Avowed Reviews Are In, But The Scores Fall Short Of Obsidian's Other Great RPGs

Ahead of the full release of Obsidian Entertainment's new RPG, Avowed on February 18, reviews for the game have dropped - and while they're trending mostly positive, the aggregate score does fall notably short of the developer's past work. First revealed in 2020, Avowed takes place in the fantasy world of Eora, the same setting as Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity games, but doesn't function as a direct sequel. Instead, Avowed diverges from the CRPG approach of Pillars to adopt gameplay more similar to something like The Outer Worlds, or a Bethesda RPG.

As of February 13, which is also the game's early access release date, reviews from critics have landed Avowed with an aggregate score of 80 on Metacritic - which, while still a good score, is somewhat lower than the Metacritic scores of other Obsidian RPGs. The two Pillars of Eternity games, for example, have scores of 89 and 88, respectively, and The Outer Worlds, which is perhaps the most similar game to Avowed, gameplay-wise, has an 85. For more points of comparison, the smaller-scale Pentiment has an 86, and perhaps Obsidian's most well-known game, Fallout: New Vegas, has an 84.

What Critics Are Saying About Avowed

Avowed's Reviews Are Mixed On Several Of The Game's Aspects

Reading into the actual reviews as opposed to the aggregate score, reviewer opinions on Avowed are surprisingly mixed in several aspects. While ScreenRant's own Avowed review puts the game at a 9/10, with reviewer Kyle Gratton highlighting "compelling" writing, but also saying that the "combat isn't especially engrossing", some other reviews take the opposite perspective. The Washington Post's Gene Park, for example, describes Avowed as: "Great in fighting, not the writing [...] My story choices didn't matter much, either to the narrative or, more fatally, to myself."

A mixed reception, trending towards the positive side, seems to be what Avowed will end up with. At the absolute highest, VG247's Alex Donaldson awarded the game with full marks, giving it 5/5 stars, saying that, "It's exactly what it needs to be," while at the lower end, Stacey Henley, writing for TheGamer, rates Avowed at 3/5, calling it "middle of the road sustenance." A common thread in reviews, both positive and middling, is that Avowed doesn't innovate much, or at all, with both the reviews from VG247 and TheGamer expressing as much, and IGN's Travis Northrup who gave the game a 7/10, saying that Avowed "plays it quite safe".

Avowed Looks Like A Great RPG, Even Compared To Other Obsidian Releases

Avowed Might Be A Game Where Personal Taste Is The Deciding Factor

Of course, reviews should generally be taken as guidance, not fact - especially when opinions on the different aspects of Avowed are so varied. Notably, also, aggregate scores from critics have been a somewhat strange measuring stick for Obsidian RPGs in the past. Prior to Avowed, Fallout: New Vegas's technical issues at launch landed it with one of the studio's lower Metacritic scores, despite being perhaps Obsidian's most well-regarded game, while The Outer Worlds landed a point higher, but garnered a mixed reception from players.

This isn't to say that any of the reviews are inaccurate or untrustworthy, but especially for Avowed, the mixed opinions make it seem like a game that's hard to rate with an "objective" number, and perhaps more subject to personal taste. Luckily, at least, the game will be available on day one of its full release on Xbox Game Pass, so players won't have to buy Avowed at its full $70 price tag to see if the game is for them.

Sources: Metacritic (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), The Washington Post, VG247, TheGamer, IGN