Avowed review: Xbox Game Studios’ first big game of the year is a must-play
I think, as a fan of the incredible role-playing game (RPG) catalog of Obsidian Entertainment, I think Avoid Definitely another feather on the developer’s hat. Happened in The eternal pillar universe, Avoid There is a lot to offer fans of the series to chew in the legend while being a rich and tempting gaming experience for new immigrants.
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Platform Review: Xbox Series X, PC
Available in: Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
release date: February 18, 2025 (February 13 for early access)
You’ll be forgiven Avoid It’s one Sky– With a first-person perspective, flexible construction diversity and experience focusing on real-time combat. But it is indeed the ending of the similarities. Avoid It is its own beast. Although it may not be able to hold the candle to make Elder Scrolls The game, it outperforms them in terms of combat and overall quality of writing. Witness, engaging and dripping, scattered with legends anytime, anywhere, and it certainly depends on the usual obsidian standards.
But, to be fair Avoid Not suitable for everyone. Missing omissions such as total absence of day/night cycles and powerlessness can hinder some role-playing pathways. Even if the game has a satisfyingly compact 25-30-hour run, occasional fill tasks can slow down the pace of crawling.
These complaints, Avoid If you have fantasy RPG itching, it’s still worth a look, which is a fantastic start for Xbox Game Studios’ 2025 output.
The voice in my mind
Player characters Avoid Probably the most enviable set of tasks I’ve ever seen in Fantasy RPG. As a special envoy of the Aedyran Empire, you send you to an untamed, largely unparalleled border of land. People will still try to be lucky to think they have a new life, which is a serious danger.
Unfortunately, locals are not satisfied with the existence of the Empire and most NPCs will treat you with proper suspicion. The Empire did nothing to help, either, as it attempted to bring order to the living ground through authoritative measures.
As an envoy, you will enter the center of the lawsuit. Formerly, you are here to investigate and calm Dreamscourge, a spore-like plague that can turn people and creatures into uncontrollable, murderous madmen. But as the game goes on, you do feel that this is just a line of real control and dominance in the Empire.
The best bit
While it’s certainly a highlight to really get caught up in some exciting battle scenes, by far my favorite aspect Avoid It’s its excellent writing and characters. I love being exhausted, and every conversation option is here, just see what kind of legend I can unveil or just hear particularly interesting characters like Marius or Yatzli.
You are also a god, a person born with unique powers, and are associated with Adra, a crystal-like substance with consciousness. This entity makes itself known as the true name in your mind, and most of the conspiracy Avoid From the number you decide you can trust it – especially because it seems to see Dreamscourge as a gospel, not an eradicated plague.
This is a involved setup that gives you plenty of room to make your own choices. While not all decisions you make from task tasks are direct, you have enough decisions to decide how to do your own work and shape the future of the land of survival. Do you represent the empire with firm loyalty or do you express sympathy for the resistance factions of the land? It’s all presented through Obsidian’s expert preference for writing, and I found myself eager to continue playing throughout the process.
And my axe
So how does character building work in Avoid? Well, you can throw in three different skill trees when you upgrade, covering the fantasy RPG Trifecta of Fighter, Ranger and Wizard. Everyone has countless privileges to help your character become stronger, and as you reach your level threshold, new privileges begin.
I’m going to say that sticking to a specific prototype (for example, just a two-handed weapon) is not the best idea. Avoid It can be a surprisingly difficult game, and given that you can swap between two different weapon loads on the button, it is highly recommended that you mix builds.
I chose to mix everything together, with the sword and shield as my main suit, and then the pistol was paired with magic spells as my secondary load. This way, I can cover almost all bases. Strong offense and defense to carry out on the closure encounter, as well as crowd control and distance-keeping options within both ranges. The great thing is that you are not locked in any particular prototype, and the breakdown of the point costs only a small amount of gold.
While you can certainly pin the character to a specific skill tree if you marry a weapon type or armor type, I personally like being able to adapt at any time, especially when combat usually encounters large foes with large gangs of enemies. Enemy packaging also tends to show signs of organization, with nasty units stroking you from a distance, while squat and chubby shields get up in the grille. Able to respond in the same way – from burning sword to Explosive Crowd Control Spell – I got the most out of it Avoid fighting.
Frankly, you need all the skills. At the press conference, there are still many shortcomings in the combat AI of your companions you get in the game. I often witness a close-range tank like Kai (you will be with your first companion at the start of the game) that cannot close the enemy gap or is simply unwilling to attack. Few companions leave encounters without first being incapacitated. Thankfully, your party members won’t die, but it’s nice to see an improvement in their combat behavior in future patches.
With the help of my friends
Well, your party members are not many in the battle, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them. Each Avoid The main companions bring unique, fulfilling personality, and there are many jokes to enjoy between them Dragon Age Or indeed Baudel’s Gate 3.
Kai is the first one you will join, contrary to his gentle appearance and mannerisms, he is actually loose, which can cause more problems than solving the problem. At the same time, Yatzli is absolutely delighted. She was really fun, maybe so slightly, and she became a staple for the party of three of me (that was yourself and two companions) just because I couldn’t get enough conversation.
Your companions do have their own skill tree for you to invest in, which includes passive allowances and active skills that they can execute on commands, which really makes them useful in combat. Often, these skills are perfect for crowd control, such as Kai’s ability to defeat enemies, or Marius’s Trap-Free Tips that can hold enemies for the right time.
Land worth living
exist public, The environment in which the land lives is truly breathtaking. More “open zones” than “open world” (e.g. outside world, You have a lot of individual areas to explore by loading the screen). But everyone is known for having meaningful side missions, opportunities for exploration and no shortage of jaw-dropping visions.
You have a bustling city paradise, which itself is filled with accessible buildings and winding sidewalks. It’s a maze city in nature and you’ll need some time to get your bearings there, but that’s why I love it. I have no idea what will happen in every corner.
The emerald staircase was another highlight for me, and the area absolutely exudes a soft atmosphere – it’s deadly quiet farmland and the surrounding forests really disturb me. It has an almost fantastic quality that makes the exploration itself full of rich and meaningful.
map Avoid It’s big, and each has a lot to explore. You will also encourage you as you need to find valuable resources to develop and improve your equipment to keep up with enemies that increase their strength as they progress. Avoid Thankfully, without cheap level extensions and easy strolling into areas full of powerful enemies, you’re not ready to take over. Therefore, overall, exploration can be dangerous because it is beneficial.
In terms of performance, Avoid Occasionally, it will be buckled under the weight of its busy, detailed area. I often encounter frame rates on my PC, but the game is more stable Xbox Series X. On the console, I find the 30fps (frames per second) quality mode a little unstable and can’t be pleasant, but the 60fps performance mode is smoother – even if the overall impact on lighting and image quality is very noticeable.
Should I play promotion?
if…
if…
Accessibility
Avoid There is a lot of stuff available in the accessibility department to accommodate a variety of players. On the front of the camera, if you are prone to illness, adjust the head bob and the camera shake intensity (or turn off completely). For the user interface, you can resize the text, and there are a lot of subtitle options, from displaying the name of the speaker to adjusting the opacity of the subtitle background. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any color blindness options when booting up.
There are five more difficult settings: story time, easy, normal, difficult and damn paths. So, there are plenty to tailor-made for your difficult experience and you can change them at any time.
How do I review
My time Avoid Lasted about 25 hours on both PCs Xbox Series X Digital Edition. I can save between platforms Microsoft Account function.
Playtime includes full play to the main campaign, as well as generous help for side quests and exploration to improve my character’s gear. I mainly play Xbox Wireless Controller On Xbox Series X, Razer Wolverine V3 Pro On PC. On the console, I played LG CX OLED TV.
First reviewed February 2025
