Avowed’s Big Anniversary: PS5 Launch, New Races, and a Deeper RPG

Obsidian Entertainment’s first-person fantasy RPG Avowed is marking its first anniversary with more than a simple patch. The game is finally arriving on PS5 while also receiving a substantial free update across all platforms. Alongside the PlayStation debut, players on Xbox and PC can expect expanded character creation, New Game Plus, a photo mode, and a variety of quality-of-life improvements that collectively make this feel like a definitive relaunch.

This article breaks down what the anniversary update includes, why the PS5 release matters, and how new features like non-human races are reshaping the way you can role-play in the Living Lands.

From Xbox Exclusive to Full-Fledged Multi-Platform RPG

When Avowed first launched, it arrived as a major first-party RPG for Xbox and PC, built on Obsidian’s experience with narrative-heavy games such as Pillars of Eternity and Fallout: New Vegas. The anniversary update signals the end of its console exclusivity, with PS5 players finally getting access to the game in a feature-complete form.

Why the PS5 Version Matters

The PS5 release is notable for more than simply adding another platform. It launches with the anniversary update baked in, meaning PlayStation players step directly into the most polished version of Avowed so far. That includes expanded build options, more robust progression, and several systems that weren’t present at launch on other platforms.

For players who waited specifically for a PS5 edition, this timing is ideal: the game’s balance, performance, and systems have already gone through a year of feedback and refinement on Xbox and PC. Obsidian has had time to respond to community input and evolve Avowed in directions that better support long-term replayability.

Return to Eora: The Setting Behind Avowed

Avowed takes place in the world of Eora, the same universe as Obsidian’s isometric RPG series Pillars of Eternity.¹ The game shifts perspective into first person, but continues many of the themes Eora is known for: complex deities, layered politics, and a focus on how magic and faith shape society.

Your adventure unfolds in the Living Lands, a turbulent frontier region known for its unstable ecosystems, conflicting factions, and tangled history. You arrive as an envoy of a powerful empire, tasked with investigating a supernatural threat, and quickly become enmeshed in local struggles and moral dilemmas.

• Setting: The Living Lands, a frontier region within Eora.
• Perspective: First-person RPG with a strong narrative focus.
• Core themes: Colonialism, divine influence, plague-like corruption, and personal agency.

New Ways to Role-Play: Non-Human Character Options

One of the headline additions in the anniversary update is the ability to play as non-human characters. At launch, Avowed already leaned into the lore of Eora, but character creation was comparatively constrained. The update widens your role-playing options by introducing multiple classic Pillars of Eternity races, giving players who love traditional fantasy archetypes more ways to express themselves.

Expanded Race Selection

With the update, character creation now includes non-human choices drawn directly from the wider Eora setting:¹

• Aumaua: Tall, physically imposing, and often associated with coastal regions. They can be built as tough front-line fighters, battle mages, or imposing diplomats.
• Orlan: Short, sharp-eyed, and often underestimated. Their lore leans into perception and tenacity, making them a strong fit for agile or cunning builds.
• Dwarf: Stout, resilient, and steeped in long-standing traditions. Dwarves naturally suit tanky or endurance-heavy playstyles but can be customized into any archetype.

These options are more than cosmetic. In Eora’s lore, different races come with cultural baggage and distinct histories, which subtly alter how you read the world and how the world reacts to you. While Obsidian has not turned race choice into a rigid mechanical system of bonuses, the narrative framing and character identity add another dimension to your playthroughs.

How New Races Affect Your Experience

Role-playing impact is the key benefit here. Choosing to traverse the Living Lands as a smaller, often-discriminated Orlan feels different from playing a towering Aumaua emissary. Dialog choices, companion interactions, and your own internal story change simply by virtue of how you imagine your character’s place in this world.

From an RPG design standpoint, this change aligns Avowed more closely with the broader tradition of role-playing games where race is a fundamental part of your character concept. Industry-wide, character customization has been trending towards deeper expression, letting players see themselves reflected in more varied ways or play out specific fantasy identities.² These additions push Avowed in that direction, making each new run feel distinct.

New Game Plus: Building a Second Life in the Living Lands

Alongside the new races, the anniversary update introduces a New Game Plus (NG+) mode, a feature many fans consider essential for choice-driven RPGs. NG+ is designed for players who have finished the story and want to experience alternate decisions, builds, and narrative paths without relinquishing all sense of character progression.

What Carries Over in New Game Plus?

While exact transfer rules can vary by game, Obsidian’s approach is aimed at maintaining meaningful power while still preserving a sense of challenge. Typically, NG+ systems focus on letting you bring key elements from your prior run into a fresh save. In Avowed, NG+ is positioned as a way to:

• Experiment with different moral or political choices without redoing the early grind.
• Test alternate builds and ability combinations on enemies that may be re-tuned for higher difficulty.
• Revisit favorite quests and companions with a more complete toolkit of skills and gear.

From a design perspective, New Game Plus addresses a classic RPG tension: your build usually feels best near the end of a playthrough, just as content is running out. NG+ lets you enjoy your fully realized character for longer, which improves the game’s long-term value and replayability. In a market where large RPGs compete not only on story quality but also on how long they can keep players engaged, this is an important addition.

Photo Mode: Capturing the Living Lands

The anniversary update also introduces a dedicated photo mode, continuing a trend seen across many modern AAA and AA games. Studios like Sony Santa Monica and Guerrilla Games have highlighted how photo modes become a major channel for community creativity and engagement, with players frequently sharing in-game photography across social platforms.³

Why Photo Mode Matters in a Narrative RPG

In Avowed, a photo mode is more than a novelty:

• World appreciation: The Living Lands contain striking vistas, strange magical phenomena, and intricate environmental storytelling. Free camera controls let you appreciate these details more fully.
• Character expression: With expanded character creation, photo mode lets you showcase your Godlike, Aumaua, Orlan, or Dwarf protagonist in custom compositions.
• Community sharing: Interesting screenshots help keep the game in the public eye, effectively turning players into informal ambassadors for the world of Eora.

For games that lean heavily into aesthetic identity and worldbuilding, giving players creative tools to frame that world is increasingly seen as part of the core feature set, not just an extra.

Quality-of-Life Improvements and Gameplay Refinements

Beyond marquee features like new races and New Game Plus, the anniversary update brings numerous quality-of-life (QoL) tweaks aimed at smoothing the day-to-day experience of adventuring in the Living Lands.

Custom Difficulty and Tuning Options

Modern RPGs increasingly recognize that players want granular control over challenge level. By expanding difficulty options and allowing more detailed tuning, Avowed gives you more say over how punishing or relaxed combat should be. This reflects a broader industry shift towards player-centric accessibility and flexibility, seen in many recent titles across genres.⁴

Expanded difficulty options benefit multiple audiences:

• Story-focused players can tone down encounters so that narrative and exploration take center stage.
• Challenge-seekers can crank things up for a more tactical experience that demands full use of their build.
• Experimenters can tweak sliders to find a sweet spot that feels just right for their preferred playstyle.

Interface and Usability Tweaks

While detailed patch notes belong elsewhere, QoL improvements typically include changes such as:

• Cleaning up UI readability and menu navigation.
• Adjusting inventory management to reduce friction.
• Improving tooltips, logs, and quest tracking so information is easier to parse.
• Optimizing performance and stability, particularly on consoles.

These refinements may not be as eye-catching as new character races, but they often do the most to help returning players feel that the game has matured in the year since launch.

Character Building, Combat, and the Godlike Protagonist

At the heart of Avowed is your role as a Godlike – a person touched by divinity from birth, marked by distinct physical traits and supernatural potential. This concept stems directly from Eora’s lore, where Godlike people are rare and often feared or revered.¹ In gameplay terms, being Godlike underpins your connection to magic, destiny, and the major conflicts of the story.

Stats, Skills, and Archetypes

Avowed uses a familiar attribute-driven system where core stats influence your effectiveness in combat and dialogue. Although exact numbers and formulas are part of the game design, the philosophy is clear: you shape your identity through a combination of attributes, skills, and abilities, gradually specializing into one or more archetypes.

Common archetypal paths include:

• Melee-focused warrior: Heavy armor, weapon skills, and abilities centered on survivability and close-quarters damage.
• Ranged specialist: Emphasis on bows or firearms (where available), agility, and positioning.
• Spellcaster: Investment in intellect and magical aptitude, enabling destructive spells or powerful support magic.
• Hybrid builds: Mixing melee and sorcery, or stealth and magic, to create more flexible or thematic playstyles.

Because Avowed is designed as a narrative-first RPG, your build matters both in and out of combat. Dialogue checks, environmental interactions, and quest solutions may all lean on your chosen strengths. The anniversary update’s expanded customization and NG+ mode encourage experimentation with new builds, especially across different races.

Combat Feel and Encounter Design

As a first-person RPG, Avowed leans on tactile combat where timing, spacing, and ability synergy all play important roles. Enemy encounters are tuned to push you to make meaningful use of your toolkit rather than simply spamming basic attacks. When combined with the new difficulty tuning options, combat can be tailored to be either a strategic highlight or a lighter accompaniment to the story.

Why This Anniversary Update Matters

The convergence of PS5 launch and anniversary update marks a turning point for Avowed. What began as a promising, lore-rich RPG has now evolved into a more fully realized package that emphasizes replayability, character expression, and player choice.

For New Players

• You get the most complete version of the game from the outset, including non-human races, NG+, and photo mode.
• Improved QoL means a smoother onboarding experience, especially if you are new to Eora.
• The PS5 release gives you a modern console option if you prefer to play on a sofa with a controller.

For Returning Players

• New races and NG+ make second and third playthroughs feel fresh.
• You can revisit the Living Lands with refined combat and progression systems.
• Photo mode and better customization support deeper role-play and community sharing.

In the broader RPG landscape, Avowed’s evolution reflects how post-launch support can transform a strong foundation into a more enduring experience. With the anniversary update, Obsidian is signaling that the game is not only still supported, but actively growing into the kind of long-lived RPG that invites multiple returns to its world.

Frequently Asked Questions About Avowed’s Anniversary Update

Does the anniversary update cost extra?

No. The anniversary update is described as a free update that rolls out across all platforms. Existing players on Xbox and PC can download it at no additional cost, and PS5 players receive the updated content as part of the standard game purchase.

Do non-human races change the story?

Race choice primarily affects role-playing flavor, how you envision your character, and some contextual interactions. Core story beats remain accessible regardless of race, but the way you experience them can feel different when you approach them as an Aumaua, Orlan, Dwarf, or human Godlike.

Can I access New Game Plus immediately?

No. New Game Plus is generally unlocked after completing the main story at least once. Once it is available, you can start a fresh run that carries over selected elements of your previous character, depending on the NG+ rules in effect.

Is there feature parity between all platforms?

The anniversary update aims for broad feature parity, meaning core additions like new races, NG+, and photo mode are present on all platforms that support them. Technical differences may exist depending on system capabilities, but the major gameplay and content updates are shared.

Do I need to know Pillars of Eternity to enjoy Avowed?

No prior knowledge is required. While Avowed draws heavily from Eora’s lore and will reward fans who recognize returning concepts and deities, the story is built to be approachable for newcomers. The anniversary update doesn’t change this; it simply offers more ways to inhabit the world.