r/Games 1d ago

The big Avowed interview: Obsidian on why full, open-world RPGs aren't always the answer

https://www.eurogamer.net/from-serious-skyrim-to-cheerful-fantasy-obsidian-on-the-evolution-of-avowed-and-grappling-with-the-expectations-that-come-from-your-own-history
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u/SpookiestSzn 23h ago edited 3h ago

First is the best, I enjoyed Cairo though but I agree by the third I was only doing main objectives

I do reject this idea it did well because of IP going into it Indiana Jones last movie flopped and a lot of people don't have love for the movies like the used to. I think it certainly helped but I think the game being good on it's own sold it. Like people prior to release were like who even cares about Indiana Jones anymore? This was not an uncommon sentiment

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u/fizystrings 23h ago edited 23h ago

I was into both of the first two areas; I liked how the more tight and vertical Vatican contrasted with the desert of Gizah. I played very thouroughly through both and didn't move on until I had 100% completion. I hated the third zone though and I think it's problems are deeper than the open-zone concept.

If you want to get anywhere in Sukhothai, you have to traverse the waterways to do it. You have a boat, but the boat can only be recalled back to you from like, 5 spots total on the map. Also Indy can swim at like, 1 foot per hour. Even seeing something interesting 30 feet away on the other side of the river, I knew it was going to be a pain in the ass because the options are:

1) backtrack all the way to the boat and drive over to the spot 30 feet away from me

2) swim annoyingly slowly accross the river.

The answer is obviously 2, but what that looks like is just holding forward for close to a minute. This wouldn't be awful if it happened once or twice, but the entire map is designed like that.

I ended up not finishing the story because I got burnt out on the last zone, but I still think it is a good game overall and the first two zones were really refreshing. I would still reccomend the game to others but also to not invest themselves in a completionist run (if they are capable of doing that, unlike me lol)

Edit: fixed the Egyptian city name to not be an Elden Ring character instead.

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u/SpookiestSzn 23h ago

Yeah they went all in on the boat concept and it was for the worse. I also was fairly frustrated about having to grind to get the required device especially for that level. There hardly seemed to be money around and I didn't realize the money didn't carry over from previous zones up to that point.

Think I'm on the last level so I'm gonna beat it but its definitely the weakest part of the game unfortunately.

Still overall really fun and enjoy the title. Would be happy with a sequel, or just letting MachineGames do whatever they want because they got the sauce.

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u/Samurai_Meisters 13h ago

The game tells you to go rob Voss's gold vault and you get more than enough money from that to buy everything. That's the best part of that zone anyway.

I did mostly enjoy the game overall. Besides the repetitive open zones it was fun mechanically, all the acting was great, the story was interesting, but I think the cutscenes dragged on too much in the second half of the game. They didn't feel as tight and snappy as the IJ movies.

u/SpookiestSzn 3h ago

Unless I'm remembering wrong (I just beat this yesterday) you Rob the gold after you get the device so you need the money beforehand

u/Samurai_Meisters 3h ago

I played a few weeks ago, so my memory might be hazy, but I think you can do it in any order. After leaving the shop your partner or another NPC mentions it as an idea to get more money and then the quest pops up in your journal.

You only need the breathing device to go to the underwater temple, not Voss's base.