Avowedis the first single-player fantasy RPG from Obsidian Entertainment in more than half a decade. After wrapping up development on 2018’sPillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, whichAvowedshares a world with, Obsidian went on to work on games in other genres, such as the sci-fi RPGThe Outer Worldsand the 2D adventure gamePentiment.Avowedmay not be the exact same asPillars of Eternity, given that it is played from a first- or third-person perspective instead of an isometric one, but it’s still a refreshing change of pace from the studio that is largely known for other types of projects these days.
Obsidian is a unique developer in that many of its recent games are very different from each other. Besides having some RPG-related mechanics,Grounded,Pentiment, andThe Outer Worldshave very little in common from a gameplay standpoint. There is one thing they all share, though, and that’s clever Easter eggs. Obsidian has a knack for hiding pop culture references in its video games, andAvowedcontinues that tradition. The game not only hasanAvatar: The Last AirbenderEaster egg, but even aFallout: New Vegas-themed quest, as well. Some ofAvowed’s more notable Easter eggs, though, are not even hidden in the game itself, but rather in its Xbox achievements list.
There Are a Lot of Easter Eggs Hidden in Avowed’s Achievements List
The Names of Many Avowed Achievements Are References to Popular Franchises, Like Fallout
On both the Xbox and Steam versions ofAvowed, players can unlock tons of achievements while playing through the game. There are, in fact, 50 of them inAvowed, 18 of which are hidden. Fortunately, unlikeFinal Fantasy 7 RebirthortheGears of Warfranchise, getting 100% completion in the game isn’t too difficult. Most ofAvowed’s achievements are, for the most part, pretty straightforward. A lot of them are either story-related or pertain to specific tasks, such as “kill 15 enemies using stealth attacks” or “slay 10 Spiders and 10 Beetles.”
What’s really notable about some of the achievements inAvowed, however, is that their names are subtle references to other franchises, both inside and outside the world of gaming. One of the most referenced series in the game’s achievement list is, unsurprisingly,Fallout. There’s an achievement in the game that, for example, is called Two Bears High-Fiving. Those who are out of the loop may have a hard time understanding how this name relates toBethesda’s post-apocalyptic franchise, but it’s actually a reference to a minor tribal NPC with the same name in theHonest Hearts DLCforFallout: New Vegas.
Some fans created a mod forFallout: New Vegasthat changed one of the selectable answers for the Rorschach inkblot test at the start of the game to “two bears high-fiving,” and Obsidian added the Two Bears High-Fiving NPC toFallout: New Vegasas a reference to it.
Avowed’s achievement list has plenty of other Easter eggs that are also worth mentioning. The Everybody Disliked That achievement in the game, for example, is a reference to a message inFallout 4that famously became a meme among the gaming community. The “That Sign Can’t Stop Me Because I Can’t Read” achievement, meanwhile, is a direct nod to a line from the children’s PBS TV show,Arthur. There’s also an achievement called Gotta Cache ‘Em All in the game, which is a riff onthe “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” sloganfrom thePokemonfranchise.
Some of Avowed’s Achievements Are Named After the Games That Obsidian Developed
Many of the other achievements inAvowedare simply named after thegames that Obsidian worked on. The achievement that unlocks after players complete every side quest in the game is named Pentiment, for example, while the achievement that they get after siding with the Steel Garrote is called Tyranny, which is a direct reference to the eponymous 2016 CRPG.
