Xbox has a number of hotly anticipated exclusives on the horizon, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Fable, and South of Midnight. All of them look set to finally correct the baffling lack of Xbox exclusives, which makes me, and I imagine many others, very happy. Xbox has been a bit behind when it comes to justifying buying its expensive, not-so-new-anymore console, but thankfully that is all about to change.

Importantly, at least for me, one of its exclusives has me finally excited to be an Xbox owner. While there are plenty of great Xbox Game games, I've always struggled to find a reason to hold onto my dusty Xbox Series S. As a big fan of the 360 era, I found myself compelled to invest in Xbox's hardware this generation, but it has yet to pay off. Of course, as I've alluded to, one of its games has gotten me more excited than I have been for any game in recent memory.

Avowed Is Shaping Up To Be The Next Skyrim

It Looks Like A Genuinely Compelling Adventure

Avowed recently got a string of previews showcasing the start of the game, and they were extremely glowing. I'm not usually one to get easily sucked in by previews, but Avowed is absolutely shaping up to be everything I have wanted from a fantasy RPG for a long time. It baffles me how few games like Skyrim there are and how the majority of fantasy RPGs tend to be confined to the wonderful yet overwhelming CRPG genre. As much as I adore the likes of Baldur's Gate 3, there is something so appealing about the blockbuster simplicity of Skyrim.

Much like how Fallout: New Vegas elevated the Fallout formula while retaining much of its charm, Avowed may enhance Skyrim's experience, and that is an incredibly appealing prospect to me.

Of course, that's not to say that Avowed is an overly simple RPG, as that absolutely doesn't seem to be the case. Much like how Fallout: New Vegas elevated the Fallout formula while retaining much of its charm, Avowed may enhance Skyrim's experience, and that is an incredibly appealing prospect to me. By far the one aspect that Skyrim got so perfectly right was its exploration, which, no matter how simple the reward ended up being, consistently felt satisfying. There was a wonderful sense of discovery found throughout all of Skyrim that Avowed is seemingly bringing back.

Additionally, according to the more positive previews, controversial Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Avowed Could Beat Veilguard In A Big Way

Dialogue And Choices Seem Far Better

Dragon Age: The Veilguard has a lot of incredibly positive aspects that make it a fairly competent high-fantasy adventure that appealed to me when it first launched. ittedly, I enjoyed a lot of what Veilguard had to offer, even if it was severely lacking in a lot of respects. However, once the credits rolled, I felt that what I had been craving all along were those missing features, the sense that choices actually mattered, that I could truly roleplay any type of character, good or evil, and that romance was more than a surface-level mechanic.

Avowed looks set to right all of those wrongs, at least, again, according to those previews. The choices made when creating a character, for example, are referenced multiple times in the early portion of the game, giving weight to them in a way that The Veilguard failed to achieve. Similarly, exploration seems to be a far bigger focus in Avowed, as aforementioned. While Dragon Age: The Veilguard has plenty of opportunities to explore, it often feels shallow thanks to the limited pool of attractive loot worth getting.

Perhaps most importantly, at least to me, is that Avowed lets you be genuinely mean to your companions. While I'm not exactly one for going around berating my digital friends, I do think it adds a lot to the believability of a game world where characters can be more than, at worst, ive toward the player and vice versa. Dragon Age: The Veilguard's overly sweet approach to companions meant that it never felt like any conflicts could arise and be subsequently solved. This made the dynamic feel far too skewed towards a sycophantic relationship rather than an equal one.

Obsidian Entertainment has a good track record of producing well-written games that go on to become critically acclaimed for doing exactly what players wanted Veilguard to do.

Of course, there is every possibility that Avowed only manages to accomplish this in its early portion and ditches it all immediately afterward. However, Obsidian Entertainment has a good track record of producing well-written games that go on to become critically acclaimed for doing exactly what players wanted Veilguard to do. Its stories are mature and nuanced, its characters likable yet morally complex, and its worlds are more cleverly thought out. Suffice it to say, Avowed is coming at the perfect time to help cure my Veilguard blues.

Avowed Will Likely Be The Xbox Series X's First Good Exclusive

Nothing Else Has Quite Grabbed Me

It's clear that both PlayStation and Xbox have failed somewhat at producing compelling exclusives that warrant spending hundreds of dollars on a new console. However, for the most part, I've managed to justify my PS5, albeit only just. My Series S, on the other hand, remains practically unused as Xbox has failed to give me any real reason to play on it. Starfield was a huge disappointment for me, Hellblade 2 was poorly reviewed, Halo Infinite was a mess at launch, and I've never been a big Forza fan.

Of course, the recent until Elder Scrolls 6 releases as well as all the other intriguing-looking Xbox exclusives, like South of Midnight, Fable, Towerborne, and Perfect Dark.

I hope that everyone else is getting more use out of their Xboxes than me, as frankly, I feel like a bit of an outlier when it comes to not enjoying the publisher's recent output. However, I am excited to finally get on board the bandwagon and start tooting the Xbox horn when Avowed releases in 2025. There is a very good chance that Avowed could become one of my all-time favorite games, and I haven't felt that way about a game in an incredibly long time.

Source: SkillUp/YouTube, Xbox/YouTube