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[Topher]

Saw Mack's review (Worth a Buy). He called it woke - and for context, this is a guy who was viciously attacked by the extremist wing of the anti-woke brigade for defending KCD2 as not being woke. Mack's characterization of Avowed being woke was based on most of the main leaders and quest givers in the game being women - and women who supposedly have really rough backstories that don't match their appearance/voice - "6 years on a slave ship but look like they've never broken a fingernail."

To head off the inevitable responses, no, it's not an objection to female leaders per se. It's a comment on the unrealistic predominance of them and the nature of their presentation, which signals modern political agendas and by doing so breaks immersion.

I originally wasn't seeing anything that caused me to think Avowed's story, characters, or narrative was "woke" (I wasn't fussed about the pronouns), but this changed my mind. I had seen the early vid about how "Avowed Hates Men," but that didn't seem trustworthy to me. However, I've come to trust Mack's views on this stuff, so it has more weight.

That wasn't the main thrust of his review, btw. His main criticism of the game is that the world felt "like a studio set," rather than a real place, and that the characters were bland. He enjoyed the combat, though, and said that if you are just looking for some enjoyable combat minus the deeper RPG elements, Avowed may be something you'd like.

Here is his review, if you want to listen for yourself:

Fucked up ratios of females to males certainly looks annoying.

 

[Kings Field]

Waiting for the Synthetic man review to have a good laugh

 

[UnrealEck]

You think someone who is dumb enough to pay $100 for this wouldn't do anything other than affirm their purchase with a positive review?

I disagree with the positive Steam reviews I've browsed over. Even things like 'Soundtrack is so good, a nice surprise this aspect, the music is fantastic' I disagree with. Someone described the music as sounding AI generated and I think I agree with that. It's very unremarkable and just kind of drones on in the backlground. Utterly forgettable and sounds exactly what I'd expect from a low budget AA game.

 

[Humdinger]

Fucked up ratios of females to males certainly looks annoying.

Yeah. You may end up liking the game despite that, though. Depends on your tolerance for this sort of thing. A couple years ago, I enjoyed Horizon FW, despite the fact that it is guilty of the same sort of nonsense. But I was a big fan of the first game, so I gave the sequel some leeway because of that.

I have grown less tolerant of the feminist messaging over time. These days, I'm just going to avoid a game that has too many of these indicators. But I hope you find it enjoyable. Based on what I'm hearing, I think a lot of people will still find the game enjoyable enough, based on the combat and exploration.

 

[Topher]

Yeah. You may end up liking the game despite that, though. Depends on your tolerance for this sort of thing. A couple years ago, I enjoyed Horizon FW, despite the fact that it is guilty of the same sort of nonsense. But I was a big fan of the first game, so I gave the sequel some leeway because of that.

I have grown less tolerant of the feminist messaging over time. These days, I'm just going to avoid a game that has too many of these indicators. But I hope you find it enjoyable. Based on what I'm hearing, I think a lot of people will still find the game enjoyable enough, based on the combat and exploration.

All the women in heavy armor really look stupid. But the gameplay looks fun and most of the videos I've seen say as much, including the one you posted. That goes a long way for me. A game typicaly has to be stupid preachy for me to have to quit due to being woke. Hopefully this is not the case.

 

[Krathoon]

Yeah. You don't have the weird looking into the mirror and questioning who you are crap like Veilgaurd.

 

[missiles]

6/10 from Edge.

 

[RafterXL]

I disagree with the positive Steam reviews I've browsed over. Even things like 'Soundtrack is so good, a nice surprise this aspect, the music is fantastic' I disagree with. Someone described the music as sounding AI generated and I think I agree with that. It's very unremarkable and just kind of drones on in the backlground. Utterly forgettable and sounds exactly what I'd expect from a low budget AA game.

Low budget describes the majority of this game. From the second you boot the game the music is forgettable. The animations are Bethesda 10 years ago terrible. The models go from decent to looking like Xbox 360 level. When you walk through water it doesn't even recognize it, it literally does not move. When you walk through grass the grass disappears in a circle around your character. The voice acting goes from average to intern reading off a piece of paper. The worst offender, by far, is how lifeless the entire world is. NPCs just stand around, and cities, while beautiful, are just props with no life or activity. It's a dead world filled with 5 different mobs. On top of that, for how it looks, it runs terrible and has constant studders on any hardware.

I honestly question wtf Obsidian has been doing for the past 5 years? It's like they polished up some decent combat and neglected nearly everything else. The fact that KCD dropped just before this just exposes how amateur hour most of this game is. This is a game a first time indie developer drops, not a developer with the pedigree of Obsidian.

 

[Krathoon]

The impression that I get is that it is really dogmatic in it's game design. Still, that makes the game engine pretty tight.

It am not really seeing anything quirky about the game. So, it is not like Outer Worlds. It is a serious RPG.

 

[Ainem Enamas]

Some Skyrim action is what I see

 

[TBiddy]

Well Im not the one praising mediocrity…Just like The Outer Worlds, this is another shallow as a puddle ‘RPG’.

You didn't even play the game my friend.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

EDGE magazine - 6

Yeah that’s gonna tank the Metacritic, heavy weighting.

 

[GHG]

You didn't even play the game my friend.

And so what?

 

[Balducci30]

I'm picking it up on pay day. I mean KCD2

I feel avowed will be a great blast for many. Combat looks slick and overall just a fun game. Nothing groundbreaking, just a solid ass solid game.

Im far too wrapped up in FF7 Rebirth to look at it I think. Ill give it a go and see if it grabs me for 20 to 30 hours but I am in no rush. will just play on gamepass.

KCD2 is like Skyrim x RDR2 with a deeper learning curve and hardcore rpg mechanics. Reactive as hell too, choices matter. Better than any game I played last year so far - but that’s my personal opinion. If avowed didn’t release close to that I’d be more interested but yeah

 

[DeepEnigma]

Low budget describes the majority of this game. From the second you boot the game the music is forgettable. The animations are Bethesda 10 years ago terrible. The models go from decent to looking like Xbox 360 level. When you walk through water it doesn't even recognize it, it literally does not move. When you walk through grass the grass disappears in a circle around your character. The voice acting goes from average to intern reading off a piece of paper. The worst offender, by far, is how lifeless the entire world is. NPCs just stand around, and cities, while beautiful, are just props with no life or activity. It's a dead world filled with 5 different mobs. On top of that, for how it looks, it runs terrible and has constant studders on any hardware.

I honestly question wtf Obsidian has been doing for the past 5 years? It's like they polished up some decent combat and neglected nearly everything else. The fact that KCD dropped just before this just exposes how amateur hour most of this game is. This is a game a first time indie developer drops, not a developer with the pedigree of Obsidian.

Remember when DF made a stink about an old build of Ghost of Tsushima not having the grass move when the player stepped on in…. On the PS4 of all consoles. Only for everyone to tell them it was an old build and those types of shaders, etc., are in final passes of development.

And we were all correct.

I wonder why they’re not melting down in 2025 with DISAPPEARING FOLIAGE, and STIFF WATER?

 

[Flabagast]

EDGE magazine - 6

Yeah that’s gonna tank the Metacritic, heavy weighting.

Why score did they gave to the GOTY KCD2 ?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Why score did they gave to the GOTY KCD2 ?

8

 

[ManaByte]

Fucked up ratios of females to males certainly looks annoying.

The video is deliberately omitting most of the male characters to paint a false picture of the game.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

Why score did they gave to the GOTY KCD2 ?

It got an 8 and Lonely Mountain downhill skiing got a 9.

These devs could save a lot of money and just make Indie games.

 

[Flabagast]

8

Way too low. Oh well, I guess given Warhorse reputation it is still pretty good

 

[Nydius]

I dunno. Edge giving it a 6, GameSpot giving it a 6, and IGN giving it a 7 might mean I actually end up liking it.

Joking aside, watching the review videos with lots of gameplay like Karak's and SkillUp's, I realized what this game reminds me of: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The bland UI, the static NPCs, the way NPCs stare through you when you're talking to them, the color saturation, the lifeless towns where people just stand in the same place... Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed KoA:R back in the day, but that game came out in February 2012.

I'm going to benefit from the fact that I haven't yet played KCD2 when I go into playing this on Game Pass but having seen KCD2 gameplay (not to mention BG3), this just looks so dated.

 

[Topher]

The video is deliberately omitting most of the male characters to paint a false picture of the game.

I'll find out for myself on Tuesday

 

[GHG]

The video is deliberately omitting most of the male characters to paint a false picture of the game.

There's a full playthrough of the game already available on fightincowboy's channel and a quick scan of the first couple of episodes shows it to be pretty accurate.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

The video is deliberately omitting most of the male characters to paint a false picture of the game.

Did you expect anything else? They are grifters, the sheep are simple minded.

I’m early in the second area, I think it’s been a bit 50/50 in terms of male and female so far in terms of people in power. Unless you include leaders of the gangs and outlaw groups, those have mostly been men so far.

This is a universe with magic and shit. Let me guess, women should be at home pregnant and making sandwiches in this universe too?

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

There's a full playthrough of the game already available on fightincowboy's channel and a quick scan of the first couple of episodes shows it to be pretty accurate.

We can't actually be sure on the ratio of men to women without knowing each characters pronouns. It's baffling that a game made in 2025 doesn't have the option to ask which ones they prefer at the beginning of every dialog tree.

I'm gonna spend more time Barvin' than questin'

 

[Darkness_Arises]

Yeah. You may end up liking the game despite that, though. Depends on your tolerance for this sort of thing. A couple years ago, I enjoyed Horizon FW, despite the fact that it is guilty of the same sort of nonsense. But I was a big fan of the first game, so I gave the sequel some leeway because of that.

I have grown less tolerant of the feminist messaging over time. These days, I'm just going to avoid a game that has too many of these indicators. But I hope you find it enjoyable. Based on what I'm hearing, I think a lot of people will still find the game enjoyable enough, based on the combat and exploration.

At least, HFW has diversity in body types. There is a serious dearth of curvy women in these kind of games (by curvy, I mean real world curvy/voluptuous, not midget obese freaks like the weirdo mechanic NPC in Borderlands Ellie). The only people, who would get offended by seeing these kind of body types would be envious trans men. Meanwhile you have capcom coming through with that blacksmith girl in wilds and Mai in SFVI.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

I'm going to benefit from the fact that I haven't yet played KCD2 when I go into playing this on Game Pass but having seen KCD2 gameplay (not to mention BG3), this just looks so dated.

Try swinging a sword in KCD 2.

You will be SHOCKED.

People fighting for their lives will not fight like this. Skyrim’s basic swordplay feels miles better.

 

[kevboard]

I'm going to benefit from the fact that I haven't yet played KCD2 when I go into playing this on Game Pass but having seen KCD2 gameplay (not to mention BG3), this just looks so dated.

KCD2's combat looks horrible (the first one's also felt like ass, that much I know), and Avowed's looks pretty damn good...

so there's that...

 

[Gonzito]

If a website gives KCD2 less than a 9, they are useless in my book

 

[Panajev2001a]

METACRITIC SCORES​

---

OpenCritic - 83/100

MetaCritic - 80/100

Critic Reviews​

​

4News.it - Danilo Di Gennaro - Italian - 8.8 / 10

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AltChar - Semir Omerovic - 85 / 100

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Atarita - Atakan Gümrükçüoğlu - Turkish - 90 / 100

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But Why Tho? - Charles Hartford - 9.5 / 10

---

Console-Tribe - Francesco Pellizzari - Italian - 88 / 100

---

Dexerto - Jessica Filby - 4 / 5

---

Digital Spy - Joe Draper - 4 / 5

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Echo Boomer - David Fialho - Portuguese - No Recommendation

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Enternity.gr - Christos Chatzisavvas - Greek - 9 / 10

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EvelonGames - Joel Isern Rodríguez - Kaym - Spanish - 7.8 / 10

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Explosion Network - Dylan Blight - 9 / 10

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GameOnly - Daniel Kucner - Polish - 8 / 10

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Gamer Guides - Patrick Dane - 84 / 100

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Just Play it - Yacine Tebaibia - Arabic - 8 / 10

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Le Bêta-Testeur - Patrick Tremblay - French - 10 / 10

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MondoXbox - Giuseppe Genga - Italian - 9.3 / 10

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MonsterVine - Luis Joshua Gutierrez - 4.5 / 5

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Nexus Hub - Andrew Logue - 8 / 10

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Pizza Fria - Matheus Feldmann da Rosa - Portuguese - 7.4 / 10

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PowerUp! - Leo Stevenson - 9 / 10

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SIFTER - Gianni Di Giovanni - Worth your time

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Stevivor - Jam Walker - 7.5 / 10

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TechRaptor - Austin Suther - 9 / 10

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The Beta Network - Anthony Culinas - 8 / 10

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XGN.nl - Ralph Beentjes - Dutch - 9.2 / 10

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XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 8.8 / 10

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ZdobywcyGier.eu - Paweł Bortkiewicz - Polish - 8 / 10

Video Reviews





​

Some of these reviews are odd… “technical issues and other problems, but still worth playing… 10/10”… what do they score truly excellent / near perfect games at? 15/10?

 

[Darchaos]

Look, avowed is a pretty fun action game with alot of loot spread out and some rpg put in there. There is no depth, just run, kill and look for loot.

7/10 for what it is. Kcd2 plays in a totaly other and higher league, dont let anyone tell you something else.

 

[ManaByte]

Did you expect anything else? They are grifters, the sheep are simple minded.

I’m early in the second area, I think it’s been a bit 50/50 in terms of male and female so far in terms of people in power. Unless you include leaders of the gangs and outlaw groups, those have mostly been men so far.

This is a universe with magic and shit. Let me guess, women should be at home pregnant and making sandwiches in this universe too?

One of the popular grifter Twitter accounts people like to share here because it forms their opinions made a post along the lines of "is there a lore reason why there are so many black people in Avowed?"

When, uh yea. It's a POE game. The first area of the game is set on a port city and they're sea folk, who in the lore are dark-skinned.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

Some of these reviews are odd… “technical issues and other problems, but still worth playing… 10/10”… what do they score truly excellent / near perfect games at? 15/10?

Which reviews are you talking about?

 

[nkarafo]

This is a game a first time indie developer drops, not a developer with the pedigree of Obsidian.

I highly doubt most of the development team hasn't been replaced by DEI hires and activists.

 

[Lunarorbit]

How the fuck does this thread have 23 pages? Damn. Gonna have to do more research on avowed

 

[PectacularOz]

Josh Sawyer died for this.

 

[nemiroff]

How the fuck does this thread have 23 pages?

Because it's part of a big videogame culture war - For the usual suspects.

I watched Shroud enjoying this game on his stream yesterday. If you only knew the game from the videogame warz the contrast would be mindblowingly stark.

It's funny to wonder how things would look without everything being energized by a few incels. I miss the discussions we had back in the days. We had heated opinions back then too, but it was in a completely different form. ...And *gasp*, we also had plenty of developers to discuss with

 

[Mister Wolf]

Because it's part of a big videogame culture war - For the usual suspects.

I watched Shroud enjoying this game on his stream yesterday. If you only knew the game from the videogame warz the contrast would be mindblowingly stark.

It's funny to wonder how things would look without everything being energized by a few incels. I miss the discussions we had back in the days. We had heated opinions back then too, but it was in a completely different form. ...And *gasp*, we also had plenty of developers to discuss with

Combine that with it also not being on Playstation and you have a massive thread.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Because it's part of a big videogame culture war - For the usual suspects.

I watched Shroud enjoying this game on his stream yesterday. If you only knew the game from the videogame warz the contrast would be mindblowingly stark.

It's funny to wonder how things would look without everything being energized by a few incels. I miss the discussions we had back in the days. We had heated opinions back then too, but it was in a completely different form. ...And *gasp*, we also had plenty of developers to discuss with

I'm afraid you are missing the part where a director openly defended racial discrimination and was called out by his peers. Just some menial unconstitutional stuff, you know.

 

[GHG]

One of the popular grifter Twitter accounts people like to share here because it forms their opinions made a post along the lines of "is there a lore reason why there are so many black people in Avowed?"

Who exactly said this?

 

[ManaByte]

Who exactly said this?

The first area of the game is set next to the ocean, and in POE the Oceanfolk are dark-skinned.

 

[nemiroff]

I'm afraid you are missing the part where a director openly defended racial discrimination and was called out by his peers.

Racism accusations on an even larger scale also happened with the director of Kingdom Come Deliverance. It didn't mean a thing outside the bubble. I'm not missing anything.

 

[winjer]

The first area of the game is set next to the ocean, and in POE the Oceanfolk are dark-skinned.

But the production on melanin is not defined by proximity to the sea, but by latitude.

 

[ManaByte]

But the production on melanin is not defined by proximity to the sea, but by latitude.

It's a lore reason.

 

[Mister Wolf]

But the production on melanin is not defined by proximity to the sea, but by latitude.

Ocean folk

Ocean folk (or Calbandra) are a sub-race of humans in Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Calbandra (cahl-BAHN-drah, "warm ring" in Vailian[1]), originally lived near the equator for many millennia, but to most they are known as "Ocean folk" of the Grand Empire of Vailia...

pillarsofeternity.fandom.com

They're a sea faring people culturally so it's not surprising that they are plentiful near ports or even would be willing to sail to a dangerous unknown uncharted continent like The Living Land. Their origins do lay near the equator of the Planet.

 

[GHG]

The first area of the game is set next to the ocean, and in POE the Oceanfolk are dark-skinned.

Pirat nation?

Wait until you see who the people are that tend to share his content here.

 

[ManaByte]

Pirat nation?

Wait until you see who the people are that tend to share his content here.

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/the-advanced-access-must-be-one-of-the-worst-anti-consumer-practices-avowed-has-been-cracked-while-the-game-wont-be-unlocked-for-another-3-days.1680833/

 

[geary]

But the production on melanin is not defined by proximity to the sea, but by latitude.

This needs to be accurate in a game where you have Gods, godlikes, elves, dwarves and other deities.
People should understand the lore of the game before trying to be smartasses.

 

[UnrealEck]

The first area of the game is set next to the ocean, and in POE the Oceanfolk are dark-skinned.

Looking at how bad the NPC's are in this game (not even animated properly), I really don't believe they are dark skinned for lore reasons.
Though I'm not saying they are dark skinned due to any woke agenda either.

 

[winjer]

It's a lore reason.

But in that lore, only the cities near the equator have sea towns?