In ConfessorsI’m being bombarded by a group of skeletons, some shooting arrows at me with their bows, while others are hitting me with their swords and shields and beating me up. When a priest enters the fray, healing every enemy I try to take out of the way, I quickly realize that I’m going to have to get the crowd under control very quickly to get out of here unscathed.
At the start of my hands-on demo, I was given the choice of playing with one of three pre-made characters: Barbarian, Mage, or Ranger. The idea of wielding a wand in combat as a mage influenced my decision, but this horde of bony enemies put my magical skills to the test. Armed with a wand in one hand and a spellbook in the other, the latter equipping me with four different spells to fire off. Using RT to summon my abilities on the Xbox Series X controller, I try out an electrical force that strikes several skeletons around me with lightning. As they momentarily fry, I jump back and throw several bombs in their direction, all the while constantly firing shots from my wand to whittle down the priest’s health. The fight becomes increasingly frantic, forcing me to use everything I have in my arsenal (as well as a handful of potions). When I take one hit too many, I decide it’s time to switch gears and try out the beefier Barbarian.
Power and Magic
I’m initially drawn into a mission to find an Aedyrian expedition team in a cave system that offers some pretty impressive cave vistas. I’m accompanied by Kai, one of the main companions in Avowed, and am immediately delighted to discover that he has the same voice actor as Garrus Vakarin from Mass Effect, which adds an air of familiarity to an otherwise alien world.
My introduction to combat emphasizes stealth. A prompt encourages me to sneak up on a nearby lizard and stab it in the back with my divine spike. As a mage, I immediately choose this less confrontational path and plunge the glowing blade protruding from my hand straight into the enemy.
As a barbarian, I can do the same thing, but this time I’m far less subtle. Instead, I run straight at the creature with reckless abandon and slash at it with my two-handed club. The first approach feels far more refined, while the second sends the little lizard flying with a satisfying thud.
I stumble upon a poor guy named Caedman who needs healing. From the start, it feels like an Obsidian RPG, with dialogue options that allow for roleplaying by reflecting the background and strengths of my chosen character. With the mage, I can choose more insightful answers, while with the barbarian, I can select an option that matches my experience in war and battle strategy.
As someone new to the Pillars of Eternity universe, I was a little intimidated by the world of Eora, but some of my initial fears were allayed thanks to a very useful feature you can use during conversations. There’s an option to toggle lore keywords, which provide contextual popups for important events or locations in the universe when they’re mentioned. It’s a very welcome touch, and will hopefully help me understand the story.
Hack and change
As I first get into combat as a mage, it’s hard not to draw parallels to Skyrim. While it’s similar in that you can carry a weapon of your choice in each hand, there’s a bit more going on here, with a dial that lets me send commands to companions and access potions (which can also be hotkeyed for convenience).
I briefly try using two wands, but they don’t pack as much punch as I would have liked, especially compared to the spells I can channel from a spellbook. Instead of just casting one spell depending on what I have equipped, like in Skyrim, I can cast four spells from the spellbook I have equipped in my left hand.
I found the Mage more difficult to master than the Barbarian, but I enjoyed the freedom I had to change my loadout for each build I created and tailor it to my preferred playstyle. As a Barbarian, I frequently switched loadouts from a two-handed weapon to one with an axe and sword with a single button press, and could switch my weapons in my inventory at any time.
It’s hard to say how Avowed will play out overall from this small snippet of the game, but as an RPG fan, I’m already intrigued by its fantasy world. And since I have a lot of freedom in how I approach combat and out of it, I’m looking forward to finding the right build for me so I can face more skeletons with ease.
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