When you wake up in the Living Lands for the first time, the possibilities seem endless. A mysterious island full of dangerous creatures, quirky characters and gorgeous picturesque landscapes, Avowed doesn’t take long to wow you, quickly bringing you into its unusual world. Set in the world of Eora, this first-person RPG is a spin-off of sorts from the Pillars of Eternity franchise, a series of isometric RPGs that found moderate success.

Obsidian Entertainment, who for my money are some of the most talented developers out there when it comes to world-building, narrative and dialogue, are clearly lovers of the deep fantasy lore presented in the Pillars universe. This playground of wild quests, complex companions, adaptable combat and completely immersive presentation all tie together to make Avowed one of the most captivating adventures in recent memory, full of intriguing power struggles, choices that feel important, and a threat that is so dastardly, the whole world is in danger. Naturally.

A foundation of Pillars

As an envoy of Aedyr, your created character is sent to investigate a mysterious plague that is overtaking the Living Lands, known as the Dreamscourge. It spreads through the wilderness and to the world’s various inhabitants, slowly but surely causing them to descend into violent madness, pure shells of their former selves. Of course, ridding the Living Lands of a deadly plague isn’t the only issue; you also have a strange voice inside your head, influencing all the choices you must make on your journey. It doesn’t take long for the mission to become very personal, and everybody you encounter has a point of view on how to best handle the Dreamscourge, and how it’s ripping apart their loved ones.

While Avowed is firmly planted in the Pillars of Eternity setting, complete with familiar faces and plenty of lore from those games that will stand out to fans, it doesn’t rely on prior information to inform its storytelling. I haven’t played Pillars before (both games firmly planted in my epic pile of shame), but that didn’t stop me from enjoying my time here at all. There are some strange terms, historical references to the world of Eora and even some entirely different languages, but a dialogue history and lore button available at all times helps to fill in terms and understanding of highlighted keywords so that I didn’t feel like a total nimdut (idiot). Despite its foundations in an existing setting, Avowed has clearly been designed with newcomers in mind, and I enjoyed poring through terminology and references to get my bearings.

Also like The Outer Worlds, Avowed is a more condensed experience, focused on the exploration of four specific biomes within the Living Lands, rather than chucking you into a seemingly endless open world to explore with too much to do. I loved this approach with The Outer Worlds, and I adore it here, too. The prospect of a 100-hour epic where you can get completely lost walking from one edge of the map to the other is tantalising to some, but an exhausting prospect for me personally. Being able to tackle these biomes, each with its own personality and style as the story moves along makes for a bold adventure that still manages to feel grand in scope while smartly ferrying you from quest to quest. To put it bluntly, there’s no filler, and it’s paced beautifully; I never felt like I was running out of things to do, secrets to find, characters to interact with or tantalising loot to collect.

It’s all in the family

Vital to the Avowed experience are the companions you’ll meet along the way, and I found myself enamoured with each of them for different reasons. They’re all quite likable, coming in and various points in the story, but Kai is by far a standout. Voiced by the incredibly talented Brandon Keener (Garrus Vakarian in Mass Effect), he joins you early on and remained by my side as a key confidant throughout most of the adventure. He has his own story of loss that he is dealing with, while also offering an earnest perspective on the Living Lands, given his history as a soldier in the Rauataian Navy. I also loved the gruff Marius (Scott Whyte), a take-no-prisoners Dwarven hunter, who is incredibly grumbly, doesn’t believe in anything spiritual and insists he doesn’t like campfire songs or hugs (but I still have hope for a cuddle one day anyway).

Giatta (Mara Junot), an animancer (scientists who specialise in understanding how souls work) is plucky and heartfelt, balances Marius out by giving a point of view that is more about the spiritual health of the Living Lands. Then, there’s Yatzli (Anjali Bhimani); sure to be a crowd favourite, she’s a quirky, energetic, and flirtatious wizard who sounds like that favourite Aunt who always says inappropriate things around the dinner table during the holiday season, with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She’s a good time, is what I’m saying, and her chaotic, cheeky energy balances out the crew really nicely.

I loved spending time with them all. The two companions that you choose to travel with at any given time often give aside comments on other conversations you’re having, chiming in with advice, or just witty quips. Who you have in your party directly impacts how you interact with the world; for example, Marius being with me in Galawain’s Tusks, where he comes from, opened up a lot of different negotiation options with characters who recognised him, saving me from some grisly encounters or allowing me to progress the story differently. They all offer variety in combat, too, of course, taking on traditional roles of Tank, Hunter, Healer and Mage, if you were to simplify it.

Companions have their own quests so that you can learn more about them, which allows you to dive even deeper; but it’s the campfire chats that I looked forward to the most. Often, your companions will have opinions on the major story beats that have occurred, and it’s nice to be able to debrief with them, ask them questions, and have deep discussions. They’re optional conversations, but I revelled in every opportunity to have a banter. They also chat amongst themselves, and those small moments – like Kai and Giatta stealing some tasty cheese from Marius – add some really charming wrinkles to their personalities. Oh, and there are romance options, too. I won’t spoil how they come about, but I was pleased to see that Avowed is more than happy to be queer, offering diverse companions – and other characters – with varying genders and sexualities without making it a big deal. It’s not as overt as some others, but it’s always handled tactfully and elegantly, which is super appreciated.

Switching gears

Avowed has a satisfying combat system that is very flexible, so it will satisfy all kinds of adventurers. Some first-person combat can feel somewhat floaty and not impactful in other titles, but here, every hit provides a satisfying thud. It always feels crunchy, with sound effects and enemies reacting to blows in a way that makes sense. Big hits knock them back, and charging blows even can take them off their feet. Two-handed weapons like axes, maces, great swords and hammers have a noticeable heft while slashing with swords and stabbing with spears makes the damage numbers go up, with critical hits triggering status effects.

You can have two combat builds and switch between them easily, too. For example, I rocked a sword and shield for a large chunk of my adventure, but with the flick of a button was able to use a Grimoire to cast magic spells, helpful to wear down enemies with burning fire or freezing them in place with ice so that I could switch back and wail on them some more. You’re not locked into a character class of any kind; if you want to wield a sword and a magic book at the same time, you can do that. If you’d rather focus on a two-handed weapon and combine that with a ground-pound and charge ability like a big ol’ tank, you can do that too. If you don’t like the build you’re rocking, try something else. It’s brilliant how you’re able to change things up swiftly, adding variety to combat that never felt stale, even with the more spongey foes.

While you do level up in the traditional sense, that’s not the main parameter when it comes to progressing to more challenging enemies. Instead, that is tied to the quality of your weapons and gear, starting with basic quality, and then being upgraded to Fine, and so on. This is done through either purchasing better gear pieces from vendors (which is quite expensive, requiring you to earn money from loot and bounties) or collecting enough resources so that you can upgrade them at your camp’s workbench. There were several occasions where I felt roadblocked by this; I wanted to progress the main story, but simply couldn’t due to being absolutely stomped by stronger foes, forcing me to go and complete side quests or search for resources to upgrade instead.

It’s a double-edged sword, in a way. The side quests in Avowed that I took part in were all fairly interesting, with consequences both short and far-reaching. One that I completed early on involved helping a couple escape from hunting assassins; later, in a main quest, a character I encountered knew that couple, and was easily convinced of my loyalty because of how I’d helped them. The connective narrative tissue is brilliant, and that’s just one example of this from many I came across. These side quests also are often abundant in the upgrade materials you need, whether it’s rewards for completion or just from the loot found within them. Even so, it took the wind out of my sails when I was forced to detour from the task at hand, and I wish the need for better equipment wasn’t such a necessity to focus on.

What a wonderful world

Obsidian Entertainment is truly masterful when it comes to worldbuilding, and Avowed is no exception. There’s so much care and detail put into the Living Lands that makes them consistently enjoyable to explore. The opening area, Dawnshore, is an idyllic coastal region that would be at home in any fantasy RPG. Full of gorgeous, expansive landscapes, and unique flora punctuated by the Dreamscourge that is slowly taking over the wildlife within it. Emerald Stair is a lush forested jungle and swamp region, with its main town Fior mes Ivèrno, the animancer town with energy pulsing through its streets, and a reanimated corpse farm just on the edge of the city, a twisted sight that would be horrifying if it weren’t so comical.

Shatterscarp brings the desert vibes and is an area greatly affected by the plague, with ancient ruins begging to be explored and an icy hellscape appearing within. This frosty diversion has harsh red accents of statues, piles of skulls and arms reaching out of the walls; Avowed has a tonne of little detail in every city, every dungeon, and every shop, with the aforementioned Galawain’s Tusks a rocky and mountainous land with an active volcano just waiting to pop off. Caves are full of spiders, their webs lining the walls alongside gorgeous glowing multicoloured mushrooms, and full Ray Tracing really enhances those details in a big way, too. It’s easily one of the best-looking games on the Xbox Series X to date, capturing the breathtaking fantasy feeling incredibly well.

Having such an immersive and tactile world to comb through adds extra weight to the choices you’ll come across, too. During key moments, tough decisions will need to be made, and often there’s no way to make everybody happy. This is another fine line that Obsidian walks very well, offering meaningful story paths that don’t make it easy on you. One late game choice was so difficult I agonised over it for several minutes, asking the advice of my companions, trying to offer alternatives and look at things from different perspectives, but ultimately resigning myself to an incredibly tough outcome.

Thinking about how an illness can impact communities in different ways, and the opposing methods in how best to handle it, is very tricky; all while a strange voice shouts menacing and confusing things inside your mind. It makes for a story that’s full of satisfying twists and turns. When it was all said and done, the choices I made felt like mine, with outcomes that felt tailored to my specific playthrough, and I was happy to live with them, right or wrong. I can’t ask for more from a choice-based adventure than that.

Lastly, there are a lot of smart quality-of-life inclusions that make Avowed feel like a completely breezy adventure, which makes it an incredibly easy experience to get totally lost in. For example, sprinting is unlimited; there are no mounts in the game, but the smart layout of biomes means you never feel like you’re schlepping it across the map for too long. Resources and throwables don’t take up any inventory weight, only armour and weapons do, so you’re rarely over-encumbered. And if you are, you can stash things in your camp from anywhere at any time.

That same camp, when you do set it up, sits in the middle of the environment still moving around you, still able to see waypoints on the map nearby. It’s as if you set up your tent right there in the middle of your questing, rather than teleporting you somewhere completely different, which is a nice touch. A neat glittering sound plays whenever loot is nearby, so you’re not wasting time searching areas for supplies where there are none. Immersive sims are all well and good, but it’s lovely just to be able to enjoy a video game for its compelling story and crunchy combat rather than having to fight against niggly gameplay systems.