If You’re Disappointed With Immersion In Avowed, You Probably Missed The Point

March 3, 2025

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I’ve seen Avowed criticized for not sharing some immersive elements with similar games, but I think these critiques often miss the point of what the game was trying to do. If you’ve followed the discourse around Avowed, you’ve likely seen quite a few comparisons to Skyrim. However, I think it’s misguided to think that Obsidian simply wanted to make their own version of an existing game and failed to do so. Many of the major differences stand out to me as deliberate design choices, made to prioritize fun over immersion.

I think there’s a tendency to conflate immersive mechanics with engaging ones, but an immersive element of a game isn’t inherently better. A lot of immersive elements in action RPGs tend to just slow things down and force you to focus on unengaging busywork. I enjoyed my first playthrough of Avowed and happily jumped into a second, largely because the game trimmed off the frustrating elements that often kill my enthusiasm in games like Skyrim. Avowed may be a less immersive experience, but for me, it’s ultimately a more engaging one.

Not Having Ammo Makes Playing A Ranger A Better Option

Avowed Doesn’t Force You To Pick Up Arrows Or Buy Bullets

Like most people who have played Skyrim, I have dabbled in the stealth archer build. While it was fun, staying stocked up on arrows was a little tedious for my liking. Every battle ended with me running around to try and salvage any spare arrows, and I frequently had to fast-travel to a town to restock. The last few times I’ve picked up the game, I’ve opted to use either melee weapons or magic to avoid dealing with ammo.

In a recent interview, Avowed director Carrie Patel revealed some of the significant challenges faced by Obsidian during the game’s development.

Avowed solved this issue with one easy design decision: there is no ammo. You can use bows and guns to your heart’s content without spending a single second looting, crafting, or buying any extra items to make them work. This saves a ton of time if you decide to play as a Ranger, something I probably wouldn’t have considered doing if I had been forced to constantly manage my ammo supplies.

Having guns or bows with unlimited ammo may not be very immersive, but it is ultimately a lot more fun. Choosing between a gun or a sword in Avowed is no longer a choice of practicality or saving time, but purely based on your playstyle preference. It also isn’t so immersion-breaking that it took me out of the game. If anything, I was more invested in Avowed’s story because I was allowed to experience it at a more natural pace instead of wasting hours scrounging around for bullets.

No NPC Schedules Cuts Down On Waiting

NPCs Are Always Where You Need Them To Be

Avowed Forgemaster Dela From Solace Keep

One aspect of Avowed that I’ve seen criticized is its lack of schedules for NPCs. In a game like Skyrim or Fallout, NPCs will move around, and certain locations like stores will only be open during certain hours. While this does make for a more believable world, it doesn’t do the gameplay many favors. If anything, it takes away more from the experience than it adds to it, because it creates a lot of needless downtime for the sake of realism. I fail to see what standing around waiting for a shop to open adds to my experience.

A godlike pointing the way for a human character in Avowed.

Avowed composer Venus Theory has revealed that the game has five endings, at least one of which is really hard to get – but he provides some hints.

It’s also worth noting that this “immersive” element of gameplay leads to behavior that is far from believable. There are plenty of times in Skyrim where I use the wait mechanic to skip hours so I can interact with a shopkeeper. Not only is this tedious and takes time away from actually playing the game, but it’s not exactly any more immersive than Avowed’s stores always being open. If I can suspend my disbelief for the Dragonborn standing in one spot for 12 hours, I can do it for Avowed’s shopkeepers always being at work.

This is another example of how Avowed streamlines its gameplay experience and keeps the pace moving. I doubt that a wait function or schedules were things the developer wasn’t able to include, as they were features in other Obsidian games like Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds. This would lead me to believe it was deliberately left out as opposed to being some oversight or failure on the developer’s part.

Highlighting Loot Prevents Long Stretches Of Boring Gameplay

Avowed Makes Finding Loot Easier Than More Immersive RPGs

Avowed’s method of highlighting loot is probably my favorite way the game saves time, even if it is at the expense of a more immersive experience. Any lootable object is highlighted with a glow that can be easily seen at a glance. Even better, chests are highlighted with different colors according to the rarity of the loot inside. This means if you see a chest that glows gold, you know that it’s worth trying to reach or spending your lock picks on.

As a quick aside, lock picking is another aspect of Avowed that I really appreciate. Unless someone can develop a lock-picking mini-game that is more than just trial and error, I would much rather a game not have one. Instead of locks with increasingly smaller success windows, Avowed skips the mini-game and simply requires you to have a certain number of lockpicks to open locked chests or doors.

Kai in Avowed fighting a group of enemies in a small lake.

In a recent ScreenRant interview, Avowed composer Venus Theory praised the game’s ability to strike a balance between depth and casual appeal.

Now, I know not everyone agrees with me on this point. I’ve watched multiple people play Fallout and search every drawer, cabinet, and oven they can find in hopes of scoring some worthwhile loot. Avowed knows this too, which is why it gives you the option to switch off Loot Shimmer in the UI menu if you prefer a more immersive searching experience. That said, I don’t think it’s a mistake that Loot Shimmer is on by default, because Avowed seems to be committed to delivering a gameplay experience that is devoid of time-wasters.

Avowed also provides toggles for HUD elements and other prompts like environmental damage interactions, and the focus on clear, consistent design makes it comfortably playable with virtually any balance of information.

Immersion has become a bit of a buzzword in the gaming industry, but I think it’s worth remembering that a game should first and foremost be fun. I don’t care that Resident Evil 4 VR is more immersive, because when I play it, I feel like I’m going to fall and puke. Avowed proves that a game doesn’t need to be an immersive experience to be an engaging one. In truth, I was more absorbed in my playthrough than I have been in most action RPGs specifically because there were no tedious or frustrating elements that interrupted my experience.