I Wanted To Love Avowed’s Guns, But I Made The Terrible Mistake Of Using Them

screenrant.com:

tries out a lot of ideas that distinguish it from your average, everyday fantasy RPG, and one of its biggest departures is the emphasis on firearms. It's no surprise that lets the Envoy try out some rudimentary guns, as theworld of Eora where the game takes place had already introduced them in the isometric games, but bringing the action into first-person does make the weapons more important. Short of mods, you're never going to stumble across an arquebus in, so it's a big point of distinction for .

Although I'm often prone to running into battle with sword and board in hand, I do try to shake it up sometimes. 's surplus of interesting spells was the perfect opportunity to play a wizard, for example, and the combination of 's guns and the classic -style appeal of first-person stealth archery made it seem like a great time to go ranged. I've had some fun with that approach, and even some thrilling moments here and there, but avoiding the sword when I can help it has also highlighted some of the game's biggest flaws.

My complaints about 's guns don't have much to do with their primitive nature, at least not directly. I'd actually love to see more games embrace matchlock, wheellock, and flintlock firearms, and I think there are ways to make the slow rate of fire feel rewarding if a game is designed properly around it., however, is not, and it doesn't particularly feel like it's designed around a couple of its ranged options at all.

With 18 abilities to choose from and multiple directions to go in, deciding how to build your Ranger is no small feat.

One of the biggest problems is the way that approaches difficulty. I played a good chunk of the game so far on Hard, which felt like the right balance of actual challenge, but I ended up dropping it to normal just to reduce my exhaustion with bullet sponges. A side encounter with a camp of xaurips can take ages to clear out early on, to say nothing of boss fights or tussles with any enemies above your current equipment