Avowed has now been in the hands of hungry RPG enthusiasts for a couple of weeks, which means players have had plenty of time to discover all of the endings the Living Lands have to offer – including one particularly brutal finale that stands as the game's rarest.
This article contains story spoilers for Avowed's ending(s).
There's no shortage of possibilities for the Envoy in Avowed, a game that places choice and consequence above all in true Obsidian Entertainment fashion – but that means most players won't see every outcome available in a single run, and it just so happens that one ending has had fewer eyes on it than any other: Tyranny. To obtain this ending and its accompanying achievement, which only 0.2% of Steam users have, you have to get your hands dirty.
Really dirty – so much so that all of the Avowed companions will despise your Envoy by the end of their journey through the Living Lands. It involves siding with the brutal Steel Garrote and their dreadful leader, Inquisitor Lödwyn. Unfortunately, however, it's not that simple – you also have to make every pro-Steel Garrote decision correctly up until the ending, much to your party members' dismay. This means a lot of death, destruction, and no forgiveness.
If you want to unlock Tyranny and are willing to walk the merciless path, you'll need to kill Ygwulf in Paradis rather than forgive him, allow the Steel Garrote to set Fior ablaze, let Kostya destroy Solace Keep, and finally, kill Sapadal in the Garden – all in a wicked day's work. This is the only Steel Garrote-aligned route that will see Inquisitor Lödwyn knight your Envoy rather than beheading them, but you'll lose just about everyone else in the process.
It's not a road that I could personally ever take, achievement be damned, as I'm a hardened Kai stan and would never want to meet his disapproval, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't seriously impressed by Obsidian's attention to detail. I discuss the importance of choice in the recent RPG more in-depth in my Avowed review, but it's safe to summarize its significance as akin to its role in other decision-heavy titles like Baldur's Gate 3.
Here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.
