Avowed is a grim fight for resources with a decent story at the top

Spend a few hours NotoriousAnd you will start to feel as if NPCs are obsessed with wood. Open any chest or lock, and in the middle you will find a branch or two hidden for storage. At the beginning it may seem strange. But don’t worry – it won’t last long until you understand why it is so critical to them.

Notorious He partly follows the progression route based on the level: Explore, fight enemies, get a mission, fight more enemies, end the task and get experience points. Get enough equalization and get points to put on attributes (constitution for additional health, solve additional strength and so on) and modern skills (such as a fighter shield, parry for guards and a ball of fire for wizards). But this denies a real leveling system that focuses on the quality of your weapon and armor.

Improvement of them requires craft: wood, leather, metal ingots and some plants. If you utilize tools that are lower than enemies, the fight becomes a nightmare of attempts to survive massive hits, while only causing system damage. And you will fall into enemies who are stronger than you at every turn, thanks to which a significant part of the game in a clear, desperate hunt for scavengers. Suddenly every branch that can finally make your wand, one level stronger looks like a miracle.

The opening hours of the game do not distribute it. Notorious introduces (or re -introduces Pillars of eternity Fans) The world of gods, scourge and political intrigue. The game also promises questions about the Empire, ecology and autonomy among systems far beyond your control. He suggests specificity: this is eora, his people are sunk to this world. But it doesn’t last.

For example, in one of the main tasks in the middle game you undergo three attempts: strength (fight of enemies), wisdom (avoiding traps that appeared in exactly the same form in Skyrim 14 years ago) and indefinite, which seems to exist only to meet the three rule and covers walks before the corridor before he starts fighting again. There are reasons that it loosely accosts the specificity that I enjoyed at the beginning of the game, but they feel like a peeling layer of paint on a tired, repeatable base.

Sometimes there are ways to avoid conflicts, but most of the game will be spent on fighting. The combat system allows mixing and matching between three classes and different weapons: in a two -handed and single low circuit; arches; and wands and grimoires. You can also take skills from any class at different times. In practice, however, the division between different approaches did not seem particularly profitable, and eventually I focused only on the wizards.

Fighting on witches consists in balancing strength (used for basic attacks) with Essence (used for spelling) and direction of companions. When it works, this rhythm is satisfying. When this does not work – as when you ran out of essence or when enemies are at a higher level than you – it becomes a grind. When there is any complexity in the types of enemy, it falls.

Take, for example, priests and clergy. These opponents can cure any other enemy, which makes them the most critical to get on first. The same is not such a huge problem in itself. But they are often combined with enemies who can quit a lower level call, which will die when their recipient is killed. In this way there is a clear order of the operation: kill the healer, then recall, and then everyone else. But when there is a dozen enemies crowded in one place, it’s easier to say than to do. The fact that enemies will suddenly appear in modern waves prevents full planning in advance and does not assist that clergy can sometimes appear in the middle of the fight without realizing. And it is annoying that your companions are constantly engaging a called enemy who is permanently healing, unless you constantly and specifically tell them what ability to utilize, where.

Maybe it would be less a problem if I ever felt that I had enough wood. But despite the opening of every chest I heard when I discovered (if you don’t hear them, for any reason, I am quite convinced that this game will be unsuccessful), regularly stopping in every store, spreading all my additional items (including Rare “unique” weapon) and completing most side tasks I came up with, my tools remained forever. And it was always wood. I had additional plants, almost sufficient skin, but I still had to find more branches. Metal is used for swords and the like which I did not utilize as a wizard. But I assume that if you want to play with a weapon, it would be a limiter.

Notorious It should be fine. There are so many places where it has a limitation in the field of: circumspect areas; Not too many main tasks; Only four companions. It should also be stout in this structure. In particular, writing for companions is incredibly full. Not only do they have existing relationships, which gives them depth beyond their relationship with the character of the player, but also constantly cooperate with each other. In the camp, talks about their past, their feelings about current events and a general diminutive conversation for as long as you let them. At one point I left the game when I took a break and returned maybe 15 minutes later to find that they were still talking.

There are also individual tasks that also stand out, and some of the lost specifics return to the game to the end. In a vacuum I like how he ends his questions. But these moments are lost in a constant, desperate – and stop me if you have already heard it – looking for wood.

Notorious It will be released on February 18 on Windows PC and Xbox Series X. The game was checked on PC using the pre -release code provided by Xbox Game Studios. VOX Media has partner partnerships. They do not affect editorial content, although Vox Media can earn commissions for products purchased via partner links. Additional information about the policy of polygon ethics can be found here.