Avowed is out now, and Obsidian’s newest game has elements that should please RPG fans while being accessible to newcomers to the genre. RPGs can be intimidating for newbies, though—trust me, I know. It’s never fun to go it alone, so take these tips with you.
Avowed is like many other RPGs. You’ll earn XP by completing quests, defeating enemies, discovering areas, and more. As you gain XP, you level up. Each level achieved gives you attribute points and ability points to spend. This is how you make your character unique. You can make them a great warrior skilled in hand-to-hand combat or a powerful wizard. It’s up to you.
Attributes affect what your character is strong at. I tend to choose the scholar class in these types of games, mostly because I like reading a lot. But you do you. The good news is that Avowed allows you to re-roll all of your points if you find that the build you’ve invested in isn’t working for you. That alone makes it a very beginner-friendly RPG.
Avowed isn’t a completely open world, but it isn’t totally linear, either. There will be clear story objectives to do throughout the game. Those are tempting for new players to follow – heading towards the marker is always intuitive, right? But a game like Avowed is meant to be explored.
At their best, RPGs allow you to get lost in the world and forget all about the main quest. There’s so much to do in Avowed if you get a little bit lost. Exploring different buildings, caves, and areas will get you loot and resources. Then, a wealth of side quests can be found if you’re willing to take them. Some are really easy and basically free XP for your character.
Books and notes will give you more background on the story. Obsidian is good with storytelling, so don’t just collect the items – use them to learn more about the world. If you’re willing to look enough, you’ll find treasure maps throughout the world, too. They’ll give you a chance to find special gear or a lot of coins, which are always good to have.
Finally, by exploring a lot, you’ll pick up a lot of gold. That’s going to help you get better weapons and gear faster. I can’t stress enough how big a difference that will make in combat, especially against boss-level foes. Rushing through the story might even leave you underpowered. Take your time, and it will help you be ready.
Combat might be challenging early on if you’re new to a game like Avowed. You’ll want to balance physical and essence attacks and always watch your health and essence bars. The most basic potions you’ll need in Avowed are the health and essence potions. Health restores a large amount of health, and essence refills your essence bar. You can find these potions throughout the world, and many vendors have them in the cities you visit. They’re easy to spot; health potions glow bright red, and the essence is bright pink.
Be aware of whether you actually need to use the potions, though – especially the health potion. If a small amount of your health is depleted, use some of the food you should be picking up throughout the world. Pay attention, though: some food and herbs will remove effects like poison. You want to keep those until you need them.
Only use the health potion if your health is low. It’s not like Call of Duty, where you reload after every kill.
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Every time you level up, you get to upgrade your character. You get skill and attribute points that will affect your combat abilities and even your conversation options. When you upgrade, though, don’t forget about your companions. Neglecting to upgrade their abilities along the way will result in deep regret and probable restarts after dying.
Your companions will help you in combat and can even have healing power for you and your party. If your companions are weak, you’ll eventually find your character swarmed with enemies, and your party will be down. But if you remember to upgrade them, you’ll find that they are a valuable asset in combat and will help you achieve victory much easier.
You’ll pick up resources as you move around the map. Many of these can be used to upgrade your weapons or gear. When you make a camp, there is a station to the left (when you first enter camp) where you can upgrade your gear.
This is especially helpful once you have some gear you might use for a while. Early in the game, you’ll change weapons more often, so be selective about investing resources. Better gear costs more to upgrade, but it’s very worth it. Upgrades will give you better attack power, critical chance, or more protection from damage, among other benefits.
Games like Avowed are all about getting lost in another world. So do that. If you want just to take on the main story, do that. If you want to tackle every side quest the game offers, you’ll enjoy that, too. The beauty of RPGs like Avowed is that it’s about creating your own story. So, save the Living Lands your way, and have fun doing it.
And that’s a beginner’s guide to Avowed.
Avowedis available now on PC and Xbox.
