The short version
Obsidian brings its Pillars of Eternity setting into a first-person action RPG for the first time, trading isometric parties for direct, Skyrim-adjacent combat. It launched on Xbox Series X|S and PC, with a PS5 version — including new races, an appearance-change option and a photo mode — following almost exactly a year later.
What works
- A first-person action RPG that respects the reactive dialogue Obsidian is known for
- Companion writing with real mechanical and narrative weight
- Flexible melee/magic/ranged combat that supports genuine build variety
- The PS5 version launched with a full year of post-release content and updates bundled in
What doesn't
- Combat encounter variety thins out in the back half of the campaign
- The Living Lands is smaller in scope than Obsidian's own Outer Worlds or Fallout work
- Some traversal and climbing systems feel undercooked next to genre peers
- Companion romance and reactivity is shallower than Baldur's Gate 3's benchmark
What it is
Avowed is Obsidian Entertainment's first fully first-person RPG since Fallout: New Vegas, set in the world of Eora previously explored through the isometric Pillars of Eternity games. Players investigate a mysterious plague called the Dreamscourge across the Living Lands, a set of environmentally distinct regions, with a small party of companions in tow.
It launched on Xbox Series X|S and PC in February 2025. A PlayStation 5 version arrived a year later, in February 2026, as part of an Anniversary Update that also added new playable races, mid-game appearance changes, a new weapon type and a photo mode for all platforms.
First-person, but still an Obsidian RPG
The headline change from Obsidian's isometric Pillars games is the camera: combat runs in real time, first-person, with melee, ranged and magic all viable and swappable mid-fight. Critics broadly agreed the studio's reactive dialogue and companion writing survived the perspective shift intact, even as the combat itself drew comparisons to more established genre peers.
Companion characters carry real mechanical weight — each brings distinct combat utility alongside their own questlines — though several reviews noted the reactivity here doesn't reach the depth of Baldur's Gate 3's companion system, a comparison that shadowed most 2025 RPG coverage.
The PlayStation 5 version, a year later
The February 2026 PS5 launch arrived bundled with a full year of patches and content updates the Xbox and PC versions had already received, plus new PS5-exclusive additions — three new playable races, mid-game appearance changes, a new weapon type and a photo mode across all platforms — making it, by most contemporary coverage, the most complete version of the game at launch.
Performance across platforms
Xbox Series X|S and PC both support a 60fps performance mode; the PS5 version launched with performance and quality modes matching the current-gen Xbox targets.
| Mode | Resolution | Frame rate | Load |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Series X / PS5 · Performance | 1440p-class dynamic | 60fps | — |
| Xbox Series X / PS5 · Quality | 4K dynamic | 30fps | — |
| Xbox Series S | 1080p-class | 30-60fps | — |
| PC | Uncapped, user-configurable | 60fps+ | — |
Accessibility and comfort
- Full remapping on all platforms
- Adjustable difficulty at any point, including combat-specific sliders
- Subtitle size, background and speaker names
- Motion blur, camera shake and head-bob can all be reduced or disabled
- A photo mode added across all platforms with the Anniversary Update
Is it worth it
$69.99 for a first-person RPG that carries Obsidian's writing strengths into a new perspective. The PS5 version, launched a year into the game's post-release support, is the most complete entry point as of this writing.
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How we reviewed it
This review draws on Obsidian's own release and Anniversary Update notes, the critical consensus formed since the February 2025 launch and February 2026 PS5 release, and public player reporting — not first-party lab testing by this desk.