Avowed is shaping up to be one very exciting upcoming RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. As the studio behind the likes of Fallout: New Vegas, Neverwinter Nights 2, The Outer Worlds, and Pillars of Eternity, there's plenty of reasons to look forward to a fresh adventure from the developer.
Not least because Avowed will bring us back to the Pillars of Eternity universe in the world of Eora, with a flexible combat system that will let us chop and change up our dual-wielding loadout with everything from guns to magic spells. With the chance to visit the Obsidian studio in Irvine, California, we're already getting a better sense of what's in store - which you can check out for yourself in our Avowed Big Preview hub.
The new RPG is certainly one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games of 2025, with the likes of Doom: The Dark Ages and South of Midnight also set to come from Xbox Game Studios. For a full recap, read on below as we take you through every we know so far about Avowed.
Avowed release date
Microsoft Gaming has set the Avowed release date for February 18, 2025. That means the upcoming Obsidian game will be launching into a packed window for RPGs, vying for attention alongside Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (Feb 11), Assassin's Creed Shadows (Feb 14), Monster Hunter Wilds (Feb 28), and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (Feb 28).
Avowed pre-order and Early Access
Xbox revealed Avowed is now available to pre-order with Standard and Premium digital and steelbook editions available. The announcement came with the news that the Premium Edition, which costs $89.99 / £89.99, will give you up to five days Early Access to Avowed ahead of its launch date.
Avowed delay
Avowed's initial release date was set for November 2024, although the long-awaited Obsidian RPG was pushed to February 18, 2025. An official statement from Xbox claimed that the delay of Avowed was to "give players' backlogs some breathing room" in a packed window for new games of 2024.
Avowed platforms
The confirmed Avowed platforms are PC and Xbox Series X. The RPG will also be available on day-one to all subscribers of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service. It's unclear whether an Avowed PS5 release will materialize, although Microsoft Gaming has been steadily introducing more of its Xbox exclusives to competing platforms in recent months – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the latest, which will launch on PS5 after an initial window of exclusivity.
Avowed setting
Obsidian is bringing us back to Eora for this new adventure, with the Avowed setting confirmed to be a part of the broader Pillars of Eternity universe. That said, you needn't have played any of the PoE games to understand the plague sweeping The Living Lands, with Avowed designed as an entry-point for players of all experience with the fantasy setting. It's also worth noting that Avowed isn't an open-world game like Skyrim, with Obsidian instead opting to break its world into denser, themed-biomes.
The Avowed setting is similar to The Outer Worlds in that respect, which saw Obsidian take a similar approach to compartmentalized world design (albeit in a sci-fi dressing). What this means is that each self-contained part of The Living Lands will have something new to offer, from vibrant forests to arid rocky deserts and lush spaces wilting from magical corruption. This design decision, Obsidian believes, will allow for a heavier focus on storytelling, characters, and companions through each of Avowed's open zones. As such, it's striving to be an RPG that respects your time.
Avowed gameplay
Avowed is a new RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, combining magical-spellcasting and melee fighting in a lush fantasy world called The Living Lands. The studio says the Avowed gameplay experience has been built with player-choice as the bedrock, telling 12DOVE that "At Obsidian it's your world, your way." That speaks to the wealth of opportunity afforded to you, allowing you to easily shift between multiple combat setups: overlapping fire, ice, and ground spells with swords, axes, and shields; dual-wielding pistols or wands to become a powerful "gun-slinging mage", and plenty of other combinations. The end-result is designed to make you feel as if you're carving your own path through Eora.
There's support for first-person and third-person camera perspectives too, and the promise of multiple endings depending on the choices you make throughout the campaign. Obsidian also promises that you'll have plenty of abilities to unlock, skill trees to invest in, and the option to individually upgrade weapons should there be a type you're particularly drawn to. It's not yet known whether Avowed will launch at 60 frames-per-second, with the studio "targeting 30FPS, bare minimum" on Xbox Series X because "you don't necessarily need 60 frames" for a first-person single-player RPG."
For more on what's in store, check out our roundup of 10 things we loved most about Avowed after spending three hours with the RPG.
Avowed companions
Companions are set to be a core part of the Avowed experience, with two able to join you throughout the adventure. As well as helping you out on the battlefield and lending you their skills to get through the environment - with access to their abilities via a redial wheel, you can also spend some down time with them at a party camp where they'll teach you new skills and tell you more about themselves.
Game director Carrie Patel tells 12DOVE that each companion will have their own motives, combat proficiencies, and opinions on the choices you make. It's worth noting, however, that there will be no romance options in Avowed, with Obsidian stating that it considered the feature but ultimately decided the wider implications weren't worth the tradeoff.
Avowed character creation
There will be character creation options in Avowed that let you pick from a variety of Avowed backgrounds and attributes to make your own Envoy of Aedyr. As a Godlike - a individual touched by the gods at birth - you also have unique markings such as fungal growths and natural elements like tree bark that you can give your avatar.
You'll be able to customize your character's look for cosmetic purposes, as well as elements such as their background, which may have wider impact on Avowed's mechanics – altering base attributes or abilities, or introducing new lines of dialogue into conversations.
One key restriction of Avowed's character creation settings is that you can only pick between a human and an elf, which is a result of the protagonist being a part of the Aedyr Empire in the wider Pillars of Eternity world.
Avowed development
Avowed has been in development at Obsidian Entertainment for over five years, making it one of the longest ongoing productions in the famed studio's history. Obsidian is best known for creating some of the best RPGs – Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, The Outer Worlds, and plenty more. What's exciting about Avowed is that it's the first AAA endeavor to come from the studio since Microsoft Gaming acquired the company in 2018 and folded it into the Xbox Game Studios setup. The game was announced back in 2020, and Avowed has remained one of the most anticipated Xbox games since. It's currently on track to release on February 18, 2025. I should also point out that despite the prominence of companions, and Obsidian's fantastic work on survival sim Grounded, that there will be no co-op or multiplayer support in Avowed – it's a strictly single-player undertaking.
