Two Plague-Bound RPGs: My Journey Through GreedFall and Avowed

I still remember the first time I stepped off the boat in GreedFall. The mist clung to the green cliffs, every smiling diplomat looked like they were hiding a knife, and the whole island of Teer Fradee felt alive with old grudges and new money. Spiders' 2019 RPG was not the biggest adventure I had ever played, but it was one of the densest. It reminded me of older BioWare games like Dragon Age, and I loved it for that. So when Obsidian's Avowed arrived, promising a focused first-person RPG in the Living Lands of Eora, I felt the same itch. By 2026, that itch has turned into a full comparison. Avowed is out, and GreedFall II: The Dying World has had time to grow in early access. Playing them now, I keep noticing how closely their bones align.

In Avowed, I play a powerful magic-wielder sent by an emperor to investigate a devastating plague that is corrupting the people. In GreedFall, I played De Sardet, an influential merchant and ambassador sent to a newly discovered island culture at the onset of a pandemic at home. Both characters hold institutional power. Both are outsiders. Both are told to fix a foreign place for the sake of an overseeing organization. The symmetry is almost eerie. 🧭

The diseases are not just background noise, either. In GreedFall, the Malichor sickness drives De Sardet to Teer Fradee in search of a cure. In Avowed, the plague seems to affect the Living Lands themselves as much as the population. That detail matters to me because it turns the map into a character. The land is sick, the people are afraid, and the empire that sent me is not automatically trusted. The Living Lands are described as a more lawless place pushing back against Aedyr Empire influence. Teer Fradee, likewise, is a native culture facing intruding and colonizing forces. In both games, I am caught between the people who live there and the power that sent me. 🦠

What I enjoy most is the political tension. In GreedFall, I spent hours choosing between factions and wondering who was manipulating the grander stage. In Avowed, I felt a similar pressure in first person: every native complaint about Aedyr made me look at my own mission differently. The protagonists are not blank heroes. They are envoys, investigators, and representatives. That makes the exploration feel personal. I am not just clearing a map; I am deciding what my country's presence means.

Thread	GreedFall	Avowed	The Dying World
Protagonist	De Sardet, diplomat and merchant	Imperial envoy and magic-wielder	Young Teer Fradee native
Mission	Find a cure for the Malichor and build ties	Investigate a plague in the Living Lands	Survive displacement on the Old Continent
Setting	Teer Fradee versus colonial powers	Living Lands versus Aedyr influence	Old Continent, roughly three years before GreedFall
Feel	Dense, political fantasy RPG	Focused first-person RPG	Prequel with a flipped perspective

The Dying World is the wild card that makes this comparison richer. Instead of playing the outsider with a mandate, I play a Teer Fradee native unwillingly brought to the mainland of the Old Continent. That shift flips the first game's script. It is set roughly three years before the original events, so I get to see the world from the other side of the boat. After years of playing the envoy, being the displaced native feels like a necessary correction. It also makes me replay Avowed with more suspicion. When my character arrives in the Living Lands with imperial authority, I cannot forget that someone else might be living through the same story from the opposite angle. 🎭

None of this means the games are copies. Avowed is first person, faster in combat, and rooted in Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity lore. GreedFall is third person, more classical in its RPG structure, and soaked in an Age of Exploration aesthetic. But both are slimmer, more focused experiences compared with giant open-world RPGs. I do not need a two-hundred-hour map. I want dense choices, strange cultures, and a plague that makes every faction argument feel urgent.

In 2026, I can finally see the two journeys side by side. Avowed has already had its launch conversation, and GreedFall II has evolved through early access. What links them is not a release window anymore. It is a shared fascination with plague, empire, native resistance, and the uncomfortable position of the outsider who is supposed to save a place they do not understand. ⚔️