Avowed: A Skyrim Successor? Review

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Post on Feb 14, 2025

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Avowed: A Skyrim Successor? A Deep Dive Review

Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind classics like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, has thrown its hat into the ring with Avowed, a first-person RPG promising a vast, explorable world and a compelling narrative. The game has been heavily compared to Bethesda's Skyrim, a behemoth in the RPG landscape, leading many to wonder: is Avowed truly a worthy successor? This review delves deep into the game's mechanics, story, and overall experience to answer that question.

A World of Promise and Peril: Exploring Eora

Eora, the world of Avowed, immediately grabs your attention. It's a visually stunning landscape, brimming with diverse environments ranging from lush forests and towering mountains to sun-baked deserts and treacherous swamps. The level of detail is impressive, with intricate architecture, vibrant flora and fauna, and a palpable sense of history woven into every corner. While not quite as seamlessly integrated as some open-world titles, Eora's sheer size and variety offer countless hours of exploration and discovery. The verticality of the world is particularly noteworthy, encouraging players to climb, explore hidden caves, and uncover secret areas – a key element reminiscent of Skyrim's design.

However, while the world is breathtaking, the density of meaningful content within it could be improved. While there's plenty to see, some areas feel sparsely populated, lacking the organic feel of a truly lived-in world. The quest design, while featuring some engaging narratives, occasionally suffers from repetitive fetch quests or encounters that lack the impact one might expect given the impressive visuals. This is perhaps the area where Avowed falls slightly short of Skyrim's masterful level design, which, even today, feels consistently engaging and rewarding to explore.

Combat: A Refined Dance of Steel and Spells

Avowed's combat system represents a significant departure from the often-criticized sluggishness of earlier Obsidian RPGs. It’s fast-paced and fluid, offering a satisfying mix of melee combat, ranged attacks, and magic. The ability to seamlessly switch between weapons and spells in the heat of battle adds a strategic layer, encouraging experimentation and the development of unique playstyles. Different weapons feel distinct, demanding different approaches, while magic offers a variety of schools, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. This depth and responsiveness make combat a genuinely engaging aspect of the game.

However, the combat AI occasionally stumbles. Enemies can sometimes feel predictable or prone to getting stuck in the environment, detracting slightly from the otherwise thrilling encounters. While the difficulty curve generally feels well-balanced, certain boss fights might require a significant amount of grinding or strategic preparation, potentially frustrating players less inclined towards methodical planning. Compared to Skyrim's more simplistic, albeit effective, combat, Avowed presents a notable upgrade in fluidity and complexity, though occasional inconsistencies mar the experience.

Story and Characters: A Tale Worth Telling?

The narrative of Avowed centers around your character's journey as an outcast, thrust into a conflict between powerful factions. The overarching plot is intriguing, and the lore of Eora is rich and well-developed, offering a satisfying depth that unfolds gradually through exploration and interactions with NPCs. The writing, while not always reaching the heights of Skyrim's epic storytelling, is generally well-crafted, featuring memorable characters with compelling motivations.

However, the narrative's pacing sometimes feels uneven. Certain story arcs drag on, while others feel abruptly concluded. The dialogue system, while improved compared to Obsidian's previous works, lacks the nuanced impact and branching narrative possibilities of some competitors. While character motivations are generally believable, some character arcs might feel underdeveloped or lack the emotional weight needed to fully resonate with the player. This lack of consistently engaging narrative is arguably the area where Avowed most significantly lags behind Skyrim's long-lasting impact.

Crafting and Progression: Forging Your Path

Character progression in Avowed is robust, allowing for significant customization. The skill tree offers various paths to specialize in, encouraging experimentation and tailored builds. Crafting is a satisfying element, enabling players to create powerful weapons and armor, adapting their gear to their specific playstyle. The loot system, while not overly generous, rewards exploration and skillful combat, maintaining a sense of progression and accomplishment.

This system offers considerable depth, allowing players to truly shape their characters. However, the lack of significant consequences for build choices might diminish the feeling of a truly unique character arc. Skyrim, with its more intuitive class-less system and numerous skill trees, sometimes offers a greater sense of flexible character progression, albeit lacking the depth of specific skill options Avowed provides.

Graphics and Performance: A Visual Feast?

Avowed boasts impressive visuals, particularly the landscape design and environmental detail. The character models are also well-rendered, though some facial animations might appear stiff or unrealistic at times. Performance, however, can be inconsistent, particularly on lower-end systems, with occasional framerate drops or texture glitches. While optimization is ongoing, these issues currently detract from the overall polished experience.

Compared to Skyrim's dated visuals (though charming in their own right), Avowed represents a substantial leap forward in graphical fidelity. However, the performance issues need addressing for a truly seamless experience.

Conclusion: A Worthy Successor?

Avowed is a commendable attempt at crafting a modern, first-person RPG with a vast world and engaging combat. It showcases Obsidian's strength in world-building and narrative depth. However, while it delivers a rich and visually impressive experience in many ways, it doesn't quite reach the same level of consistent excellence as Skyrim. The occasionally uneven pacing of the story, the inconsistent enemy AI, and occasional performance issues prevent it from fully eclipsing Bethesda's classic.

While Avowed isn't a perfect Skyrim successor, it’s a strong contender in its own right, offering a unique and enjoyable experience. It’s a game with significant potential, and with further development and refinement, it could very well become a true classic in its own time. Whether it surpasses Skyrim in the long run remains to be seen, but for now, it stands as a solid entry in the genre, deserving of recognition for its ambitious scope and impressive execution in many key areas. It’s a game that's undeniably worth playing for fans of the genre, especially those looking for a different flavor of open-world RPG experience.