Ready to head to Eora?
Avowed is an upcoming role-playing game (RPG) from developer Obsidian Entertainment and publisher Xbox Game Studios. Set in the same world as the Pillars of Eternity games, players can build their character and make choices in the region called the Living Lands that will have repercussions good, bad, and complicated, just like in past Obsidian Entertainment games.
With multiple editions up for preorder across Xbox consoles and Windows PC, you can use my guide to make sure you’re prepared when this fantasy experience launches. Here’s what you need to know about the different editions of Avowed.
Avowed: Edition differences
Avowed is slated to launch on Feb. 18, 2025 on Xbox Series X|S as well as Windows PC via Steam, the Xbox App, and (in a first for non-Activision Blizzard games) through Battle.net. There are a couple of different editions of the game that are available. For starters, you’ve got the base game at $70. It’s just the game, with no extras or anything else included.
Next up is the Premium Edition of Avowed. At $90, this packs in some digital bonuses and an earlier release date. You can see everything included below:
- Base Game
- Up to five days Early Access
- Two Premium Skin Packs
- Eora Collection Set: “Inspired by beloved characters and regions from Pillars of Eternity, a perfect throwback to the original games.”
- Obsidian Collection Set: “Sleek, black outfits that bring a stylish look to your companions, inspired by our very own studio.”
- Access to Digital Artbook and Soundtrack
Moving on, the Premium Steelbook Edition of Avowed packs in everything included in the Premium Edition alongside a few more extras at the slightly higher price of $95. Here’s what you’ll get:
- Base Game (digital code)
- Up to five days Early Access
- Two Premium Skin Packs
- Eora Collection Set: Inspired by beloved characters and regions from Pillars of Eternity, a perfect throwback to the original games.
- Obsidian Collection Set: Sleek, black outfits that bring a stylish look to your companions, inspired by our very own studio.
- Access to Digital Artbook and Soundtrack
- Avowed SteelBook
- Map of the Living Lands
- Letter from the developer
Finally, there’s also a Premium Edition Upgrade available at $25. It’s important to note that this is NOT a copy of the game. Instead, it’s all of the extras from the Premium Edition, and it allows anyone who grabs the Standard Edition to upgrade and play
Avowed on Xbox Game Pass
With major investments and acquisitions, the Xbox first-party portfolio is flying, with a large number of games releasing on a fairly consistent basis.
Avowed is kicking off the Xbox first-party in 2025, but it’s far from alone, with id Software’s DOOM: The Dark Ages, Playground Games’ Fable, and Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight also slated to launch at some point later in that year.
Microsoft acquired Obsidian Entertainment back in 2018, and the studio has already crafted Xbox games such as Grounded and Pentiment. Like these other first-party games, the Standard Edition of Avowed is included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass at no extra cost. As long as you’re subscribed, you’ll be able to keep playing.
This also has an interesting side effect, as it allows you to effectively grab the Premium Edition (and play early) for only $25. Because you have access to the Standard Edition through your Game Pass subscription, you can just pay for the Premium Edition Upgrade, and you’ll be good to go!
Even more interestingly, because Avowed is launching on Battle.net, it’s playable through Game Pass via Blizzard Entertainment’s launcher as well as the Xbox PC app. This means if you’ve got Battle.net balance on your account where you also play games like Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft, you can use that balance to buy the Premium Edition Upgrade and then play Avowed early through PC Game Pass.
In our extensive preview for Avowed, my colleague Zachary Boddy wrote that “Avowed is about player freedom, exploring the sandbox, and immersing yourself in an unapologetically fantastical world. Seeing how much Avowed has improved since its initial gameplay reveal and knowing how much fun I had in around an hour and a half of playtime make me unbelievably excited to play the full game.”
