Avowed’s Unique Enemy System: A Blessing and a Curse?

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Summary

  • Avowed’s fixed enemy population offers immersion by permanently removing defeated enemies from the world.
  • This design choice prevents players from farming skill points and materials, limiting character diversity.
  • The lack of enemy respawns in Avowed hinders player progression and impacts the potential for true playstyle diversity.

Avowed has been generating a lot of buzz lately, even during its initial five-day early access phase. As a fresh IP from Obsidian, it’s come with a wave of lofty expectations, given the developer’s stellar reputation. For the most part, it seems to have met these expectations, but no game is flawless, and sometimes even the best ideas can work against themselves accidentally. In certain aspects, that appears to be true for Avowed, as its design doesn’t always align with its goals in specific areas, resulting in some systems showing potential in their base but ultimately failing to deliver in terms of overall structure.

One aspect of the design in “Avowed” that stands out is its consistent enemy population. From a certain perspective, this choice makes sense and enhances the game in various ways. However, the advantages of this feature collide with another aspect of “Avowed’s” design, particularly affecting one of the game’s strongest aspects significantly. Consequently, while the fixed enemy population gives players the sensation of shaping the world, it can also leave them feeling vulnerable as they strive for divine status among the denizens of the Living Lands.

The Good and Bad of Avowed’s Fixed Enemy Population

Avowed’s Fixed Enemy Population Makes Players Feel Like They’re Affecting the World

In “Avowed”, once an enemy is vanquished, they are no longer present within the game world – this is a feature seldom seen in Role-Playing Games (RPGs). Typically, RPGs prefer to maintain a stream of adversaries for players to conquer, either to facilitate character advancement or to ensure the game environment remains lively and populated. Consequently, “Avowed” stands out by not allowing enemies to reappear, providing an immersive experience that most other RPGs tend to avoid.

In the game Avowed, since enemies do not regenerate, players often feel like their actions truly matter in the Living Lands. This is because numerous creatures roaming the land are significantly more dangerous now that the Dreamscourge has emerged, so eliminating an entire region of these beasts offers a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. This aspect is particularly advantageous when players must revisit specific areas, either to gather overlooked items or to explore every corner of the playable terrain, as they won’t have to waste time battling enemies they’ve already defeated.

Avowed’s Fixed Enemy Population Prevents Players From Farming Skill Points and Materials

In essence, the consistent enemy population in the game ‘Avowed’ comes at a cost that undermines one of its strongest aspects. The game boasts a wealth of possibilities for character customization, enabling players to pick skills from any of its rich skill trees, resulting in a highly adaptable character. However, as players progress through the main storyline (and often much of the optional content), they may find themselves still accumulating enough skill points to fully unlock ‘Avowed’s’ skill system’s potential.

In “Avowed”, the static enemy population gives players a sense that their actions significantly impact the game world. However, this could also lead to players feeling vulnerable and equally influenced as they strive for a divine status within the Living Lands, where they are not immune to its effects.

Typically, in similar scenarios, players might opt to revisit zones teeming with enemies to grind for experience that awards additional skill points. However, Avowed‘s static enemy population disallows such an approach. Moreover, there’s no New Game Plus feature in Avowed, which intensifies the impact of the absence of enemy respawns within the game. To add to this, the point of no return in Avowed, combined with the lack of a New Game Plus and enemy respawns, restricts players from delving deeper into the world post that point, unless they revert to a save prior to passing it.

If “Avowed” didn’t include a New Game Plus mode, it might have been understandable, had it not also featured a fixed enemy population. In essence, the absence of enemy respawns in “Avowed” actually limits its ability to offer a wide variety of playstyles, despite providing an opportunity for players to appreciate the long-lasting effects of their daring actions.

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2025-02-18 20:38