Don’t Play Avowed As Anything Other Than A Mage

Summary

• Avowed's story-telling and characters are excellent, but it's melee combat feels simplistic and a little dated.
• I was a bit let down after choosing a Barbarian build for my Gamescom preview, but had a blast when I swapped to a Mage.
• Being a Mage opens up the combat and lets the rest of the stellar narrative and interactions shine.

I may not be as big of a role-playing freak as most of TheGamer’s other editors, but there’s a special place in my heart for Obsidian. Fallout: New Vegas, Alpha Protocol, and South Park: The Stick of Truth are all great RPGs in their own right, but The Outer Worlds’ focus on interesting characters over exploring a grand world made it a surprise standout of 2019 and my personal favourite game from the studio.

Obsidian is undeniably at its best when its games are more intimate and narrative-driven (just look at Pentiment), so I wasn’t interested in Avowed at all when it was first revealed and positioned as the next Skyrim. Thankfully, that approach didn’t last long as it was later confirmed that its scale was more in line with The Outer Worlds instead of Bethesda’s infamously massive RPG, which meant I was back on board and excited to finally check it out at Gamescom.

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My preview took place very early on in the game during a sidequest where my Convoy (Avowed’s name for the protagonist) was tasked with venturing into a cave to find an Aedryan expedition team. Although Avowed is a “classless” game that lets player mix and match their skills, my rescue mission kicked off by letting me choose between three different builds to get a taste of a few different playstyles.

Barbarian Boredom

Being the most boring RPG player in the world, I went with the melee-focused Barbarian over the bow-wielding Ranger or spell-slinging Mage. Bashing enemies without a care in the world is usually my bread and butter in every game I play, but I was disappointed to discover how clunky and outdated it made Avowed feel.

Obsidian has spent a lot of time fighting the Skyrim comparisons since it’s shown off more of Avowed, but that’s exactly what the first-person melee combat felt like as I ventured through the colourful caves with my green-skinned companion Kai. It’s totally functional and a little more involved than in the Elder Scrolls thanks to the addition of a dodge button and special abilities, but it lacked the personality and depth that flowed through every other aspect of Avowed.

Kai is voiced by Brandon Keene, who notably played Garrus Vakarian in Mass Effect, which instantly made me sad that Avowed doesn’t have romance options.

I wasn’t familiar with the Pillars of Eternity world in which Avowed is set, but the characters and storytelling are exactly what you’d expect from an Obsidian game. There’s the perfect balance of interesting lore (which can be explained during conversations with the push of a button), relatable characters, and well-written funny dialogue. As I travelled deeper into the caves, I came across a wounded expedition member called Caedmon, who lamented the fact that he was going to die a virgin, which my character suggested Kai help out with.

Obsidian's Story-Telling Is As Good As Ever

That first interaction proved that Obsidian hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to its narrative, something that carried on as I stumbled across a golden god-like figure who was trying to revive a fallen deity with an ancient artefact he tasked my protagonist with finding. I instantly suspected that it was him who had killed the rest of the expedition group, which was quickly proven when I found their dead bodies a little further on.

As much as I loved the world-building and character interactions I experienced in the preview, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the combat simply wasn’t doing enough to hold up the rest of Avowed’s gameplay loop. Even as I got a bit more experimental and figured out that I could command Kai to help out in battle, it was still far too basic, despite how hard-hitting some of the enemies were.

I finished my first playthrough of the Avowed demo with some very mixed thoughts. I loved almost everything about its role-playing, world-building, and character interactions, but the combat was so dull and by the numbers that it put me off getting as sucked into the world of Eora as I wanted to be.

Being A Mage Is The Only Way To Play Avowed

It’s a good thing that I’m a pro gamer, though, as I had enough time spare from speeding through the demo that I was able to try it again with the Mage build, which is where Avowed finally clicked for me. While the Barbarian build saw me whacking enemies and hoping for the best, my new magical abilities let me blast spells from my wand, summon elemental weapons from thin air (including an icy spear and a fiery axe), and apply powerful buffs that made taking out skeletons, spiders, and lizards a breeze.

Beyond making things a little easier, being a Mage in Avowed opens the combat up and makes it a lot less simplistic than just smashing the attack button and hoping for the best. You can still do that with the elemental weapons, but it’s no longer the only option since you can always whip out your wand and attack from afar.

The side-mission that my preview focused on had a few combat rooms and getting to play through them again as a Mage was far more interesting than when I was absent-mindedly swinging a sword through as a Barbarian. The wand simply feels a lot better to use than the axes, and combining the simple ranged spell shots with a power flurry of magic really opened up the combat's potential and felt more appropriate for the magical and mythical world of Eora.

My second playthrough of the demo also let me see how far-reaching your choices will be, as I chose to side with the god-like instead of taking him down. This unfortunately resulted in my "imminent death" as I let him sacrifice my body during a ritual, but it was a great moment that proved Obsidian is happy to have some fun with its narrative.

Avowed’s combat still seems like one of the weaker parts of the game compared to its stellar narrative elements, but playing as a Mage added enough to the experience that it no longer felt like it was letting the side down. It’s far-and-away the best way to play, and exactly what I’m going to be going for when Avowed launches in February.

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