How Avowed Embodies The Personal, The Political, and The Metaphysical – Game Rant Advance – GameRant

Obsidian Entertainment is responsible for some of the best RPGs to ever grace the market, including Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Pillars of Eternity, and The Outer Worlds, among a plethora of other games like Pentiment and Grounded. Across each of these experiences, Obsidian Entertainment has developed a core identity for its games: they are more digestible than most RPGs, their worlds are engaging and largely filler-free, their NPCs are well-defined and interesting, their companions are always memorable, and their stories are second to none. The pedigree of this studio, married with the worldbuilding and lore of Pillars of Eternity, is why Avowed is easily one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2025.Avowed takes players to the long-fantasized, but never-before-seen Living Lands found in the Pillars of Eternity setting of Eora. The power dynamics of the world are shifting following the events of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, and it seems the very world itself is changing too. Players take on the role of a Godlike “Envoy,” a representative of the Aedyr Empire, as it seeks to establish power in the Living Lands and investigate the spreading Dreamscourge. This fungal-like plague is said to corrupt the very souls of The Living Lands’ inhabitants, while also corrupting animals, creatures, and the very land itself. Those who succumb to the Dreamscourge become Dreamthralls after periods of confusion and hallucinations.Game Rant plays an hour of Obsidian’s Avowed and comes away excited by everything it does with established Pillars of Eternity lore.
The world of Eora is changing, and for Game Rant Advance, we spoke to several developers at Obsidian Entertainment about this core theme of change. But it’s a little more than that. It’s not just that the world is changing, but also why the world is changing. As senior narrative designer Kate Dollarhyde explained, this “why” came out of early brainstorming sessions with game director Carrie Patel:”We knew we wanted the story of Avowed to follow the structural trend established in Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, the previous games set in Eora, so the game would have three interwoven story strands – the political story, the metaphysical story, and the player’s personal story, where all the story strands met.”The metaphysical has always played an important role in Pillars of Eternity, especially when it comes to the idea of the soul. Reincarnation and lost souls are very important elements of the franchise, but so are the various maladies and influences on the soul. Hollowborn are children born without one, Soul Twins see this metaphysical conceit split between two individuals, and Awakened are reincarnated individuals who can recall their past life thanks to their soul. There are concepts such as fragmented souls, Bîaŵac (a storm of Eir Glanfath that can steal souls), and entropy of the soul. In other words, the idea of the Dreamscourge fits right into established Pillars of Eternity lore. As Dollarhyde explained,”In the world of Eora, the Living Lands is known as a strange, wild, and uncontrollable island where plants and animals grow and change in mysterious and sometimes frightening ways. What if the more unruly and dangerous changes taking place on the island were caused by some malady of the soul? COVID-19 had just begun to spread, and we were all working from home. A plague seemed like a natural, even cathartic idea to explore then.”Of course, Avowed’s developers needed a way to explain what the Dreamscourge was. Dollarhyde listed several inspirations and influences that would help the team formulate the metaphysical conceit of the Dreamscourge:In other words, players shouldn’t be led astray by the color of Avowed’s world. Sometimes the most terrifying things are the ones that do so with a smile, a colorful pop. That’s certainly true here. As Patel explained, “Avowed is colorful, nuanced, and weird. There is a sense of impending threat, but it’s lurking behind colorful decay and vibrant visuals rather than a dark and grim palette.” That was all derived from these inspirations and how the team wanted to communicate what the Dreamscourge was.Having understood this new metaphysical conceit is all good and well, but the metaphysical needed to be made digital. It’s one thing to say the Dreamscourge is a threat to the Living Lands, but it’s another thing to show it. Not only is the Dreamscourge the reason that Avowed begins, with The Envoy arriving in the Living Lands because of it, but it is also the catalyst for several main and side quests. The land itself is revolting against its settlers, who in turn catch the Dreamscourge and turn on each other. Several settlements have become isolated and withdrawn; even those who are not infected are forced to leave their lives behind, enduring and processing all that has changed.The land is infected, the people are infected, the animals are infected, and no one knows why. The plants, stone, and soil turn against those who work them, and Dreamthralls will be everywhere, some of which have developed unique abilities due to their infection. Avowed players will encounter the Dreamscourge, according to Dollarhyde, “nearly everywhere they turn–and some places they might not expect. Its effects are inescapable.” Every aspect of this world must bleed into every aspect of the game, and nowhere is this more important than in audio design. Avowed and Eora had to have the right vibe to communicate what the world is, but also what’s happening in The Living Lands and to its denizens. As Simon and Hairston explained,”When designing the audio for Avowed, we felt it was paramount to respect and pay homage to the iconic sound of the Pillars universe, but modernize it and make it work for the shift in tone and gameplay style that Avowed brings to the player. We wanted the player to feel truly transported to another world, and our world of Eora is teeming with magic, fantastical environments, and otherworldly creatures, most of which require audio made from scratch. It was important to us to maintain the player’s immersion and not only facilitate, but amplify the work that our wonderful teammates in art, gameplay, narrative, and so on have put into the game.”With the Dreamscourge established, the team faced an important question: how does the world of Eora react? And therein lies the political story: world powers scrambling to retain their strength as the Living Lands themselves are torn asunder.Obsidian Entertainment protagonists are typically blank-slate player characters who can be defined entirely by players; however, a completely blank slate wouldn’t work for Avowed. Connecting the political and metaphysical stories early on was a sticking point for Obsidian because these two story strands were connected. That is why Avowed’s protagonist, The Envoy, is a mostly blank slate character, but one who arrives under the dictation of imperial power. This fully connects the political and metaphysical conceits because The Envoy is inherently a political figure when they arrive in The Living Lands.Beyond that, the entire world of Eora feels the events of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. Ondra’s Mortar is gone, opening new opportunities for trade and conflict. The empires of Eora are in decline, colonies are revolting, and civil conflicts are heading toward war. New technology has risen, science is broadening, and gods cling to relevance. The Dreamscourge embodies the metaphysical shifting of the world, but Avowed’s core conflict is political. When everything settles, what remains?The Envoy is a political representative in a land that is metaphysically, politically, and personally revolting against Power as a general concept. The story of Avowed is about power – imperial power specifically – but also personal power and change. This storytelling direction is why, as Dollarhyde explained, “the player character couldn’t really be someone who wandered off a boat and was suddenly invested with a great destiny. They needed a role that afforded them privileges, responsibilities, allegiances. They needed a context to operate within and a point of view to start from so that the people of the Living Lands had a reason to care about why the player was there–and a reason for the player to care, too.”Players can be an agent of the political power that sent them there, an agent of their own personal power, or an agent of The Living Lands itself. With this approach, the player character can be pulled in different directions and can have their loyalties divided, and that kind of power isn’t acquired through happenstance. The Envoy was chosen by the Emperor, and as Dollarhyde so pointedly asked,”What would they do in the Emperor’s name?”The Envoy is a Godlike (but doesn’t know which god), but players can make their base character either a human or an elf. There is narrative justification for omitting the other Pillars of Eternity races because players begin as a member of the Emperor’s court. How The Envoy came into that position becomes the next question, which means players had to do something to attract the Emperor’s attention. This is where Avowed’s backgrounds gain their narrative justification, with Noble Scions, War Heroes, Court Augurs, Vanguard Scouts, and Arcane Scholars all being possibilities. Of course, there are gameplay benefits as well, but Dollarhyde teased that there was a little more to this choice:”I don’t want to take the surprise away from players, so I’ll say that each of those backgrounds has a reason for drawing the emperor’s attention, a reason he saw a use for them – beyond the player’s Godlike nature.”Despite all of this upheaval, there is a desire in The Living Lands and its denizens to connect, to become something new, and to grow stronger together. That brings in arguably the most important theme and element of Avowed: change. Dollarhyde summarized this by saying,”How the people of the Living Lands–and the Envoy–endure change, and the choices they make to survive it, reveals their values. It reveals who they are. Change poses challenges, and no one, least of all the Envoy, comes out of it untouched.””Change is at the heart of Avowed,” Dollarhyde said, and that is most clearly seen in Avowed’s third strand: the Personal. The political conflict and metaphysical conceit have been established, but players also have to engage with this sandbox. That is where the fun is, and if something isn’t fun, why bother? Avowed puts power into player’s hands, and it is their personal actions and decisions that will bring the strands together in something fun. As mentioned, players will be able to choose between being a human or an elf, as well as a background in Avowed. Devs have already shown the extent to which players can customize their characters into someone truly beautiful…or truly horrendous. And while the Godlike features are by default “there,” players can turn those off and not see them.”…the political story, the metaphysical story, and the player’s personal story, where all the story strands met.”Those are just some of the early choices players can make. When asked how “viable” evil choices are in Avowed, Dollarhyde explains that “you can absolutely be an evil jerk in Avowed.” Dollarhyde also promises this could have some devastating outcomes for the world of Eora, and she also explains why Obsidian continues to implement these features. It’s no secret in the game industry that “evil” playthroughs are rare; very few players ever choose these options. Plus, it takes a ton of time and work to implement these options, but if very few players make these choices, why do it? Dollarhyde said,”We design them because we believe they’re a vital element of player freedom. Personally, I feel that heroic options don’t mean much if the player isn’t tempted to also be a villain. An evil route gives the heroic route weight.”We also asked a handful of devs to tell us about their recent and/or favorite playthroughs of Avowed, and it seems at least a couple of them chose the road less traveled:”For my first full playtest, my envoy was a cranky old scholar named Petunia who could care less about companionship. Every interaction she had was a means to an end in her pursuit of arcane power. This was a strategic choice — I wanted to be a total jerk to everyone I met since most players tend to lean towards neutral or nice.””My most recent playthrough was with a character I spent waaaay too much time in character creator perfecting. She was stunning, and I named her “melon.” Other runner-up names were “Toyotathon” and “xbox360,” because I can’t take anything seriously. I don’t know if anyone’s familiar with the resurgence of bizarre wizard memes, but that was 100% her character. Faced with a problem? Fireball. An NPC questioning a series of events? Confuse the hell out of them with mystic ramblings. Ponder that orb.””Because it’s so common to play the good guy (whether you really want to or not), I love it when a game lets me play a bit of a villain. I played one of my first characters as a taciturn Aedyran loyalist. I was pleased by how consistently the game let me follow this characterization and by how much opportunity I had to define what these choices actually meant to my character.”Roleplaying The Envoy can go any number of ways, but the player’s perspective of Avowed isn’t the only one to consider. Those who live there should have a voice in how their future is shaped (even if players choose to ignore those voices because they are seeking arcane power, pondering the orb, or blindly serving the empire). Representing this, to various degrees, are the companions of Avowed. They represent different perspectives, provide their own stories (which are woven into the base game), and offer new gameplay opportunities. Players can be joined by two of them at a time, after all of them have been recruited, while the others remain at camp.These companions are Kai, a coastal aumaua fighter; Giatta, a human wizard; Marius, a dwarven ranger; and Yatzli, an orlan wizard.Kai is the first companion players meet in Avowed, having previously served as part of the Rauataian Navy (with Rauatai being one of the Kingdoms in Eora). He was involved in the Deadfire Archipelago campaign before deserting and joining other soldiers in Thirdborn, a settlement in The Living Lands. Kai eventually left this settlement, seeking something new, and worked from Paradis as a mercenary until meeting The Envoy.Giatta Castell is a wizard and an animancer, seeking to advance and engage this science of the souls. She comes from a place known as Fior mes Ivèrno, which was established by animancers fifty years before the events of Avowed. She lost her parents following some form of scientific accident, but instead of leaving animancy behind, she doubles down to finish their work. She is known to be defiant of authority, political or otherwise, which should make her interactions with The Envoy very interesting.Marius is one of the Pargrunen, or mountain dwarves with more nomadic roots who have explored Eora, including The Living Lands. He comes from Solace, a Pargrun Keep found in the Galawain’s Tusks region of The Living Lands, which is practically unsurvivable. Marius learned how to quickly survive in its wilderness, quickly becoming the guide of The Living Lands, but he reflects the lands around him. He is more accustomed to the wilderness than to civilization, to the creatures of the Living Lands than to its people. However, it seems he answers the call when The Envoy needs him.Yatzli, meanwhile, is the opposite of Marius. She’s quirky, energetic, and flirtatious, but they share a certain wanderlust. Where Marius is more about the lands of The Living Lands, Yatzli is obsessed with its history. She hails from Fior mes Ivèrno, where she has a loving partner, but spends even more time in the ruins of The Living Lands, seeking out Godless history and artifacts.It’s clear how each companion represents a different facet of The Living Lands, and of course, they’ll all have something to say about The Envoy’s choices. But, ultimately, those choices only exist in the hands of the players.Stay tuned to Game Rant Advance for more details on Avowed’s companions.At every step of Avowed’s development, from initial concept to creation and every iteration, is a core question: “Are we letting the player play their way?” That question gets to the heart of RPGs, and that question is at the heart of the Obsidian Entertainment RPG experience. As Dollarhyde says, “Avowed carries on the tradition of choice and consequence established in the Pillars of Eternity series and the traditions established in all of Obsidian’s RPGs.”In fact, it’s hard to even identify or categorize the number of choices available in Avowed. Of course, Dollarhyde explained, there are “more intimate choices than there are larger scale ones,” but categorization becomes slippery because Obsidian focused on impact instead of the number of choices. When designing both main and side quests in Avowed, Obsidian analyzed everything through the lens of player choice:”What does this quest change in the short term? The medium term? The long term? Does a decision made early in the quest change what the player can do at the end? Does it impact where the character who gave them the quest ends up? Does it feed into the main quest, or return in some way at the end of the game? Some choices that may appear limited or localized will turn out to have a big impact. Smaller choices compound over time, and those decisions impact the choices available to you in the end.”Players can expect plenty of smaller choices that compound, some that stand alone, and larger choices that shake the world. When asked how the most difficult choices in Avowed compare to past Obsidian RPGs, Dollarhyde explained that the team made it their mission to put The Envoy into as “many difficult situations as we put the Watcher.” It will be familiar territory for those who have enjoyed the factional, morally complex choices of the Pillars of Eternity series. And of course, players will get feedback from their companions. Each Avowed companion is attached to The Living Lands and its future, so they’ll have things to say, questions to ask, and counsel to offer. Confrontations are not off the table and ultimately, choice and the fate of The Living Lands is driven by the player. As Dollarhyde said,”As an agent of the emperor in the colonial frontier, they have the most power to make change and the greatest responsibility.”The Living Lands is an ironic name, given the effects of the Dreamscourge on its denizens and creatures. Players will be able to explore Dawnshore, an idllyic coastal region, and the port settlement of Paradis; the Emerald Stair, a jungle and swamp region where players can also explore Fior mes Ivèrno; the Shatterscarp, an arid desert and the location of Thirdborn; Galawain’s Tusks, a mountainous region with an active volcano and the keep of Solace; and more, yet to be revealed.Making this unique region understandable and playable is not without challenge, of course. Pillars of Eternity has always been an isometric game, and Avowed takes its world into a first-person/third-person action RPG. This means creatures like the xaurips are translated differently and can be more intimidating as opposed to their isometric past; things like telegraphing the behaviors of these creatures are a lot less direct than an isometric action bar. The flora and fauna behave differently but must also remain true to the Pillars of Eternity franchise as a whole. And there was a lot to consider when realizing The Living Lands in Avowed. As Cotto explained,”The Living Lands is a place of mystery and intrigue, from which many wild legends and dubious rumors are spawned. Much of the information about the Living Lands presented in the Pillars series is speculation or otherwise unproven, so being able to really decide what was fact and what was fiction about this strange continent was a fun challenge. Unsurprisingly, much of the weirdness about the land was rather exaggerated in the tales people told of it, so players familiar with what has been presented about the Living Lands from previous titles may find that the continent is not quite as wild and wacky as may be expected. That isn’t to say it doesn’t have its fair share of mysteries and surprises, though.”Because of Avowed’s zones and regions, as well as the close proximity of drastically different biomes in The Living Lands, it was important that the dev team consider how people and creatures change and behave. Players can travel from Dawnshore to Shatterscarp, and the two will feel completely different, despite being on the same continent. This aids in ensuring the playable space has variety, but it also sets forth the challenge of making that variety believable. And this is doubly true because of the change that the world of Eora is undergoing. Luckily, these stories are told. For example, players will learn what happens when animancers go into self-exile into the deepest wilds of The Living Lands, Cotto explained.And each region is treated equally. Each region has roughly the same area to play in, though there is a disparity in how the world is laid out. Some regions may be more open, others more claustrophobic, and others more jagged and vertical in nature. This adds to the variety of Avowed’s Living Lands, but as equally important as the space players get to jump into is the way they interact with those spaces.When exploring The Living Lands, players can expect all the following (and then some) according to Cotto:And every bit of The Living Lands is meant to cater to player curiosity and reward their effort. As Agay explained,”We did not fill the world with hundreds of tokens to collect or counters to fill, that’s not our style, but we’ve had an internal mandate to always reward player effort and curiosity and that means if you see a weird old ruined tower in the distance and you can find your way to the top, you will very likely find something that makes it worth your while. Maybe it’s a corpse clutching a unique weapon or treasure map, or possibly a fragment of a God Shrine Totem, or just some loot or story examinable.”Agay also told us about the ultimate challenge for every way players can interact with this space:”There’s a tower in a late game region that is basically a funhouse of all our traps and parkour mechanics. It’s not a maze per se, but it should be a bit of a headscratcher to work your way to the top.”Exploration is only one way players will engage with the world of Avowed. Its classless skill system ensures players can make whatever character they want. Avowed actually started with more defined classes, but throughout development, this changed because it “felt too constraining,” according to Agay. This ensures replayability even once Avowed’s story concludes. As Agay explained, “Avowed is a game with a big story, and by the end of the game, the player will have experienced it, the story will have been told. Some people will replay the game for sure, but we need to assume most probably won’t and we don’t want to limit the experience of most players by a choice they make before they started playing and when they had little game knowledge.”Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed is shaping up to be one of the most exciting new RPGs releasing in 2025.Befitting its classless skill system are four skill trees for Avowed players to enjoy. They represent all important RPG archetypes like The Fighter Tree, The Ranger Tree, and The Wizard Tree. There are also two others, namely the Godlike Skill Tree and the Companion Skill Trees. The latter are obviously tied to Avowed’s companions, whereas The Godlike Skill Tree contains abilities unlocked through the story. But as far as the other skill trees go, Agay explained what players should expect:Avowed’s weapons run the gamut as well, ensuring there is plenty of time to experiment and engage with its combat. Avowed includes everything from axes and spears to greatswords, wands, pistols, arquebuses, bows, grimoires, and shields. Players can mix and match their weapons, meaning they can have a pistol in one hand and a grimoire in another. With such a variety of weapons, we had to ask how Avowed balances melee, ranged weapons like firearms, and magic. And as Agay explained,”Our philosophy is that all the weapons, spells, and abilities available to the player must always be viable, and in the right circumstances situationally best, yet never be always best or always worst. That means if you’re trying to optimize your play, you’ll occasionally swap weapons, but you should never feel you have to. Also, if you have a favorite weapon and you just want to use it all the time, you can…Everything is viable, some things are situationally better, everything gets its chance to shine.”Avowed’s developers were working on combat improvements a year ago, during its Developer Direct, and the fan feedback following it reaffirmed all the improvements developers wanted to add to the game. The recent showings of Avowed’s combat prove it has come a long way, representing the progress of the overall game and building even more anticipation for its release.These story strands can be seen in every element of Avowed. They were the underlying current for the core pillars of Avowed, which according to Patel, were “A Weird, Wondrous Frontier,” “Strong as a Team,” “Root in Pillars of Eternity,” and “Moment-to-Moment Momentum.” In her own words, Patel explained,”Our pillars centered on the setting, companions, and the marriage of action gameplay and RPG mechanics. “A Weird, Wondrous Frontier” was all about bringing the Living Lands to life as a colorful, strange, and explorable world. “Stronger as a Team” meant integrating our companions with the story and the gameplay and giving them co-starring roles as part of the player’s adventure rather than as optional sidekicks. Finally, “Rooted in Pillars of Eternity” and “Moment-to-Moment Momentum” guided our balance between the lore and depth of the Pillars games on the one hand and a more fast-paced and visceral approach to combat and exploration.”Much like the world of Eora is undergoing change, Avowed has changed a lot throughout its development. That’s par for the course in game development, but the end result is something undeniably Obsidian in nature. From day one, the team has emphasized these three strands of the Pillars of Eternity franchise: the metaphysical, the political, and the personal. Avowed weaves these three elements through everything, from its overarching themes to its moment-to-moment gameplay. Where the Metaphysical soul and Dreamscourge set the stage, and the Political vying for power sets the conflict, it is the Personal – the player, you – that will weave everything together. And if nothing else, it’s clear how much Obsidian cares about the personal experience found in its very special RPGs. The same, no doubt, will be felt once players boot up Avowed.Success!Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.

You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands – an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.Your comment has not been savedI am really excited for this game, I cannot wait to play it because Pillars CRPGs are some of the best out there. I really hope Avowed is really good and they will have success – honestly, Obsidian has a good track record. The only thing that slightly bothers me is the art – I would have preferred dark and gritty instead of colorful but that is subjective.I am curious if the „woke” controversy will be validated or will have any effect on the sales. Choice and consequence are very important in Obsidian titles, and Game Rant caught up with the developer to find out what part they play in Avowed.Zenless Zone Zero featured banners always come with one S-Rank (5-star) and two rate-up A-Rank (4-star) characters.DEAD LETTER DEPT. puts players in the shoes of a data entry typist, but it quickly becomes apparent that something is very wrong with the gig.Nightdive Studios releases a substantial February 2025 update for The Thing: Remastered players, including bug fixes and display improvements. Mizuki is quite straightforward with her kit, however players may have some wrong assumptions on how to utilize her the best.Here’s how to increase the Charisma stat in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Those who don’t have much time to wait should check out these Final Fantasy games, which will hook them from the first minute.

Source: https://gamerant.com/avowed-story-gameplay-personal-political-dreamscourge/