Fun game, some weird decisions.
Finaly finished Avowed, the game is definitely fun to play, some RPG mechanics are quite basic but the punchy and varied combat makes up for it for the most part. If you feel the combat is getting boring, switch up your load outs and re-spec and it changes enough that it rarely gets boring (at least so far).
The story is okay, nothing ground breaking but overall good enough to keep you engaged and you decisions throughout the game have an impact on the ending.
The companions are a bit on the boring side unfortunately, most are one dimensiona and annoying, it feels like their opinions change so that some always agree with your decisions and others disagree. Only 2 of the 4 have companion quests for some reason and even these are not really fleshed out. They might have kept the companions down to 2 instead of 4 and made them more interesting and complex.
The writing is okay for the most part as is the acting, but some dialogue is cringe and takes you out of it by being to "21st century" and too grounded on our reality for the setting (you will se what i mean as you play it).
Another small critique i have is that like 95% of all characters with any power (captains, leaders etc.) are women, I'm not exaggerating here, I thought it was just the first zone or something but the more I played the more i noticed this. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, this paired with poor writing for these female characters (they all have basically the same personality, abrasive, arogant, short tempered and aggressive) makes it stick out like a sore thumb.
Another thing that I found a bit disappointing is that you cannot harm NPCs, I noticed this in the first few hours but it only really bothered me when, after helping an NPC with a fetch quest, he does something completely evil killing another NPC. The scene just ends with you and your companions commenting that he just killed the guy and no dialogue option pops up so you can kill this evil NPC. I just stood there hitting the NPC with my sword as nothing happened.
These things however did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the game and after a while I just started finding it funny if somewhat frustrating too.
One of the best things about Avowed is the exploration, firstly because you are always rewarded for exploring with useful loot or surprise boss fights. If what you are exploring is tied to a quest you haven't started, it will automatically pop up notifying you you completed a step for a quest and the quest will become available in your journal. This is a great quality of life decision from the developers. Another great thing about exploration is that you can go almost anywhere without need to "come back later" with a specific item or something (as long as you stock up on lock picks) so if you come across a cave or building that seems inaccessible, just keep exploring and you will find a way in. So far i have almost never needed to back track to a previously explored area unless I ran out of lock pics (I started buying them everywhere after that and never had this issue again) or a chest was hidden behind an ilusion that one of your companions can dispel but was not with me. Exploring is fun, rewarding and the parcour mechanics offer mostly fun vertically to the exploration (some exceptions here and there were it feels like you are floating and just fall, sometimes to you death, because the ledge/rock you are climbing on is not climbable).
To summarise.
Pros:
Fun combat
Great exploration
Vibrant world
Good visuals
Okay story
Cons:
Boring and annoying companions;
Bad dialogue writing;
Simplistic RPG mechanics.
7.5/10.
