Avowed's Open Zone Approach Is The Best of Both Worlds

The open-world genre has come an incredibly long way in a rather short amount of time. Though the open-world genre can trace its roots back to early classics like 1986's The Legend of Zelda, the genre as we know it today really started to take form in the early 2000s with the release of seminal titles like Grand Theft Auto 3. In the two decades since, the open-world genre has become a dominant part of the gaming world. Even modern games that aren't fully open-world will still share a lot of key elements with the genre, and that's exactly the case with Avowed.

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By Cameron Swan

Avowed's Open Zone Approach Strikes a Good Balance

Avowed's Open Zone Levels Are Still Packed With Content

While Avowed may not have one massive open-world where players can walk from one end to the other with no loading screens or obvious transitions, that doesn't mean Avowed is short on content. There are a total of four regions in Avowed, each one acting as an individual "open zone."

Each of these regions has its own set of optional activities, accompanying a lengthy string of main missions. From powerful bounties to hunt down and defeat, to a plethora of hidden caves and underground dungeons to explore and plunder, to a wealth of side quests, each of Avowed's regions is packed full of worthwhile content.

Players are also naturally encouraged to participate in these optional activities via the game's progression and loot systems. Unique armors, amulets, and weapons are scattered throughout the Living Lands, often being given as a reward upon completing a particularly challenging side quest. Completing these side activities will also obviously reward the player with ability points that can be used to further any of the game's three core skill trees.

Avowed isn't as long as RPG juggernauts like The Witcher 3 and Skyrim, but it'll still take fans around 40 hours to complete fully.

Avowed's Open Zone Levels Don't Feel Bloated

A common side effect of modern open-world design is that developers will often try to fill their maps with as much content as possible. This can often lead to severe bloating, where many of the game's optional activities feel rather barebones, and like they've been added just so that the open-world doesn't feel empty or lifeless, leading players to ignore them for most of their playthrough.

By not needing to fill every inch of a massive open-world with activities, Avowed is able to trim a lot of the fat and keep its gameplay experience lean. As mentioned above, Avowed still has plenty of content to offer the player, it's just able to deliver more hand-crafted activities, and place them more organically in its setting.