Is Avowed a Nostalgic Gem or Just an Xbox 360 Retread?

by

The newly launched role-playing game (RPG), titled “Avowed,” marks Obsidian Entertainment’s first AAA RPG in more than five years. Unlike some of the company’s previous titles, like “Fallout: New Vegas” and “Pillars of Eternity,” the response towards “Avowed” appears to be a bit more divisive than typical. Critical reviews for the game have mostly been positive, but some die-hard fans of the developer have been quite critical. While many players have lauded “Avowed” as an outstanding representation of the RPG genre, others have dismissed it as an unremarkable experience that doesn’t warrant its $70 price tag.

As a diehard gamer, I’ve got to admit, there’s been a lot of chatter about Obsidian’s latest RPG, Avowed. It seems some folks feel it’s sticking to the old-school design principles, unlike their groundbreaking work on Fallout: New Vegas. In this day and age, with titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 pushing the RPG genre to its limits, some players find Avowed a bit underwhelming. Truth be told, it feels more like a nostalgic throwback to the Xbox 360 era, carrying both the charm of those times and the expectations that come with it.

Avowed Feels Like a Blast from the Past

Avowed is Shorter and More Condensed Compared to Other Modern RPGs

In contrast to numerous modern open-world RPGs laden with excessive content and an endless array of side tasks, some gamers have grown weary of the genre. However, unlike those games, Avowed stands out. Unlike what some fans anticipated as a sequel to Skyrim, Obsidian’s RPG offers a more compact gaming experience. Similar to Obsidian’s previous major RPG, The Outer Worlds, Avowed is not a fully open-world game. Instead, it is divided into four main zones: Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Scatterscarp, and Galawain’s Tusks. Each region may initially appear small, but they are rich with intriguing side activities and hidden places to explore.

In comparison to most contemporary RPGs, the game Avowed has a significantly shorter playtime due to its structure as it isn’t an open-world game in the traditional sense. Based on How Long to Beat, finishing the main mission requires just 16.5 hours, while including side content brings the total up to 30 hours. This is a fraction of the time required for recent RPGs like Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Some players may find that Avowed’s length and design philosophy resemble games from the Xbox 360 era, when many titles were relatively brief and didn’t demand an all-consuming commitment from players.

The colored button prompts in Avowed look like they were taken directly from an Xbox 360 title.

The World in Avowed Looks Static and Dated in Some Respects

Although Avowed‘s streamlined style is admired, the game itself can sometimes resemble an Xbox 360 title that has seen better days. Puzzlingly, the vegetation in Avowed‘s landscapes remains motionless, and the NPCs populating the game’s towns often stand stock-still without any signs of life. Remarkably, even enemy corpses, a common sight for looting in other games, vanish mysteriously once defeated. In essence, the world within Avowed appears strikingly static compared to most modern AAA RPGs. Despite its stunning visuals, it seems that when it comes to realism, this game might be a tad outdated. Given its $70 price tag, it’s not hard to see why some players might feel disappointed.

From a passionate gamer’s perspective, it’s clear that Avowed isn’t the successor to epic tales like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077. Instead, it carries on the legacy of mid-budget RPGs from the Xbox 360 era, such as Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, in a way that few others can. Despite its somewhat rough edges, there’s an endearing quality to it that eludes many big-name titles. Now, while the traditional approach to RPG gaming in Avowed might not appeal to everyone, it’s certain to delight those yearning for a classic gaming experience.

Read More

2025-02-24 00:05