMD HD 7850 GPU and 4GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the recommended specs require an Intel Core i7-7700K or Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, a GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or Radeon RX 470 GPU and 8GB of RAM.
We imagine that two years from now, when we get access to RTX 4000s (yes, this is a joke), that the minimum requirements will likely increase, but not my very much, as Obsidian typically makes well-optimized games.
