Avowed's Companions Need Help, & It Doesn’t Have To Look Far For A Solution

Like the average Obsidian RPG, Avowed doesn't take long to introduce a lovable and loyal companion who appears rather abruptly, offering to assist the player on their upcoming adventure. This is always a sign of more companions to follow, coming with a usually eclectic mix of personalities, combat styles, and goals. Their interactions, whether at a camp or in a spaceship, between the player character and each other, are often a driving narrative force. As such, I was excited to see how Avowed's incarnation of this RPG staple would materialize.

While Avowed, as evidenced by its stellar initial reception, has been an absolute treat in many regards, the companions have felt like a massive let-down. There's nothing inherently wrong with them, but, beyond their actors' strong vocal performances, there's also nothing that stands out. When compared to other Obsidian RPGs, especially the preceding Pillar of Eternity games, there's simply no contest. However, help for this general companion blandness may well be on its way for Avowed.

Avowed's Companions Fall Flat
A Forgettable Cast Of Characters

Once again, the companions on offer in Avowed aren't bad, by any stretch of the word. They fulfill their role effectively. Kai is the lovable, if quippy, starting companion, who is quickly flanked by the lonely survivalist Marius, the dedicated animancer Giatta, and the chaotic historian Yatzli. None of them are annoying or completely uninteresting, and they generally don't negatively affect the experience when they're around.

Unfortunately, there's nothing particularly exciting about them either. I listened to Kai mention second chances at least four times in Dawnshore, his favorite topic to bring up when assisting some down-on-their-luck NPC or engaging in general camp dialogue. The first time I heard a second chance speech, I felt as though I was learning about an important personality trait of Kai's, a worldview that is imperative to his character. The fourth time I heard it, I was wondering if that was his only standout trait.


Kai has quips. Some of them are quite funny, too, but beyond the quips and the second chances, it feels difficult to pinpoint something about his character that's exciting from a narrative perspective. Marius represents a similar problem. As a loner character, he keeps to himself mostly, being a frequent victim of Kai or Yatzli joking with him. The most notable interactions with Marius are the times he questions the envoy about decision-making that he views as counter-intuitive to survival.

Further diminishing their impact, Avowed's companions, for the most part, don't have their own questlines. Their development is almost entirely decided through their reactions to the choices that the envoy makes, particularly regarding the development of the main story. Unfortunately, unlike the often morally gray decisions in side quests, the main quest is quite binary. As a result, it feels as though the morals of the companions are binary too. When they contest the envoys' choices, it's often because the envoy has made an unquestionably awful one, not because of a nuanced mindset that the companion may have.

Pillars Of Eternity Proved Eora's Full Potential
Obsidian Should Capitalize On Its Excellent Setting

What makes the milquetoast companions feel even worse is that Pillars of Eternity had some of the best RPG companions ever made, companions whose stories and personalities I think back to regularly and fondly. It feels as though Pillars of Eternity truly utilized Eora as a setting when its companions were crafted. Beyond often being from different parts of the world with entirely distinct personalities, the characters also leaned into Eora's interesting takes on classic RPG classes, which Avowed has all but ignored.


Take Durance, a priest of Magran and potential companion in Pillars of Eternity. Priests already present an interesting creative space in Eora, largely due to the deities' central narrative role. Durance is a particularly interesting case whose story is uncovered slowly through visions around a campfire. Durance could be compared to Marius, in some ways. Both are lonely, wandering characters. More importantly, both have pasts shrouded in mystery, inviting the player to follow the crumbs to eventually uncover their histories. There is, however, a marked difference in how effective the characters are at enticing players onto that path.

As opposed to Marius's more ambiguous "past", Durance certainly has a more gripping hook. At his god's behest, Durance played a major role in constructing the bomb that destroyed St. Waidwen, an Eothas avatar mentioned quite frequently by the confused Eothasian godlike Sargamis in Avowed. I would never have known Durance's history, however, if his initial appearance and personality were not immediately striking. Durance completely subverts the idea of a priest; He's vulgar, unkempt, stubborn, and simultaneously worships and derides his goddess, who has long since ceased speaking to him.

Inquisitor Lödwyn and her dogmatic worship of Woedica are more indicative of Eora's potential, likely because she originally appeared in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire.

Durance and many of the companions in Pillars of Eternity serve as memorable subversions of typical fantasy fare. Helping them achieve these more distinct worldviews, personalities, and moralities is the fact that they can leave the player if certain choices are made. It's difficult to create truly enticing characters if they are functionally unable to leave the party. If choices and worldviews cannot be reconciled, it makes sense for a companion to leave. This is not the case in Avowed, and as such, its companions have been forced within a restrictive box of morals and worldviews.

An Expansion Would Be A Perfect Time To Make Companions Memorable
More Localized Content May Help Develop Stronger Characters

With hints of potentially more content on the way for Avowed, an expansion would be the perfect time to change their companion approach. At the very least, expansions will offer a more confined narrative, usually a self-contained story. If this is the case, Obsidian could easily add new companions through an expansion, and with these added companions limited ties to the main story of Avowed, Obsidian would have the room to make more dynamic characters.

Both Pillars games had DLC with self-contained narratives and additional companions, which could be accessed during the main story.

The four companions in Avowed don't have the space to be too distinct; they need to accompany the envoy, regardless of their actions, through the end of the story. DLC companions wouldn't necessarily need to do this, and as such, could more dramatically clash with the envoy and with each other. It could also be the chance to add in proper companion story lines, which could in turn add more nuance to the original four companions, at the very least in a more recontextual sense.

If another return to Eora occurs, it would be disappointing if the companions continued to fit into standard RPG conventions. Eora has so much room for creative designs, but perhaps, in an effort to acclimate a wider audience to the setting, it was more intentionally played safe in Avowed. Hopefully, future content, in whatever shape or size it comes, leans more heavily into the aspects that make Eora unique, and perhaps, can help make Avowed's initial cast a more compelling bunch.