Loot is an undeniably important part of any good RPG. While a good story provides a narrative driving force, and good gameplay mechanics are needed to keep players invested in the moment-to-moment loop, the hunt for shiny new pieces of gear plays a pivotal role in an RPG's progression, with it encouraging players to explore the map thoroughly and engage in side quests in the hope that they might find the perfect weapon or armor for their build. Avowed puts its hunt for gear front and center.
Though Avowed's core narrative is intriguing, and its combat mechanics feel responsive, it's the game's loot grind that will likely urge players to keep traveling through Avowed's world. In particular, it's Avowed's "Unique" pieces of gear that will have players exploring every inch of the Living Lands, with those items merging story and gameplay to create worthwhile rewards.
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Avowed's Unique Items Do a Great Job of Blending Story and Gameplay
Avowed's Unique Items Explained
Scattered across Avowed's Living Lands, players can find a wealth of "Unique" items. These Unique items are easily identifiable by their glowing yellow border that surrounds the item's portrait. These items range from weapons like swords, bows, and grimoires, to apparel like boots and armor.
Avowed's Unique items usually have higher base stats than any common iteration, and they always come with a special built-in bonus. These bonuses can range from simple stat boosts, like a +10% to movement speed and +20 resistance to frost elemental damage, to more distinct abilities, like the Beetle's Bulwark shield ability that lets players summon a beetle companion if they land a successful parry while below 75% max health.
Another key aspect of Avowed's Unique items is that each one comes with its own lore description. Though these passages are brief, they often manage to tie the item directly to a key part of Avowed's lore, such as one of Eora's 12 gods, one of its many different factions, and occasionally a named character that players will meet during their journey.
How Avowed's Unique Items Encourage Exploration
It takes around 40 hours to complete everything that Avowed has to offer, and while that's a far cry from past RPGs like Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and even Obsidian's own Pillars of Eternity duology, that's still a lot of time for the average player to put into a single game. But this is where Avowed's Unique items really prove their worth.
Though players might grow an attachment to any one of Avowed's standard weapons or armors, the game's Unique items are often the most inherently powerful option, offering the aforementioned stat boosts and special effects. From a gameplay standpoint, players are naturally encouraged to complete the side quests tied to these Unique items and scour the map in search of them, as each one offers a powerful alternative to the gear they're using.
Additionally, the lore found within these Unique items encourages fans of Avowed/Pillars of Eternity to find each one, as their descriptions shed new light on key parts of the world of Eora.
Avowed
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 82%
- Released
- February 18, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Xbox Game Studios
