The early dialogue trees offer plenty of opportunities to explore the political lore and historical backstory of the world. You can also stumble on some interesting side stories, including one where you end up playing impromptu relationship counselor to a troubled human who has fallen into a forbidden relationship with one of the beasts bedeviling the town.
After taming a few of the more fearsome infected beasts troubling Paradis, you discover a mystical stone that lets you actually talk to the sentient fungus that’s causing all of this trouble; it describes itself as “mycelia twining through the loam, taking and giving in equal measure.” That first conversation with the reluctant infection itself is full of the kind of heavy-handed mysticism and flowery language that quickly had me tuning out of the story. I’m hopeful that the full game will stay more focused on the more interesting human interactions instead.
Daggers, bows, and spells
If you’re used to games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring, you’ll find the first-person melee-based combat in Avowed to be downright zippy. You start with a simple dagger that’s great for multiple quick thrusts or for a slower, charged attack that lets you lunge in from a few paces out. Getting in close with the dagger can open you up to dangerous counterattacks, though, which are best avoided with a quick sideways or backward dodge. The window for those dodges can be pretty tight, though, and a few stray attacks is enough to leave you struggling to survive with a limited “second wind” recovery.
Pretty quickly, you’ll stumble on a bow and a seemingly unlimited supply of arrows, which can be fired quickly or charged for a more powerful volley. This is the safest way to attack most early grunt enemies, as you can keep your distance from foes that can’t do much from afar but throw rocks. But the safer option is also the duller one, as lobbing arrow after arrow from a relatively safe distance quickly starts to feel a bit tedious.