Here's Avowed! (Patreon)

Naming YouTube videos is stupid and at this point the YouTube-created "training" I went through years ago just swirls around in my head like a bunch of dumb landmines. So I named this video "Let's Play Avowed" because the term "Let's Play" tends to work better than a lot of others, even though some people apply a specific meaning to it. I thought about calling it "Early Game: Avowed," but I couldn't decide if that was meant to imply that I got the game early or that I'm playing the early parts of the game. Much like naming a video series "Unfinished," the idea of "Early Game" might also imply that a game isn't ready to be released or some other unintentionally negative connotation.

Either way, it's not something I have to spend too much time thinking about thanks to the supporters of this here Patreon. Thanks!

Avowed makes a strong first impression, it's got the basic trappings of an Elder Scrolls game but it comes with a focus that Skyrim (deliberately) lacks. I think the big stand-out for me so far is the flexibility found in the combat system, where you can get up to some interesting skullduggery while wielding a sword in one hand and a pistol (or, heck, a magic wand, which is like a pistol but it shoots magic and looks like a stick instead of a pistol) in the other. Since that doesn't leave you with a shield, you need to be nimble and carefully dash sideways and backwards to avoid incoming attacks.

Or, hey, take that shield and put whatever you want in the other hand. Then you can block and parry, using your stamina meter in a different way. Obviously none of these concepts are absolute rocket science, but the ability to equip and quickly swap between two loadouts and the Good Feeling provided by those parries and dashes makes the whole thing work out.

The world itself seems cool so far and the story delivers some good early intrigue that has me thinking about Avowed even when I'm not playing it. Good signs so far, I'd say.

As of this writing the paid version of the game will be out in a few hours, but it'll be on Game Pass next week. Also of note is that I installed it on my Steam Deck, but it wasn't bringing my saves in via the Steam Cloud. This may be because I enabled Xbox saves, which allows your saves to transfer between the Steam version and the Xbox versions of the game--trying to log into my Xbox account inside of Avowed on the Steam Deck just throws up an error message as of this writing. So I haven't actually gone in-game on the Steam Deck out of fear of messing up my saves on my desktop. Will provide additional detail as it becomes available.