Format: Windows 11
Genre: RPG
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Avowed's greatest strength by far is its ray-traced global illumination, compliments of Unreal Engine 5. Standing inside a dark cave or house and seeing the outside light realistically bleed in through the cave entrance or open door looks as good as "Minecraft RTX". The art direction focuses on pure fantasy, with sometimes too-garish purples, greens, and oranges thrown all over the place. The player models are very detailed, but look a little stilted during dialog, ala Bethesda's releases. There are "nu God of War"-style visual cues when attacks are incoming.

A composer who goes by the company name "Venus Theory" created the music for this game. It's straight-up Hollywood cinematic stuff: boring as all heck, totally forgettable even while it's actively playing much less after the gameplay session is done. Why doesn't the industry still hire clasically-trained geniuses like it did in the 80s and 90s? At least the voice acting in this title is solid, with Brandon Keener performing "Kai" as a particular standout.

Avowed involves exploring open zone-style areas while engaging in combat, looting treasure chests, and talking to NPCs. The combat is a highlight: visual cues let the player know what kind of attack is incoming, and the player can respond by blocking, parrying, or dodging. Managing stamina is a must, and the player can also use magic either by leveling or by holding a magic book in the off hand. The opening area has an engaging design, but things drop off after that and things start to feel tedious.

Everything about Avowed screams "average": the art direction is passably ok; the audio is just sort of "present"; the story and dialogue is kind of silly and amateurishly-written. Most of the game is spent exploring various areas and looting chests-- it's exciting at first but becomes rote and repetitive, with not enough of a positive feedback loop. While the combat is fun, sometimes it doesn't feel like there's enough of it. Avowed isn't a bad game, but it isn't as consistently fun as "The Outer Worlds" was.