Avowed tries out a lot of ideas that distinguish it from your average, everyday fantasy RPG, and one of its biggest departures is the emphasis on firearms. It’s no surprise that Avowed lets the Envoy try out some rudimentary guns, as theworld of Eora where the game takes place had already introduced them in the isometric Pillars of Eternity games, but bringing the action into first-person does make the weapons more important. Short of mods, you’re never going to stumble across an arquebus in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, so it’s a big point of distinction for Avowed.
Although I’m often prone to running into battle with sword and board in hand, I do try to shake it up sometimes. Baldur’s Gate 3‘s surplus of interesting Dungeons & Dragons spells was the perfect opportunity to play a wizard, for example, and the combination of Avowed‘s guns and the classic Skyrim-style appeal of first-person stealth archery made it seem like a great time to go ranged. I’ve had some fun with that approach, and even some thrilling moments here and there, but avoiding the sword when I can help it has also highlighted some of the game’s biggest flaws.
Avowed Has More Bullet Sponges Than Challenging Enemies
Combat Can Be Tough Without Lasting Forever
Custom Image by Lee D’Amato
My complaints about Avowed‘s guns don’t have much to do with their primitive nature, at least not directly. I’d actually love to see more games embrace matchlock, wheellock, and flintlock firearms, and I think there are ways to make the slow rate of fire feel rewarding if a game is designed properly around it. Avowed, however, is not, and it doesn’t particularly feel like it’s designed around a couple of its ranged options at all.
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One of the biggest problems is the way that Avowed approaches difficulty. I played a good chunk of the game so far on Hard, which felt like the right balance of actual challenge, but I ended up dropping it to normal just to reduce my exhaustion with bullet sponges. A side encounter with a camp of xaurips can take ages to clear out early on, to say nothing of boss fights or tussles with any enemies above your current equipment level.
I’ve been playing with the HUD disabled, leaving me unable to see enemy health bars, and I still sometimes expect enemies to drop dead long before they do. Avowed‘s seemingly endless health pools also take away the pleasure of getting the jump on anyone at range, as even going quiet with a bow rarely makes it possible to take out an enemy before they can alert anyone else. Staying on top of weapon upgrades can make plenty of encounters trivially quick, but I rarely encounter ones that hit a sweet spot of being challenging but efficient.
Avowed does a generally good job of communicating necessary information without HUD elements, so if you like an immersive approach, disabling at least a few options can be fun.
More than anything else, though, the tendency toward long fights eventually makes the extended conflicts boring. I had the hang of every enemy move about 10% of the way through the first boss fight, making the rest of the encounter feel like an extended process of going through the motions. Avowed‘s boss fights aren’t terribly dissimilar from challenges in something like Destiny, but that’s never been compelling to me, and they lack the variety or innovation in boss phase design to meet that bar even for a more eager audience.
Enemy AI Doesn’t Work Well At Range In Avowed
Pathfinding Is A Major Issue
Since the game actively punishes the damage dealt by low-level gear against higher-level enemies, I’ve had trouble finding any good balance that keeps these encounters to a reasonable length without trivializing others. Rather than accepting this ping-ponging difficulty or swapping gear all the time, I just wish enemies hit harder rather than staying up longer. It’s also not the only problem of ranged play, but the drawn-out encounter time does highlight the other major issue. The more enemies I fight at range, and the longer those fights take, the more I notice just how unintelligent the AI can be.
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Using an arquebus in Avowedis at its most exciting when an enemy is rushing me, as the hasty process of slamming a ramrod back down the barrel becomes a distinct challenge rather than another passive way to slow down the pace. Enemies often have movement options that let them close gaps quickly, and they sometimes boast some fairly unique attacks that can take me by surprise. More frequently, however, they spend their time getting confused about where to go or turning tail and running despite not appearing to be spooked.
The limitations of enemy pathing highlight the fundamental disconnect — Avowed offers the ability to play it as an FPS, but it doesn’t quite deliver the fundamentals that make an FPS work. While features like the Godlike ability to hold enemies in place support the idea that relying on ranged combat is viable, the experience of playing out encounters that way is frequently disappointing.
Avowed’s Gun Combat Can Still Be Great
I’ve Got Both Real Options & Pipe Dreams
I haven’t completely abandoned Avowed‘s guns, instead opting for the obvious choice of pistols. With various options for dual-wielding, it’s a lot easier to get into the fray with a pistol or two in hand, minimizing the need to pop in and out of cover while taking a tiring succession of potshots at enemies. I was so willing to commit to the ranged approach, however, and I’m not too keen to give up that endeavor. Getting more abilities and options as I spec further into skill trees should help, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough.
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The other thing that could help the problem is enemy variety, something that frustrated me all throughout the first region of the game. I was hoping that moving on from Paradis would result in a completely new set of foes, but although I was thrilled to see the first batch of new enemies in the Emerald Stair, my hopes for a total overhaul were quickly dashed by yet another gaggle of spiders. It’s fine for early foes to largely consist of a few basic enemy types, but I’ve had moments of sheer disbelief at the parade of bears populating an area.
Avowed often shakes up its larger enemy categories with unique variants, which can be exciting, but certain groups like spiders and bears just can’t get as interesting as xaurips and sporelings.
More than anything else, I want Avowed to justify its first-person nature, as the switch away from Pillars of Eternity‘s isometric approach comes with limitations that threaten to overwhelm the benefits. The transition has impressed me in some areas, like surprisingly solid platforming and vertical opportunities. Neat ideas sprinkled throughout the combat mechanics certainly manage to distinguish it from Bethesda’s first-person RPGs, and its commitment to offering a clear sense of timing in first-person brawling is impressive.
All too often, however, I started to find myself bored in enemy camps, and I’ve adjusted the way I’m playing a lot to alleviate the problem. It’s probably for the best that the game is pushing me to try every enchanted weapon I get my hands on, and in the second region, I’m beginning to find a better groove with the encounter balance. Some are still too easy and some are still too long, but with a larger arsenal of skills and interesting weapons, it’s a lot easier to entertain myself.
Post-launch support for Avowed has already started to touch up the enemy AI, and I’d be especially thrilled to see some new difficulty options that trade enemy health for damage or tone down the punishment for using outmatched equipment. For now, there’s still too much about gunning down enemies with the arquebus that just isn’t that fun in Avowed, but I’m fine giving up on that dream to explore all of the other opportunities that the game allows.
Systems
Released
February 18, 2025
ESRB
Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
