Avowed's anniversary update loosens the "strict and punishing" upgrade system that Obsidian was "surprised" fans bounced off, but director warns the haters that the RPG hasn't "fundamentally changed"

Obsidian’s 2025 RPG Avowed is now available on PS5 alongside a big anniversary update for all platforms, and as usual it seems the players who’ve chosen to wait are going to get the game at its best. Although the devs will tell you that the fundamental gameplay remains largely unchanged – if you didn’t like Avowed the first time around, you probably still won’t like it here – after being “surprised” by players’ negative response to the upgrade system, they’ve taken big steps to fix it.

“I want to be upfront,” gameplay director Gabe Paramo tells tells RPG Site. “If you didn’t enjoy the core pacing of Avowed, the flow between conversations, exploration, and combat, nothing about that has fundamentally changed. But if you’re a player who felt limited in the type of character you could create compared to Pillars in terms of race, or felt like you couldn’t fully realize your Fighter, Ranger, or Wizard fantasy, or felt like your playstyle wasn’t being supported due to a lack of unique gear variety from region to region, or felt like the economy was too strict and punishing, we’ve addressed all of that.”