Got the end of Avowed after 66 hours.

Despite souring on the combat, I did not rush through the end. Aside from a few hidden treasures in the last zone, I otherwise completed all of the side-quests available. Due to the strange open-endedness of Avowed, sometimes it was not clear whether these were legit side-quests or just required story beats done out of order. Either way, I wrung out every ounce of whatever value Avowed had.

And in the final analysis? Avowed was not redeemed in my eyes… but it got closer than I expected.

To me, there was a disconnect between the story and the plot. Maybe those are the wrong terms, but follow me for a moment. I consider the plot to be the main quests and decisions you make in each of the four zones. None of those bits were especially interesting, and not just because I didn’t know what my motivation was supposed to be – the “choices” were just too comically extreme. For example, the game tells you Animancy is banned in your empire, that it’s dangerous, etc. What the game doesn’t do is show you it’s dangerous, or why it’s banned, just that it is. You then get asked if you want (or accidentally allow) every Animancer in the area to die. Huh? The fourth area was even worse.

The broader story on the other hand, I did find more interesting. Each zone has a god totem you can put together from pieces hidden about, and the first time I completed one and then heard their conversation… I was quite intrigued. I did not finish the first Pillars of Eternity game, but I am vaguely aware that the gods get involved a bit more personally in the setting (although what RPG endgame doesn’t, amirite?), and I’m all for it. That bit was very interesting to me, and may be a seed that grows into a desire to play PoE 1 & 2 later. Then again, I technically already know what happened.

In any case, I have zero interest in any future Avowed DLC and have already uninstalled the game.