The patch notes are quite something: the role-playing game is being improved in every way. Especially in terms of crafting and companions, there is a lot going on.
Since February 18, 2025, all role-playing fans have finally been able to immerse themselves in the world of Avowed, the new title from Obsidian. Just a few days after the release, the development team had already delivered the first big update.
66 GB want to be downloaded by you via Steam. You will be rewarded with numerous profound changes that aim to make the role-playing game even better. As always, you can find the complete patch notes on page 2. We will now turn to the highlights.
Tier System Will Be Thrown Over
No, we don’t mean the cute little animals that you can see in the picturesque forests of Avowed – nobody will throw them over, don’t worry!
We’re talking about the different equipment levels (Tiers
), which the game uses to significantly adjust the difficulty of battles. In Avowed, you can upgrade every piece of equipment to make it noticeably stronger. The same applies to your opponents, so an elite dwarf is much stronger than a low-level Xaurip because it has better equipment.
This importance of equipment remains, but has been softened. You will no longer suffer such a large penalty when you face an opponent with significantly better equipment. Instead, a dynamic system will now apply, which Obsidian cannot elaborate on further.
The bottom line is that the changes should lead to slightly easier fights, even against higher-level opponents, unless you go overboard and face a much stronger opponent who is four or more levels above you.
Other useful changes from patch 1.2.2
- Upgrade materials can no longer be accidentally sold to merchants, which made upgrading your equipment significantly more difficult.
- Companions resurrected in combat now plunge back into the fray with 75 percent of their health, up from 50 percent. In addition, all companions have more life force from the ground up, so they are more useful in combat.
- When you access the circular quick selection, the game should no longer crash.
- Numerous bugs in quests and landscape design have been fixed.
It will take a few more hours of gameplay until you have finished Avowed. You should enjoy them, because a look into the future does not suggest that story DLCs are planned. Obsidian currently has its hands full with the next title, namely The Outer Worlds 2. After classic fantasy, the next step is to go back into space.
Avowed – Patch 1.2.2 – Changelog
Table of Contents
Community-Requested Fixes
- Updates to Feedback and Penalties/Bonuses for Level Difference:
- The penalty system for level differences has been changed from a hard level system to a dynamic system based on the player’s equipment and the opponent’s level (and sub-level). The rules for level differences only apply if there is a gap of +/- 4 levels.
- Level II enemies now play a small reaction animation when hit by lower level weapons, rather than not reacting at all.
- Reduced damage reduction when players’ weapons are closer to an enemy’s level.
- Companions will be much less likely to comment on the player’s need for better armor and/or weapons.
- Upgrading materials can no longer be sold to vendors to inadvertently make upgrading more difficult. We are working on a longer-term solution that includes the buyback of materials from vendors.
Missing NPCs
- In certain situations, some NPCs were not where they were supposed to be. Saving and reloading the game will return them to the correct location. We will soon have a solution that completely fixes the issue and does not require saving and reloading.
Quest and exploration fixes
- The thorny vines in Delemgan Glade will now despawn if the Adragan Heart is acquired, preventing players from becoming stuck in them.
- Grysca (the apothecary) now speaks to the player correctly to advance “An untimely end,” even if there was a previous bug where Thalla the ogre appeared twice.
- Added a system to respawn important characters when reloading a save game if they were missing and blocking quest progress (including Ambassador Hylgard and The Watcher Runyd).
Companion and NPC Improvements
- When companions are resurrected in combat, they will now be restored to 75% of their maximum health, up from 50%.
- Companion starting health has been increased to improve their survivability in combat.
Merchants and the Economy
- Merchants at Duskshore docks now offer fine equipment alongside common.
Crashes and fatal glitches
- Removed the potential for a crash when using Corrosive Siphon on destructible objects.
- Optimized VFX resource management when pausing the game from radial menus to prevent rare leaks and crashes.
Quest and area design
- Invisible collision that could trap the player in Strangleroot has been fixed.
- Players can no longer rush into unintended areas in Strangleroot, preventing quest progression issues.
- Enemies now move more consistently on the bridges of the Lava Tubes.
- The “First Contact with the Enemy” quest will now progress properly if all of the badges are collected before speaking with Nauki.
- Players can now complete “Steely Resolve” after the main quest in “Emerald Stairs” if they have achieved enough goals.
- Kowha now reacts correctly when the player returns to her after starting “One Last Drink”.
- The conversation with Giatta when leaving Naku Tedek will now trigger consistently when loading a save game prior to the conversation.
- The conditions for the quest “Mapping the Living Lands” have been updated so that you can start from future regions before talking to the quest giver in Dawnshore.
- The “A Lady Never Tells” questline has been updated to log properly as complete when starting with the courtesan, receiving the delivery, and then speaking with Giuliana.
- Governor Ignasi’s Spy Turn-In option can now only be triggered once, rather than being repeatable.
- Conversations with leaders in the final area no longer end prematurely when the “I’ll Think About It Some More” option is selected.
- An additional end option has been added to the leader conclave for players who initially withdraw but then decide they want to reconsider.
- Adjusted the environmental art near the Tranton Bounty in Emerald Stair to prevent a Bounty loot drop from being unobtainable.
- Previously missing voice lines in environmental content are now playing correctly.
System and gameplay improvements
- Summoning Seeds of Vengeance now scales properly with health and damage.
- Parry enchantments on one-handed weapons now function as intended.
- Player party buffs now correctly only target companions and not summoned creatures.
- Kai no longer gets stuck when using Unbending Defense while in the air with Leap of Daring.
- Improved frame rate when viewing damage numbers for multiple enemies.
- Improved random selection of items when restocking shops.
- Wands’ detonation ability now plays the correct visual and audio effects.
- Improved logic for companion animations at the end of combat.
- Improved transitions at the summit of Mt. Forja.
- Fixed interaction inconsistencies with objects and NPCs obscured by other characters.
- Controllers no longer vibrate when loading a save game before the final boss fight.
- Problems with pond coin interactions have been fixed.
- Error codes for game save errors have been added.
- Improved the direction of character gazes during certain conversations.
Audio improvements
- The cutscene in Naku Kebel now plays the sound effects correctly.
- Radial menu food now plays audible feedback.
- Increased the volume of Woedica’s voice-overs.
- Player voice is now more consistently played for abilities with voice acting.
- Improved transitions between music intensity levels when exploring.
- Music during end slides now plays at intended volume level.
Visual and artistic fixes
- Updated the LODs of the Banner Dwarf’s outfit to reduce clipping during animation.
- Captain Ngunu’s neck is now correctly connected to his head.
- Steel Garrote Soldiers have their missing hands back.
- Improved shadow quality in Xbox Series X Performance Mode.
User Interface (UI) and Controls
- The cloud transfer prompt is now properly centered on ultrawide screens.
- The Xbox Cloud Transfer dialog buttons no longer rapidly wobble when hovering over the bottom of the button with the mouse.
- The initial splash screens now support Chinese characters.
- Interaction prompts are more reliably displayed.
- Opening a radial menu after exiting and re-entering the game no longer triggers the pause menu.
- Accidental English characters in the “One Last Drink” quest journal for non-English languages have been removed.
- The cloud save interface will now select the recommended option by default.
