2024 wasn’t quite as busy as 2023 in terms of major video game releases, but it did still have its fair share of big titles. Many of these bigger releases also ended up landing in the back half of the year, duringthe fall and winter seasons, andAvowedwas originally set to be one of them.
At the start of last year,Avowedwas slated for a Fall 2024 release. But in August, Xbox decided to delay Obsidian’s long-awaited fantasy RPG to February 2025, stating that it was to “give players' backlogs some breathing room.” This ended up being a smart move, as major games likeSilent Hill 2,Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,Dragon Age: The Veilguard,STALKER 2, andIndiana Jones and the Great Circleall came out duringAvowed’s original release window. But that shift in competition isn’t the only benefit ofAvowed’s delay.
Getting Avowed to 60FPS Was Worth The Delay
Avowed Breaks a Recent Xbox First-Party Pattern
Though it’s technically capable of delivering 120FPS, the Xbox Series X is often locked at a much lower framerate for some of its biggest games. Over the last two years or so, a handful ofXbox first-party titleshave shipped with a locked 30FPS mode for consoles.Redfall,Starfield, andSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2are all key examples of this.
Before launch, the developers behind these titles explained that the 30FPS lock was actually the best way to play the game, with it offering the ideal balance between technical performance and visual quality. But inevitably, each time one of these games released, its locked framerate became a key point of criticism for some fans. In the case ofRedfallandStarfield, a 60FPS patch was eventually added after launch, and though it didn’t fix the valid critiques fans had with each one, it was a welcome upgrade.
Avowedwas almost one of these unfortunate Xbox first-party titles. Back in August of last year, Obsidian’s Art Director, Matt Hansen, confirmed thatAvowedwould be targeting a minimum framerate of 30FPS, claiming the studio was happy with the results given how visually dense the game’s environments were. But just a week beforeAvowed’s early access launch, Obsidian confirmed that a 60FPS “Performance” mode would be present for Xbox Series X players.
GivenAvowedwas targeting 30FPS just months before its originally slated Fall 2024 release window, it seems as though its delay has given Obsidian enough time to optimize the game and get it running at 60FPS off the bat.
Avowed’s Performance Mode Makes Its Combat Even Punchier
Generally speaking,Avowed’s 60FPS Performance modeis an incredibly welcome inclusion that makes the whole game feel suitably modern. But the benefits of 60FPS are especially noticeable during combat.
Avowed’s combatis one of its biggest strengths, with it feeling a lot more responsive and weighty than most other first-person RPGs. A lot of that responsiveness comes from the game’s animations and visual feedback, with enemies actually reacting to being hit by a melee weapon, spell, or gunshot. 30FPS works fine forAvowed’s combat, but naturally, 60FPS delivers a much more fluid experience with much smoother animations. And the smoother those animations are, the more responsive and energeticAvowed’s combat feels.
