Summary
After a minor delay,Avowedshould be hitting PC and Xbox Series consoles in February 2025. Though there are certainly some questions surroundingAvowed’s gameplay, narrative, and level of technical polish, sentiment about the game is fairly positive. Hopefully, that sentiment will be pushed into greater excitement in the coming months.
Something that certainly has not helped public perception was the recent announcement thatAvowedwill not run at 60FPS on Xbox consoles. Matt Hansen,Avowed’s art director, spoke with the Iron Lords podcast about this decision, stating that 30FPS will be the “bare minimum” forAvowed, but that the team isn’t necessarily aiming for more than that. Hansen went on to say that 60FPS isn’t as important in single-player role-playing games, and that the lower FPS target allows Obsidian to double-down on more advanced VFX, visual density, and lighting. However, that hasn’t stopped prospective players from being disappointed by this, and for good reason.
Avowed Is Yet Another Xbox Exclusive to Fall Short of 60FPS
Xbox Games Seem to Be Struggling to Meet 60FPS
As Xbox owners know,Avowedisn’t the only Xbox exclusive without a 60FPS mode:
30FPS isn’t the end of the world—last-gen games got on fine without higher framerates—but with 60FPS being one of the most heavily touted new features of this new console generation, it’s certainly a disappointment to see that many players will have to go without it for another AAA game. This is especially ironic and frustrating considering that the Xbox Series X was advertised as “the world’s most powerful console,” but that it nowseems to be lagging behind PlayStationin terms of framerate capability.
Avowedcould very well boast impressive visuals, but 60FPS is a tangible, easy-to-understand benchmark of technical progress. Without it, some players are liable to point atAvowed, and Xbox as a whole, as being the lesser option when it comes to raw power. It makes for a rather unfavorable comparison, as PlayStation exclusives and third-party games likeHorizon Forbidden WestandAssassin’s Creed Valhallalook just as good, if not better, thanAvowed, but have no problem running at 60FPS on console.
Avowed’s Low FPS Cap Could Be Another Sign of the Series S Holding Xbox Back
TheXbox Series S is Xbox’s lower-spec versionof the more powerful, flagship Series X, and while it’s great that there’s a more affordable console option for players less concerned with more advanced features or visuals, it seems like this decision might be hurting Xbox’s exclusives. Microsoft promised full feature and game parity between Series S and Series X consoles at launch, meaning that whatever a game can do on the Series X, it should be able to do on the Series S.
Xbox has already backpedaled a bit on this, as seen withtheBaldur’s Gate 3split-screen debacle, but the company no doubt wants to keep its promise when it comes to first-party games. In a perfect world, this would mean that games look and feel just as good on the Series S as they do on the Series X, but the opposite might be true: Xbox games might be getting downgraded so that they can be compatible with the less-powerful system. It’s hard to be absolutely sure that this is the case, but it’s not an unreasonable question to pose. PerhapsAvowedwill get a 60FPS mode down the road, but for now, its 30FPS cap is sure to douse excitement for prospective players, if only a bit.
Avowed
WHERE TO PLAY
Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands - an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?
