2.5/5 ★ – JLevel7's review of Avowed.

Fun time with Avowed. I went back and forth with this one. Like the tides my feelings swayed. Initially I was jazzed about open zones. Later I was bummed that it felt too similar to Outer Worlds with detailed locations, but a lifeless energy that feels double A in a AAA package (not that anything is wrong with that). I enjoyed my time with my companions. Kai is an easy favorite, but Giatta in particular stuck out to me. I was saddened to learn the lack of romance in the game, but nevertheless shot my shot any chance I had. Yatzli was fun, always quipping. Marius took me time, but upon getting his backstory helped me finally come around. Paradis was my favorite zone and I quite enjoyed how easy it was to swap up builds to test out all the flavors. I felt bummed at times to feel a lack of personality from the game overall though. At times I feel it with some characters, but it comes back more to the lifelessness of its world and static characters. Hopefully, knowing this game had some stop and starts in development can this improve in a sequel. Gameplay was fun. I loved using my bow and switching it up with my heavy sword when combat got beefy. Look forward to playing a complete edition someday with other weapons such as the wand and spear. The score feels surprisingly among the most lacking aspects of the game as it feels barely a presence, again adding to a lack of personality or charm to push this to the next step. Yet, overall I enjoyed my time more than I didn’t. It succeeds in making me want to delve into the Pillars titles as well as want a sequel. Despite its shortcomings, there’s enough here that oozes potential.