As the Envoy of Adeyr in Avowed, you never know what might be asked of you. Sure, you're on an adventure to dig into the mystery of a plague that's sweeping across the Living Lands, and yes, you're also searching for answers about the unknown deity who blessed you. But that doesn't mean you can't also face smaller picture stuff like, say, a guard who needs to go for a piss. Nothing welcomed me into the town of Thirdborn in Shatterscarp quite like the aumaua soldier – who I later learn is called Gill – who asked me to stand guard so he could answer nature's call.
Once I'd agreed, there was no quest objective or marker tying me down to my decision, but I wanted to stay true to my word and see what would happen. After I watched Gill rush off, I stood firm, only to hear him get admonished by his captain in the distance for shirking his responsibility. "This is what we're doing now?," Marius asked in disbelief, "waiting for a guard to drain his bladder?" Yes we are my trusty mountain dwarf companion, I thought to myself. And isn't it a fine deed? When Gill returns, he thanks me for my service and even gives me some money, and it's all because I'd spoken to him on a whim and saw the task through – even when nothing in Obsidian's adventure was telling me I really needed to.
Adventure and discovery
I've always been a big fan of Red Dead Redemption 2's world and the way its random encounters bring a sense of adventure and surprise to exploring as Arthur Morgan. I've argued in the past that the best thing you can do in Rockstar's RPG is set out with no objectives in mind to instead see what the world holds for you. I've even tried to recapture that feeling by refusing to fast-travel in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. But I never quite expected Avowed to deliver in this respect.
After all, it's not fully open-world – but Obsidian's RPG actually benefits from that. The open-zones in Avowed feel more hand-crafted, and each area offers a lot of ground to uncover. With parkouring also on the cards, there's verticality to each area's design, and a lot of things are tucked away for you to find. There is of course a wealth of weapons to discover as you venture off the beaten path, as well as enemy camps, and other points of interest. But the smaller random instances feel like the ultimate reward for the time I've spent investing in exploration.
They pull me right into the world and feel so natural because of how easily missable they are. All of the events I've had so far have happened because I've decided to talk to a random person out in the wilderness, made the effort to climb up an interesting structure, or come across a hidden place thanks to my desire to see every part of a map. Sometimes I'm simply rewarded with an entertaining conversation, such as the time I met an artist high up on a cliff face who asked me for my opinion on how he could improve his painting of the vista just ahead. But other times I'm asked to actually help someone out.
On one particularly memorable occasion, I met a woman who wanted to set down flowers at her brother's grave. It was overrun with xaurips, but that's nothing for a godlike adventurer like me. Once again, no objective or quest was triggered, but my companion Kai responded by saying he'd seen some cairns nearby. With only the woman's directions and Kai's remark to work with, my decision to talk to this person was now making me engage with the immediate area in a fresh way as I set out in search of the gravesite. After I'd successfully completed the good deed, I felt a sense of satisfaction at knowing I'd helped someone in a meaningful – albeit small – way.
The encounters in Rockstar's RPG, on the other hand, would trigger at random while you're out and about in the world, and the minimap would glow in a small area to show you there's someone or something nearby to check out. Some would happen more than once, too, making them feel a little less unique, but they did constantly make the world come alive. In certain respects, the moments in Avowed also remind me of the Red Dead Redemption 2 stranger missions that would set down question marks on the map to show the location of a quest-giver. But Avowed's more freeform, tailored approach makes me feel like my actions are truly shaping my experience. That's helped by the handcrafted feel of the world, where everything has been purposefully placed for you to discover if you put the time in, rather than occurring randomly.
Not unlike Red Dead Redemption 2, I never quite know what I'll come across next. The more I explore the world of Eora in Avowed, the more I've come to appreciate how much it has to offer, from its environmental storytelling to the smaller moments that make the world feel so responsive to me. And if nothing else, it's taught me that not all heroes wear capes… sometimes they diligently stand at a post so the guard on duty there can go for a pee.
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