Obsidian Entertainment’s fantasy RPG Avowed has officially arrived on PlayStation 5, marking a notable shift for a game that previously launched under the Xbox banner. The move brings the studio’s latest first-person (and optional third-person) role-playing adventure to a much larger console audience, alongside its existing availability on Xbox and PC.
### From Xbox Spotlight to Wider Release
Published by Xbox Game Studios, Avowed is set in the Living Lands—part of the same universe as Pillars of Eternity—though it’s designed to be approachable even if you’ve never touched Obsidian’s earlier isometric RPGs. Players step into the role of an envoy tasked with investigating a spreading supernatural plague, with choices, factions, and dialogue shaping how the story and its relationships unfold.
### What PS5 Players Are Getting
On PS5, the core promise remains Obsidian’s signature: story-forward questing, flexible character builds, and combat that blends weapons, magic, and ability-driven loadouts. The game leans into handcrafted zones rather than a fully open world, with an emphasis on exploration, companion banter, and branching outcomes that reward curiosity as much as raw DPS.
The PS5 release also reinforces a growing pattern for Xbox-owned studios: shipping major first-party titles beyond the Xbox ecosystem. While Microsoft has positioned Xbox as an “anywhere” platform across console, PC, and cloud, bringing Avowed to PS5 turns that philosophy into a direct market strategy—one that prioritizes reach and recurring engagement over strict hardware exclusivity.
### Why This Matters
For players, the upside is simple: more people can play one of the year’s most prominent Western RPGs without buying into a specific console family. For the industry, Avowed’s PS5 debut is another signal that platform walls are thinning—especially for premium single-player releases where wider distribution can extend sales tails, fuel word of mouth, and keep studios like Obsidian funded for their next big swing.
Source: |
Source: Read the full article here