One Xbox Series X|S game that’s garnered a steady amount of buzz since its announcement is Avowed. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios, the game is shaping up to be Xbox’s biggest February 2025 release. Here is if Avowed is coming to Game Pass.
Those with an Xbox Game Pass subscription at the Ultimate Tier will have access to Avowed at launch without any additional cost; those at lower subscription tiers will not have access to the game as part of Game Pass. This distinction also carries over to PC Game Pass subscribers for those not looking to check out Avowed on a home console. In both cases, Avowed will be available on Day 1, with its release date currently set for Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
Players that have preordered the premium edition of Avowed will get early access to the game starting on Thursday, February 13 as part of their pre-order incentive. While Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers don’t nominally share this early access if they’re looking to play the standard edition of the game, they do get a discount to upgrade to the premium edition compared to non-Game Pass subscribers. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can upgrade to the premium edition of Avowed for $22.50 and gain early access, less than its usual upgrade price of $25. Like the usual access to the game, this discount does not apply to other Game Pass subscriber tiers.
Avowed was officially announced in July 2020 and is the biggest first-party game developed by Obsidian since their acquisition by Xbox Game Studios in 2018. The game is set in the fantasy world of Eora, which was introduced in Obsidian’s 2015 game Pillars of Eternity and expanded upon in its 2018 sequel, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Like both Pillars of Eternity games, Avowed is a single-player gameplay experience, though not played from an isometric perspective like Pillars of Eternity.
Set within Eora’s Living Lands, Avowed has players control a warrior on behalf of the Aedyr Empire investigating a contagion known as the Dream Scourge. Players can recruit up to two NPC companions at a time to help them complete various quests around the Living Lands, with their actions influencing how the story unfolds. Unlike The Elder Scrolls games, which Avowed has been widely compared to during its development, Avowed is not a full open-world game, but offers several large environments for players to explore.
For Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers, Avowed is another major reminder why to maintain the subscription at these tiers. In addition to Avowed, Obsidian is also currently working on a sequel to its enormously successful 2019 game The Outer Worlds as their profile within Xbox Game Studios continues to grow. And for gamers who enjoyed both The Outer Worlds and Pillars of Eternity or players looking for a fresh action RPG experience to check out on Xbox or PC, Avowed is quickly shaping up to be a stellar way for Microsoft to kick off its 2025 in full.
