Avowed Hands-On: A more fun Skyrim successor for fantasy fans

At Germany’s Gamescom 2024 event, I was able to sit down and try out Avowed, the upcoming Xbox exclusive game. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, known for The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas, Avowed looks to have all the charm and clever writing we’ve come to expect from the beloved studio. This preview was exclusive to the press and held behind closed doors in the Gamescom business hall, while the massive booth on the show floor showed off a video presentation for the public to enjoy.

Avowed is still half a year away from being released in February, but I’m excited. As a first-person fantasy action game, it reminded me a lot of Skyrim as I got into heated melee fights, swinging my weapons and using abilities. But my chats with non-player characters were full of funny lines and the quest I went on was pretty interesting in how it branched and could play out differently depending on my actions, which fits with Obsidian’s reputation for well-written narratives.

My preview lasted about an hour and followed one of the game’s side quests, though we weren’t told how far the story went. The PR at the booth noted that Avowed doesn’t have specific character classes, but they had set up save files, each with a different setup, mimicking some of the more standard classes you’d expect in a fantasy action game. These included mage, rogue, and what I chose, barbarian. This gave me a character wielding a sword and axe imbued with ice magic, which felt great as it froze enemies on contact and allowed me more time to attack.

The quest started with me chatting with an NPC named Sargamis about his lost relic, while searching for a group of missing knights. He led me to a cavern where his relic was supposed to be, but he told me that he hadn’t been able to retrieve it because it had filled with water after a cave-in. I began my quest through the caves, fighting off giant spiders and orc-like creatures. This is also where the game taught me about the backstab mechanic. By crouching, moving slowly, and not alerting the enemy, I was able to sneak up behind an opponent and get an instant kill.

However, if stealth isn’t an option, as most of my encounters proved, then a fight to the death would ensue. Each trigger button controlled a different weapon for my character, allowing me to quickly deliver successive attacks. I also had several special abilities, such as a loud, sweeping shout, as well as a forward slam attack, each mapped to different buttons on the controller’s D-pad. The slam was especially useful as it could stun an enemy on contact, allowing me to land a few extra hits before having to back off.

My partner Kai, who joined me in fights, also had his own set of abilities that he could unleash at will. Holding down the LB button would bring up a radial menu of options that would pause the action, much like how Mass Effect combat works. From there, I could select my partner’s ability and target and watch the chaos unfold. My partner’s abilities were arguably far better than mine. The first was a high jump and a powerful downward slam, while the second allowed him to teleport to a selected enemy and then shoot them with his short-range pistol.

One of the more comical moments of the quest was when I encountered an injured man in the caves. He needed a potion of mine to stay alive, specifically because – I kid you not – he didn’t want to die a virgin. Players familiar with modern RPGs will see a lot of similarities in the conversation trees you’ll find here in Avowed. You’re presented with a handful of options on how to respond, from kind benevolence to mocking selfishness, and many will lead to different outcomes. In my session, I gave the man a potion before continuing. After speaking to some of the other media people, it was revealed to me that if you continued the conversation without helping the man, he would die mid-talk.

After fighting my way through the sunken cavern, I found the relic at the end, which led me to a boss fight. This was a powerful skeleton knight who would often summon additional support so I could take him on. The only time I died during the preview was during this fight, so it was definitely a step up in difficulty. Successfully defeating him allowed me to open a shortcut back to the quest-giving NPC, but it also led me to a side area where I found the lost group of knights I had set out to find; however, they had all been killed.

This led to a very interesting conversation when I returned the relic to its owner, which got me thinking about the potential plethora of options Avowed offers that could lead to branching story paths. Sargamis revealed that he considered himself a god and that killing the knights was the only option. We chatted for a while, him waxing poetic about his quest and me trying to understand. One response to the conversation kept coming up as an option: attack. After rolling my eyes at this character a few too many times, I decided I wasn’t going to leave and cut him off mid-sentence with my fist.

This optional boss battle began and my partner and I faced off against the enemy and his flaming sword. Thankfully, this boss didn’t have the ongoing support of additional enemies spawning, so it was much easier than the last one. I was able to loot his body and claim that magical sword for myself. Allowing my character to wield an ice axe on the left and a flaming sword on the right, a fitting end to the quest and my progression of the game.

I went into my preview with the basic knowledge that this would be similar to the ever-popular (and ever-releasing) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and I was surprised by how much more fun the script and dialogue was. It makes me excited to think about what else is in the game, and how different this quest could have been had I made other choices. In my game, that wounded man will find love (I hope), but maybe he won’t in someone else’s.

Avowed was recently delayed to February 18, 2025 to avoid a busy fall launch window later this year. It will be playable on Xbox and PC and available on day one for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.