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[Fess]

What’s so great about it in your view? Seems to not be in the same tier as truly great RPGs

Not sure here but don’t you have Gamepass? Go try it, if it’s not your thing just uninstall it, no loss. Go through the tutorial so you reach the first big area and do some of the early quests, if it’s your thing you’ll know by then.

For me, after 9 hours, it’s definitely not up there with Skyrim. Not as big, very static, lip sync is mostly crap for a 2025 release, no life to speak of or interactivity, you’ve seen the videos I’m sure, it’s an oddly static game.

But the combat is good, like it’s really good mechanically. Dodging and blocking feels great, souls-like. Just played with mouse and keyboard and it’s superb even there, dodge on space bar, block on right mouse button, alt for second weapon loadout, just feels great.

And the map layout is really good. Similar to Indiana Jones in how there is stuff to find here and there, and there is some verticality and platforms are perfectly placed and traversal feels great.

Loot is boring though, mostly upgrade parts, but the upgrade mechanic is good so in the end looting still serves a purpose.

Combat, exploration, traversal, upgrading. That’s what’s carrying the game for me.

The script isn’t super interesting so far but I haven’t played the Pillars games so don’t know if they pull strings for fans that I don’t see. I like the tone and choices in conversations though. There is some humor in there, low key unhinged comments, no idea how much it affects the outcome but can make conversations fun.

I don’t know, for me it’s a bit of a surprise in how good it plays after seeing some harsh reviews. And there is extremely little jank too. Initial impression is probably a 8 for me but then I want to drop 1 whole point just for not doing the Bethesda style simulation and interactivity that I personally like. So maybe 7 in early game. But I’m still at the first area, things can go up the more I play. I played til 2 in the morning last night and started again directly after breakfast so I’m definitely enjoying my time here!

 

[coachmcguirk91]

According to the recent article by Schreier, the game already had 80 people dev team when project was rebooted. Pentiment and Grounded also had a very small teams by design, I remember reading somewhere it was between 10-15 devs per team

From the article, it sounds like that "80 person team" were about to go into production but didn't. That's way different than 80 people working on the game for a period of time and then rebooting. It does not take many developers to develop vertical slices of a game. It's still in the pre-production stage at that point

 

[PeteBull]

80 people is a very small team for a modern title (albeit in preproduction).

80 productive devs with a passion can make a lot, 80 DEI infested woke af devs are basically just parasites who suck out game's budget and decrease final product's value.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Asmond coming through with a decent review. He's better than half of these "journalists" nowadays.

Looking forward to giving this a blast soon. The combat looks amazing.

 

[Ywap]

I've been playing 4-5 hours on Gamepass and so far it feels like a Greedfall 6/10 kind of game.

 

[Dazraell]

From the article, it sounds like that "80 person team" were about to go into production but didn't. That's way different than 80 people working on the game for a period of time and then rebooting. It does not take many developers to develop vertical slices of a game. It's still in the pre-production stage at that point

My man, there is a whole thread about this article with said article linked. They had a large team that already went through two vertical slices and started a third when they were supposed to be go in full production. This article even mention the fact it's unusual and people on a project were tasked directly by Patel to work on various things while waiting when others were figuring out a plan for a new iteration of this project

 

[GymWolf]

That’s the thing. You described action adventure with light RPG elements. The world is very static, storytelling is mediocre, you can’t control/equip party members, quests are meh.

This is coming from Obsidian which are known for their deep RPG systems, great quest design and interesting writing.

Do you see how folks who used to like Obisidian’s games might not like their latest fare? Personally I am in this camp and deeply disappointed by what that 6 year effort and early claims of Obsidians Skyrim brought to the table.

Edit: It’s too bad Indy underperformed. Would have really loved to see sequel to that. To my surprise really liked the game.

People should have tempered their expectations after the other worlds, exactly like people are lowering their expectations for elder scroll 6 after starfield.

Pentiment was made by that sawyer dude and it was a small passion project and grounded is a survival with barely a plot, their last similar game was that communist male feminist wet dream.

In that one they went hard against capitalism, in avowed they go hard against colonization, next one is gonna be about ruining nature or some shit.

 

[StereoVsn]

People should have tempered their expectations after the other worlds, exactly like people are lowering their expectations for elder scroll 6 after starfield.

Pentiment was made by that sawyer dude and it was a small passion project and grounded is a survival with barely a plot, their last similar game was that communist male feminist wet dream.

In that one they went hard against capitalism, in avowed they go hard against colonization, next one is gonna be about ruining nature or some shit.

I mean yeah, after the gameplay and full game reveal my expectations went down to the floor. Which is why I am disappointed in this game. And I am sure ES6 is not going to be amazing either.

Oh well, there are other games to play, it’s just kind of sad what some of the best studios that I really liked turned into .

 

[Mr Moose]

No

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was successful enough that Disney reportedly "picked up the phone and wants more"

Weeks after Lucasfilm Games boss expressed interest in the idea

www.gamesradar.com

But there's a chance that Infernal Machine will still hold as the Indiana Jones instead

It did, which is unfortunate since it's meant to be a great game. Jizz is full of shit.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Higher low last night - could go higher today. Or not, we'll see.

 

[adamsapple]

It says 7 right there, don’t make me you boy.

Edit: i guess adam gave up. Laugh it up boys, here’s your 7 from Asmon.

You took time to find the 7 in a different video versus where he's writing 7.5 in the video he's quot eunquote reviewing the game in.

Good job emoji

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Higher low last night - could go higher today. Or not, we'll see.

I doubt it. There looks to be churn. It's already dropped to 11th best selling globally behind NBA 2K25...

 

[Lunarorbit]

I've been playing 4-5 hours on Gamepass and so far it feels like a Greedfall 6/10 kind of game.

I was really excited to be evil in greedfall; just be a horrible colonial British overseerer to the island people.

Then I actually played it and the choices you get to make in the game just let me down.

 

[Lunarorbit]

It did, which is unfortunate since it's meant to be a great game. Jizz is full of shit.

If jizz is full of shit you need to get to the pee pee doctor fast!

 

[adamsapple]

I doubt it. There looks to be churn. It's already dropped to 11th best selling globally behind NBA 2K25...

FWIW, it is currently the third highest game being played on game pass behind CoD and Minecraft.

So if the question is sheer CCU, without knowing GP players in real time, just citing Steam numbers is only half the story.

The only thing we know is that Carrie Patel said the studio is satisfied with the game's sales i the Bloomberg article yesterday.

 

[Buggy Loop]

She did a disservice to the game with that statement because the game really don't have much junk but it is also a very safe project that definitely doesn't try to reinvent the wheel like other games that are maybe more buggy but also more ambitious.

So to sum up, no idea why she said that when her game is both optimized and not creative at all.

But the question was general, not is avowed janky.

But gamers have clearly a different notion than a director for “little jank”, like I said in other posts, all games have some level of it. When you work and see all game systems and what you allow to be jank so that it still remains a game, it’s not the same definition as unpolished or buggy. Armor clipping to not limit animations is technically jank and everyone in a studio knows it. We’ve just collectively accepted. Limiting movements based on armor for no clip would become a nightmare and not fun.

So a far cry from all the YouTubers saying the game is broken. Again, certain gamers overreacting.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

FWIW, it is currently the third highest game being played on game pass behind CoD and Minecraft.

So if the question is sheer CCU, without knowing GP players in real time, just citing Steam numbers is only half the story.

The only thing we know is that Carrie Patel said the studio is satisfied with the game's sales i the Bloomberg article yesterday.

I don't really care about CCU. I was just responding to a post.

There's no way they're happy with sales, so remove that thought.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

There's no way they're happy with sales, so remove that thought.

I would imagine any such "we are pleased" is nothing more than PR spin. And I like the game.

 

[BigLee74]

So if the question is sheer CCU, without knowing GP players in real time, just citing Steam numbers is only half the story.

I’m guessing it’s more like 1/10th of the story.

 

[RafterXL]

FWIW, it is currently the third highest game being played on game pass behind CoD and Minecraft.

So if the question is sheer CCU, without knowing GP players in real time, just citing Steam numbers is only half the story.

The only thing we know is that Carrie Patel said the studio is satisfied with the game's sales i the Bloomberg article yesterday.

It's currently the 6th most popular GP game, in a sea of old games, but only the 16th most popular Xbox game being played now.

And after the article where Obsidian said they want to be a 100 year company and are perfectly fine not having much success, it's not surprising that they are satisfied with the games sales. When you strive for mediocrity, you're satisfied when you hit it. Even so, I wouldn't trust anything the say about sales. Microsoft has been hiding sales numbers for years and uses GP to push misleading narratives about how "successful" their games have been. They'll claim success regardless of what the truth is.

 

[SJRB]

Higher low last night - could go higher today. Or not, we'll see.

Statistically unlikely.

It’s over. A meagre 17k is the highest this game will reach.

Unbelievably bad numbers.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Statistically unlikely.

It’s over. A meagre 17k is the highest this game will reach.

Unbelievably bad numbers.

Well, I don't know either way nor claim to know. My only hope is that it doesn't send the Pillars universe to the graveyard. Beyond that I don't much care.

 

[SweetTooth]

Steam shouldn't be the only measure for any game success knowing that some games is gravitating towards the taste of console players.

Yes Steam is BIG but still ..

 

[ValiantInstance]

You can go into any games and find shit to stir. Any games.

I think this is a nice resume

This is utter nonsense. I'm playing Kingdom Come Deliverance and Dying Light at the moment, both games from the previous decade. Both are excellent video games. And this retard is suggesting that the reason I have absolutely no interest in Avowed is because I've been conned by online grifters that the game is uninspiring?

 

[adamsapple]

It's currently the 6th most popular GP game, in a sea of old games, but only the 16th most popular Xbox game being played now.

?

Don't know why KCD is there, it's not a game pass game, so take it out and it's the third top game on GP right now.

 

[Irobot82]

?

Don't know why KCD is there, it's not a game pass game, so take it out and it's the third top game on GP right now.

So the data isn't trustworthy because it isn't as transparent as Steam. For all we know, Microsoft could just be placing Avowed there in an attempt to garner more attention.

 

[RafterXL]

So, I find this interesting, the story of Avowed is basically Greedfall:

Speaking of GreedFall, the comparisons with Avowed are so strong that I'm baffled Obsidian didn't change the plot just to distinguish themselves.

My knowledge of both games' plots is vague - I played GreedFall a while ago and forgot most of it, while I've started skipping dialogue in Avowed - but here's my understanding of plot points both games share:
- The player is the agent of a colonial empire who visits an exotic colonised realm for an important mission
- The player's overriding goal is to cure a plague, and the answer lies deep within the exotic land
- The player has an unusual appearance with distinct facial markings which other characters frequently comment on
- The player realises early on that they have a strange innate connection to the island, despite having never visited before
- The moral clarity of the player's mission is complicated the more they learn about the reality of colonialism (though GreedFall treats it with nuance while Avowed is much more of a boring unambiguous "we're the bad guys" deal)
- The player has run-ins with religious zealots (though again, they're a proper fleshed-out believable faction in GreedFall while they're one-dimensional villains in Avowed)

The similarities struck me about twenty minutes into Avowed and they only deepened from there. Of course the punchline is that GreedFall, despite being a middling game with a not-entirely-memorable plot, nonetheless completely blows Avowed out of the water in terms of writing. Obsidian must have realised they'd end up inviting comparisons, and that those comparisons would be unflattering for them given that they fucking suck at writing, so why did they go with this plot?

And the combat is basically ripped from a game called Mythforce, by Beamdog, a company that worked on Avowed, btw. Mythforce was also co-op, just like Obsidian originally wanted Avowed to be.

So what, exactly, did Obsidian even do on this game?

?

Don't know why KCD is there, it's not a game pass game, so take it out and it's the third top game on GP right now.

I'm on the app right now and this is what is shows:

1)MW3
2)COD:Bo3
3)Minecraft
4)RB6:S
5)Forza Horizon 5
6)Avowed

 

[PeteBull]

For comparision even new yakuza spin off made it to almost 22k ccu xD

https://steamdb.info/app/3061810/charts/

 

[adamsapple]

So the data isn't trustworthy because it isn't as transparent as Steam. For all we know, Microsoft could just be placing Avowed there in an attempt to garner more attention.

I see .. so they're faking results for their brand new game but not enough to place it at #1 or 2.

I'm on the app right now and this is what is shows:

1)MW3
2)COD:Bo3
3)Minecraft
4)RB6:S
5)Forza Horizon 5
6)Avowed

On the console app it shows 4th (including the CoD's as a single entity) and in the Top Paid its the 5th top selling game.

These lists are probably very region specific.

 

[Buggy Loop]

For comparision even new yakuza spin off made it to almost 22k ccu xD

https://steamdb.info/app/3061810/charts/

Is it on gamepass, battle.net, xcloud, GeForce now?

 

[Dazraell]

?

Don't know why KCD is there, it's not a game pass game, so take it out and it's the third top game on GP right now.

Maybe they're counting sales with discounts you can have only if you paid for GP as what is most popular right now? That would probably explain what KCD1 is doing on this list, I think?

 

[Buggy Loop]

This is utter nonsense. I'm playing Kingdom Come Deliverance and Dying Light at the moment, both games from the previous decade. Both are excellent video games. And this retard is suggesting that the reason I have absolutely no interest in Avowed is because I've been conned by online grifters that the game is uninspiring?

What a strange take

No, of course you can have your take and tastes not aligning with the game. He talks about DISHONEST points for plastic box warring and culture war. As if nobody can enjoy the game.

Had obsidian not been owned by Microsoft and was independent like before this thread would not even exist, 100% guaranteed.

 

[Mr Moose]

Is it on gamepass, battle.net, xcloud, GeForce now?

?
Don't you need Game Pass Ultimate for Xcloud?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I would imagine any such "we are pleased" is nothing more than PR spin. And I like the game.

It's currently the 6th most popular GP game, in a sea of old games, but only the 16th most popular Xbox game being played now.

And after the article where Obsidian said they want to be a 100 year company and are perfectly fine not having much success, it's not surprising that they are satisfied with the games sales. When you strive for mediocrity, you're satisfied when you hit it. Even so, I wouldn't trust anything the say about sales. Microsoft has been hiding sales numbers for years and uses GP to push misleading narratives about how "successful" their games have been. They'll claim success regardless of what the truth is.

Phil literally went to Tokyo to do a photo op with Tango on September 28th, 2023 and Microsoft announced they were closing the studio on May 9th, 2024...

The idea that even Phil is calling the shots here let alone local studio management is laughable...

 

[BigBeauford]

If Ninja Theory didn't get shut down, I don't think Obsidian is going anywhere.

 

[Mr Moose]

If Ninja Theory didn't get shut down*, I don't think Obsidian is going anywhere.

*Yet.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Watched a comparison video between Avowed and fucking Oblivion, a game that came out 19 years ago, and it's amazing how that jankfest of a game had a world that felt much more alive and full of details than an RPG released in 2025.

"But it's not that kind of game!". Well then please tell me what kind of game this is, because what I've seen so far seems like the most dull and lazy RPG I've seen in a while.

Steam shouldn't be the only measure for any game success knowing that some games is gravitating towards the taste of console players.

Yes Steam is BIG but still ..

Don't know about console numbers, but on PC there's more people playing Skyrim than Avowed.

 

[RafterXL]

If Ninja Theory didn't get shut down, I don't think Obsidian is going anywhere.

Ninja Theory wins awards, their cost per employee is significantly cheaper, and they have significantly less of them to boot. Obsidian are certainly not going to close before TOW2, but if that game ends up like this one Microsoft will do to them what EA did to Bioware, fire off or spread developers to other teams and leave a shell of a company just to keep the name.

 

[PeteBull]

Is it on gamepass, battle.net, xcloud, GeForce now?

sega isnt stoopid so ofc not xD

 

[SmokedMeat]

Asmond coming through with a decent review. He's better than half of these "journalists" nowadays.

Looking forward to giving this a blast soon. The combat looks amazing.

I started watching Cowboy play a little. I’ve got a $1 GP offer for two weeks. Might use it to try Indy and Avowed.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

I started watching Cowboy play a little. I’ve got a $1 GP offer for two weeks. Might use it to try Indy and Avowed.

Do it! That's what I did, though found my GPU won't run Indy due to hardware RT. But still, enjoying the hell out of Avowed and even more for $1. Feels like a steal.

 

[Topher]

Watched a comparison video between Avowed and fucking Oblivion, a game that came out 19 years ago, and it's amazing how that jankfest of a game had a world that felt much more alive and full of details than an RPG released in 2025.

"But it's not that kind of game!". Well then please tell me what kind of game this is, because what I've seen so far seems like the most dull and lazy RPG I've seen in a while.

It is an action RPG and not a sandbox at all like with Bethesda games. That isn't excusing some of the laziest flaws in the game like the near dead feeling cities and lack of NPC interaction. Those are problem areas and I think it is fine calling it "lazy". But the game isn't dull. If it were, I wouldn't have nearly 20 hours in it.

Don't know about console numbers, but on PC there's more people playing Skyrim than Avowed.

Yeah, but Skyrim is one of those rare games that a lot of people go back to year after year. If I had to bet, I'd say that game has more players right now compared to most games released on Steam the past year.

 

[TintoConCasera]

If I had to bet, I'd say that game has more players right now compared to most games released on Steam the past year.

"Most games released on Steam" is a lot of games and many are shovelware, but if we looked only at the major releases alone, I think Avowed is way below the succesful ones.

Even Earth Defense Force 6, the nichest of games, had more players on release than Avowed and that game have a fucked up release because of the Epic account requirement.

 

[Topher]

"Most games released on Steam" is a lot of games and many are shovelware, but if we looked only at the major releases alone, I think Avowed is way below the succesful ones.

Even Earth Defense Force 6, the nichest of games, had more players on release than Avowed and that game have a fucked up release because of the Epic account requirement.

What you quoted was talking about Skyrim, not Avowed.

 

[EN250]

80 productive devs with a passion can make a lot, 80 DEI infested woke af devs are basically just parasites who suck out game's budget and decrease final product's value.

True, part of budgets going up is this insistence in bringing "DEI experts" to fix problems that didn't exist in the first place, adding more time, added innecesary research, adding more characters that reflect their bubble instead of what the game should reflect

 

[Thief1987]

The only thing we know is that Carrie Patel said the studio is satisfied with the game's sales i the Bloomberg article yesterday.

We also know that hi-fi rush was resounding success before they kicked out developers on the street.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Yeah, but Skyrim is one of those rare games that a lot of people go back to year after year. If I had to bet, I'd say that game has more players right now compared to most games released on Steam the past year.

Exactly. Plus it’s not like people are returning to play vanilla Skyrim. They’re playing with new mods and overhauls. It’s one of those “evergreen” games.

 

[adamsapple]

We also know that hi-fi rush was resounding success before they kicked out developers on the street.

So perceived success or failure aren't the only reason a studio can be closed? Gotcha.

 

[JayK47]

This is truly a GamePass game. It is meant to be played on GamePass. You are meant to play through it quick, and move on to the next game, completely forgetting about it. No way is this game worth $70. So why are we even caring about Steam numbers? For this game, this metric is dumb. I hate to say it, but I think they will make their money on this and keep making more. The flat chested ugly women are not going anywhere.

 

[Raven117]

Wait Indy bombed? I thought that game looked incredible and was well reviewed, how did it bomb if it was on Gamepass?? I gotta admit I'm really looking forward to playing it on PS5 and will prob buy day1 as I love these Uncharted Saturday Matinee type adventure games so have been avoiding all news about it, as for Avowed, I'd rather slap my own testicles with a spiked fish than play that purple mushroom Dragon Age DLC shite

With Gamepass and all that. It’s hard to really know whether it bombed sales/player engagement-wise.

But man, you are in for a treat when you give it a go. The gameplay isn’t going to blow you away. But for vibes and story, I thought it was absolutely great.

That’s my point with the color swap. The “woke” stuff tends to have certain color schemes and A slightly cartoon ansthetic. Avowed has it (and is against what it originally showed in terms of tone).

But, nothing has been crazy “woke” at all. (Ie, veilguard).

If they kept the darker fantasy tone, I think this would have been better received.