The continuing trend of getting you to pay more to play just a few days earlier continues. Avowed from Obsidian Entertainment does look like bloody good fun, but £80 of fun?
Xbox Game Studios and Obsidian Entertainment announced the February 18th release date today. Although, that's only the date for us regular chumps that pay £60 / $70, you crazy people with money to burn that decide to pay £80 / $90 can play on February 13th with Advanced Access that Valve promoted as a normal feature on Steam earlier this year.
Direct Link
The minimum Windows PC specifications were also revealed:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 / Intel i5-8400
- GPU: AMD RX 5700 / Nvidia GTX 1070 / Intel Arc A580
- Memory:16GB
- Storage: SSD required (75GB install size)
- DirectX: Version 12
Based on that, it should run quite well on Linux with Proton don't you think? Perhaps even 30FPS on the Steam Deck.
More about it: "Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.
You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands - an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?"
Focus wanted £25 more though, so it's a small mercy that this early access is "only" another £20.
I have several, otherwise very intelligent friends who paid the £25 for Space Marine 2 and claim to have no regrets - one justification they gave was that the extra £25 included other benefits beyond the early access to the game.
I'm no patient gamer, tbh, but I'll be damned at taking part in these kinds of FOMO-based cash-grabs.
"Hi we have this game."
"Oh nice! I will buy it and play it."
"Okay ........ but you can't play it."
"What?"
"We released it, but to play it you need to pay more money."
"What?"
"You can play it sometime in the future whenever we feel like but to play it now when we released it you have to pay more."
"I already paid you full price and the game is released. I want to play it now."
"No."
Paying 20 euro to beta test a game for 5 days. I'm laughing, but it's really sad that this actually works.
It's for the whales: people who have money to burn. It's not for people like us who would even consider saving money for more important things.
Paying 20 euro to beta test a game for 5 days. I'm laughing, but it's really sad that this actually works.
It's for the whales: people who have money to burn. It's not for people like us who would even consider saving money for more important things.
It'd be nice if this was the case. But considering the numbers, I'm afraid it's FOMO-ing minors more than it's taking a tip from rich people.
Not only whales, but it also plays on FOMO (fear of missing out) which takes advantage of certain mindsets, and puts unfair pressure on parents (although neither Space Marine 2 nor this really target young children). It's scummy. And because it works, and the publishers make literally millions, they'll do it again. And again.Paying 20 euro to beta test a game for 5 days. I'm laughing, but it's really sad that this actually works.
It's for the whales: people who have money to burn. It's not for people like us who would even consider saving money for more important things.
Last edited by scaine on 16 November 2024 at 10:42 am UTC
All those scams relying in FOMO becoming socially accepted make me wanna puke.
It'd be nice if this was the case. But considering the numbers, I'm afraid it's FOMO-ing minors more than it's taking a tip from rich people.
I didn't realize that was the target, but I'm sure you're right. This is awful. I'll boycott Obsidian for now. That's a shame, I loved their earlier games.
If all goes well, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 comes out February 11th, so I don't think I'll need another large RPG in that time period. But will be interesting to see how Avowed turns out compared to the more old-school Pillars of Eternity games.It doesn't really compare, though. PoE was cheaper to make, and a matter of prestige/sign of studio health. In a way, budget was secondary to getting it out the door in decent shape.
Avowed is a more expensive project that's going to get at least partially buried from the traditional sales point of view (which is what gets widely reported), because of questionable Xbox business strategy. And we won't really even know how badly it'll get hurt by that, either.
Hard pass for me. Game looks fairly mediocre, and it's priced like it's the hottest thing since sliced bread. Good luck with that.
But dude, I already have Skyrim...
Paying 20 euro to beta test a game for 5 days. I'm laughing, but it's really sad that this actually works.
It's for the whales: people who have money to burn. It's not for people like us who would even consider saving money for more important things.
It'd be nice if this was the case. But considering the numbers, I'm afraid it's FOMO-ing minors more than it's taking a tip from rich people.
Possibly, but minors don't have jobs. So, they would still need parents who can afford to pay.Kids who can't afford stuff pirate.
I have several, otherwise very intelligent friends who paid the £25 for Space Marine 2 and claim to have no regrets
Define intelligence, because often this excludes common sense.
$80 for earlier testing?
But dude, I already have Skyrim...
From what I've heard, if you're expecting this to be like Skyrim at all, you'll be disappointed. It's much more linear, not open world.
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