Avowed Gives Players Incredible Freedom to Shape Their Own Story
Avowed branching narrative and player agency offer deep, impactful choices that shape Eora uniquely for every playthrough.
I'll be honest: when Obsidian Entertainment announced Avowed, I expected a flexible role-playing game, but I didn’t expect just how much freedom I’d have to shape the Living Lands. Now that we’re in 2026 and the game has been available since February 18, 2025, I’ve had plenty of time to test how far its branching narrative really goes. The short answer? Very far.
Obsidian has a long reputation for player agency, thanks to Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds. With Avowed, the studio built on that legacy by treating choice as the backbone of the entire experience. Region Director Berto Ritger explained to Xbox Wire that decisions can affect entire settlements, individual people, groups of people, and basically the whole spectrum. As a player, that means your version of Eora won’t look exactly like mine.
“There are choices you can make and consequences of actions you can take or not take, whether they are forecasted to you or not, that will impact the future of entire settlements, individual people, groups of people — the whole spectrum basically.”
No Two Playthroughs Feel the Same
Narrative Designer Kate Dollarhyde made it clear that this variety is intentional. Obsidian wants to leave as much as possible open to discovery, so the correct answer is rarely handed to you. Instead of being funneled toward an obvious outcome, you’re encouraged to poke at systems, ask questions, ignore quest hooks, or role-play a personality that feels right to you. That design philosophy helps the game feel like a personal campaign rather than a guided tour.
Game Director Carrie Patel echoed that philosophy, saying that consequences need to be impactful without blindsiding players. The team went through multiple playtests and iterations to find that balance. In my time with the game, that care shows: I often realized a previous decision had shifted an outcome only after I saw the ripple effects, which made the world feel genuinely reactive.
Choice Types and How They Stack
One of the smartest things Avowed does is refuse to treat every choice like a cosmic event. The narrative team breaks consequences into three layers: short-term, medium-term, and long-term.
| Choice Type | What It Changes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Short-term | Immediate NPC reactions, extra dialogue, quest details | Pressing an NPC for information that changes the tone of a conversation |
| Medium-term | Faction attitudes, local settlements, available help | Choosing who to support in a regional conflict |
| Long-term | Major story outcomes, survival of communities, ending states | A decision that reshapes an entire settlement’s future |
This structure makes the role-playing feel believable. A small dialogue prompt might unlock a new route through a quest, while a bigger settlement choice can alter who remains loyal, who survives, and what the Living Lands look like by the end. The politics and social entanglements can be just as dangerous as any monster, which is exactly what I want from an Obsidian RPG.
What That Freedom Feels Like in Practice
The best part is that Avowed gives all of this freedom without being a massive open-world title. It launched day one on Xbox Game Pass, so I could experiment with different builds and choices without feeling punished. In one run, I played a diplomatic investigator who de-escalated tensions. In another, I let brute force and raw magic close off entire questlines. Both versions felt coherent, because the consequences stacked in believable ways.
Patel put it perfectly:
“For us, choice and consequence are not about every single thing you do affecting the heat death of the universe; it’s about everything being believably built to.”
That philosophy is why Avowed still stands out in 2026. It doesn’t just tell you that your choices matter; it proves it through a reactive world, stacked outcomes, and one-of-a-kind playthroughs. If you want an action RPG where your decisions shape settlements, relationships, and entire story arcs, the Living Lands remains an excellent place to test your agency.