Obsidian’s gorgeous fantasy RPG Avowed just got a new patch, promising the usual list of bug fixes and some new features. The game is also now “Verified” for Steam Deck. What’s it like in a portable form factor? Well, it certainly boots up. It’s certainly playable, hitting a semi-decent 30 FPS that doesn’t necessarily feel that terrible to play. How it looks on Valve’s handheld PC, however, is another story. Have a seat, let’s talk about it.
Set in an imaginative world with all the trappings of lush forests and pretty, sparkly magical effects, Avowed may not be aiming to be the most graphically impressive title out there, but it sure is a looker. I mean, here, enjoy a screenshot I took early on in my trip to the Living Lands.
Gorgeous, right? That shot was my desktop wallpaper for weeks.
Here’s how that same place looks on an OLED Steam Deck at a slightly different time of day:
“No bueno,” as a drummer I worked with was always fond of saying when something failed to impress. Sure, the statue is impressively in focus and clear, but I think this overall image takes away from the game’s ability to immerse you visually. It’s not how I’d recommend one experience Avowed unless this was your only possible option.
Have another look at the game on the same Deck:
And here’s how combat looks:
We can go into the details. Distant objects look really messy, splotchy, shimmery, and sometimes pixel-art adjacent—in fact, it sorta reminds me of playing that Oblivion quest where you’re stuck in a painting. It hovers at a 30-40 FPS status, which isn’t too bad, but the odd visuals, I think, actually make me play worse (I’m also used to playing this game on mouse and keyboard, not the gamepad layout of the Steam Deck, to be clear).
Yes, it will sorta settle down at times when rendering and FSR3 catch up, but it’s still not great. And the second you move, distant options look all crunchy and shitty again.
What about the new class options and other features?
I’ve been playing on the hardest difficulty in Avowed with a ranger-ish build that primarily uses rifles. Surprisingly, it feels like playing a first-person shooter more than something like Fallout 4 did. My brain is sorta in Doom mode when I’m playing. While the game put up a tough fight early on, I eventually reached a certain level of power where I was annihilating everything. I’m also doing every quest and finding everything on every map, so my character has a lot of experience invested in her stats.
The fighter and ranger got new active and passive abilities. And the update refunded everyone’s skill points, so you can already get to trying out new builds. From the looks of things, this is only going to make me more unstoppable than I already am. The “Sharpshooter” ranger passive looks like it will make my pretty sweet rifle even deadlier. That said, abilities like “Shadow Step,” a previously NPC-exclusive ability that lets you vanish and appear behind your target, feel a little redundant since I can already go invisible.
I’m going to need to mix and match these new abilities for a while to judge just how transformative they are for a game I didn’t find that challenging anyway. So maybe I’m not the best judge of how helpful the new build options are. I’ll get back to you if something really blows my mind. You can read all the nitty gritty details of the patch, which includes some new weapons and attire, here.
Anyway, Avowed rocks. It’s a serious contender for GOTY in my book—just don’t play it running natively on Steam Deck if you can help it. Stick to streaming if you want to kick back on the couch.
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And Valve, we’re really gonna need to have a talk about this “Playable”/”Verified” dynamic on Steam Deck. Things are getting messy!
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