When Avowed was first revealed, well announced actually as that first trailer didn’t show much of anything, I wasn’t sure what to make of it as I had not played the Pillars of Eternity titles. But as Obsidian Entertainment started to reveal more about the game, I started to pay more and more attention to it. So being given the chance to go hands on, I was very keen to see what this new world had in store for me.

One aspect of the preview that I can talk about, but not show is the character creation, which for the most part is like most others. However, there is one major addition, the godlike section, this is where you get to choose your facial addition, that sets you apart from the rest of humanity. The options ranged from small to most of the head and the characters of the world will make statements about it, especially if they are being little shits. Now the game has a toggle that lets you turn the visual off, so you can enjoy your character sans it, but the world will still act like it was there and honestly it was a touch I appreciated. Much like many other games from Obsidian Entertainment, you can choose a background for your character, I opted for a Vanguard Scout but regardless of which background you choose, all abilities and equipment are available to you. What the class does is provide some unique dialogue choices, which I did make use of in a few conversations, but with the character assembled, it was time to head to The Living Lands.

These lands are a place that is teeming with life and most of it doesn’t like the fact that Aedyran are calling it home now. The reason for us coming to this land is that something is wrong and people are dying, some going mad and the emperor wants answers. Arriving on the docks of Paradis, the first settlement in the Living Lands, I couldn’t help but be wowed by what I was seeing. The city looked like what you would get if you took an Italian village and then merged it with a quaint English town. Sadly, I was not able to enjoy my time exploring the city as I was pulled up by Cynric, the Captain of the local Militia and told to get off the dock as it was reserved for the Imperial envoy, which of course is who I was. After messing with them a little they advised that there was a problem, the ambassador was missing, along with their Calviger. So, after picking up some assistance in the form of Kai, it was time to hit the road out of town and find the missing people.

As an adventure game, it was not a road made for travelling in comfort, as Xaurips were on hand to be a bother. These lizard-like critters were willing to attack anything that moved, but while they were annoying, they were not a challenge, so with a sense of confidence that was probably not that deserved, I threw myself into the next fight. Unfortunately, the next fight was with a large brown bear, who then called in some grizzly support and I was dodging three large bears at once and I quickly realised my confidence was not earned, as I died. It turns out that I should have been dodging, something I wasn’t aware I could do, I was just running away from all the enemies that were getting too close, but dodging let me keep the camera pointed towards the enemies, this made for a big change.

Along the road, I came across a giant glowing crystal known as an Adra Waystone, which are noted to be found all across the Living Lands. Interacting with the crystal moved the time of day to night and set up a camp for myself and Kai. The camp is where you can upgrade your gear, enchant items, craft new items and put excess things into storage. It is also where you can speak with your companions, which is what I did, doing this let me ask a decent number of questions of Kai, but they also were able to ask some of me. This interaction was fun, Kai was interesting and showed a lot of life in his speech and expressions and it made me excited to see what other companions I may discover later on.

But sadly, this is an adventure game and not a camping simulator, so after making my way deeper into the woods, which usually results in bad things happening, I came across the ambassador, but only them. They noted that the Calviger was taken by a beast, which was transformed by this mysterious disease that we were investigating. I was prepared for something truly foul to come onto the screen, but I was relieved to find it was just a bear, of which I had killed plenty of on my way in here, again that false confidence rearing its head. The bear locked onto me and took a few good swipes at me, but thankfully Kai came in to rescue me and drew the bears attention. That sadly ended with him getting knocked down and the bear then coming back for me and while I put up a good fight, it was not to be as I ended up dead, again.

Before I rushed back in to get my revenge, I took a bit of time to mess around with the weapons that I was carrying. I was mainly using a bow to take shots at the enemies from a distance, but I did swap it out occasionally for a tome of magic, so I thought that would help me out this time. While using a bow was fairly simple, you can shoot a little or hold down the trigger to ‘charge’ your shot, which uses your stamina. Magic was a little different, this let you choose from a number of spells that were assigned to a face button, pulling the left trigger in brough the magic tome up and then you could cast. While I had the book in the left hand, I had the axe I was carrying in my right and it gave me the chance to get some hits in as the target was stunned from the electric attack. Things seemed to be going well, so of course I ran out of magical essence and the result was my spell casting was done, but I still had the bow and while swapping back to that was easy, it was also when I realised dodging used stamina. This then led to a fun back and forth with the bear, Kai had fallen early in battle as well, but as I was actually doing well this time I ended up staying alive long enough for him to get into the fight again. After more attacks from both of us, we were victorious and that lead to a cutscene, where I won’t spoil anything, but it gave hints at a larger event going on.

The ambassador was saved, the Claviger still missing but presumed dead, it was a decent start to my adventure, so it was time to head back to town and report my success. Getting back to town was simple enough, but getting into town proved to be an issue as there were some less than reputable folks on a bridge and they didn’t want to let me in, specifically they wanted to fight me. Now having learnt all a few tricks fighting that boss, I was able to take down the folks, with some help from Kai and I reported back to Cynric. She directed me into town proper to have a proper conversation with the ambassador, but someone had other ideas, because I got shot with an arrow and my time was done.

All up, I had around 2 hours with the game and I was honestly annoyed when it ended, I just found my groove and was having a blast taking on whatever enemies crossed my way. Having Kai run around with me was fun and does make me want to see what other companions I might be blessed with down the road. The mystery of the sickness has the potential to be something really fun, but it is way to early to tell just how it will shake out. There are still many months between now and the games release, so while I have a long wait ahead of me, I know that I can expect good things when the game does release on February 18th.

Avowed will release on February 18 for Xbox Series X|S and PC. The game will also be available on release day for Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass PC members.