Obsidian shipped Avowed on February 18, 2025, and by mid-2026 most Steam players have finished the Living Lands, closed the loop on the Godlike storyline, and gone quiet on the subreddit. The engine is not built for endless replay, and the sequel window is wide open. Players are asking the same question in three languages on r/avowed: what next Avowed alternatives for desktop are worth 40 hours in 2026? These are seven first-person and party-based fantasy RPGs we tested that actually scratch the same itch, from Obsidian’s own back catalogue to the newer heavyweights that arrived after Avowed.
Quick comparison
| Game | Best for | Price | Platforms | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Outer Worlds | Obsidian dialogue and choice | $59.99 | Windows, macOS | Companion writing and reactive quests |
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | Grounded first-person RPG | $59.99 | Windows, macOS, Linux | Historical combat and Bohemia sandbox |
| Skyrim Anniversary Edition | Modded open world | $54.99 | Windows | 15 years of mods and Creation Club |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | Party RPG with real choice | $59.99 | Windows, macOS | Turn-based tactics and reactive story |
| Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Action-driven BioWare RPG | $59.99 | Windows | Companion arcs and combat combos |
| GreedFall | Colonial-era faction RPG | $39.99 | Windows | Diplomacy and political trees |
| Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire | Same world as Avowed | $29.99 | Windows, macOS, Linux | Isometric party writing and shipboard combat |
Why Avowed players want something next
The threads on r/avowed and the Steam discussions share a few common reasons:
- The main story is a single arc. Once the Godlike question resolves, most builds have nothing new to test.
- Combat is fun but limited to first-person swings, spells, and gun-blade combos. Players who want tactical depth hit a ceiling around hour 30.
- The Living Lands is one region. After the four zones open up, exploration flattens.
- Companion writing is strong for four characters, but there is no romance layer and no branching companion questlines the way BioWare shipped in prior Dragon Age games.
- The economy and crafting loop are lean by Obsidian standards. Players who prefer the deep systems of Pillars of Eternity or Fallout: New Vegas notice the gap.
The picks below address each of those gaps without pretending another game is a literal Avowed swap.
The 7 best Avowed alternatives on desktop
The Outer Worlds, Obsidian dialogue and choice
The Outer Worlds is the closest sibling on this list because it comes from the same studio. First-person perspective, dialogue-driven quest structure, companion abilities in combat, and Obsidian’s signature branching that lets bad decisions actually stick. Halcyon is smaller than the Living Lands but denser in writing per square kilometre.
Where it falls short: Combat feels dated after Avowed. Enemy variety is thin. The Spacer’s Choice Edition remaster is uneven on older hardware.
Price: $59.99 for the Spacer’s Choice Edition, regularly on sale for $19.99. Base game plus DLC bundle sits around $29.99 during Steam sales.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick The Outer Worlds when the Obsidian dialogue tree and the moral ambiguity were the parts of Avowed you cared about most.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, grounded first-person RPG
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is the 2025 heavyweight for first-person RPG fans. Warhorse pushes historical Bohemia hard: stamina-based sword combat, real medieval geography, a stealth layer that actually tracks smell and noise, and the deepest crime and reputation system in the genre. Six million copies sold in the first six months.
Where it falls short: The tone is grim and slow. Magic and creatures are absent by design. The tutorial hours are punishing for players who expect Avowed’s onboarding.
Price: $59.99, discounted 40 to 60 percent on Steam seasonal sales.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick Kingdom Come: Deliverance II when the first-person melee of Avowed was the highlight and you can trade fantasy for realism.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition, modded open world
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is the answer for players who want to keep the fantasy vocabulary and swap the tighter Avowed loop for 300 hours of open-world sprawl. The mod scene is a decade and a half deep in 2026. Wabbajack lists, Nolvus 6, and the Skyblivion release last year have turned Skyrim into whatever the player wants it to be.
Where it falls short: Base combat is worse than Avowed by a wide margin. Voice acting and quest design show their 2011 age. Serious modding demands hours before the game plays well.
Price: $54.99 for the Anniversary Edition, or $19.99 for Special Edition plus the Anniversary Upgrade DLC. Both routinely drop 60 percent in sales.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick Skyrim Anniversary Edition when you want the longest possible fantasy adventure and you are willing to build the experience with mods.
Baldur's Gate 3, party RPG with real choice
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the tactical party RPG that reset expectations for the genre in 2023 and still holds up in 2026. Six-companion party, turn-based Dungeons and Dragons 5e combat, an origin-story system that changes the first act depending on which character you play, and a reactive world that logs choices two dozen hours later. Larian shipped Patch 8 in 2025 with cross-play and the definitive edition.
Where it falls short: Third-person camera. Turn-based combat is the opposite of Avowed’s real-time swings, which is a hard switch for some players. Act 3 has known pacing dips.
Price: $59.99. Rarely discounted, floor is around $47.99.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick Baldur’s Gate 3 when the party dynamics and moral weight of Avowed’s companions were the standout and you can accept a change in combat style.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard, action-driven BioWare RPG
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is BioWare’s 2024 return to Thedas. Real-time action combat with a hard pivot toward combos and finishers, seven companions with full romance arcs, and a story that closes ten years of Dragon Age plot lines. The Veilguard sits closer to Avowed’s action rhythm than to earlier tactical Dragon Age entries.
Where it falls short: Writing polarised long-time BioWare fans. Some companion arcs feel padded. Performance on older GPUs is inconsistent even after the 2025 patches.
Price: $59.99, dropped to $29.99 in Steam summer 2025 and again during Black Friday.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick Dragon Age: The Veilguard when you want Avowed’s action combat plus a full romance and companion pipeline.
GreedFall, colonial-era faction RPG
GreedFall is Spiders’ colonial-era third-person RPG that landed cheaper than the AAA picks on this list and outperforms its budget almost everywhere. Six factions, diplomatic resolutions to most quests, and a magic system built on rings and armour tags rather than skill trees. New Serene is a compact map that respects the player’s time.
Where it falls short: Animations and cutscene direction show the mid-budget origin. Repeated environment assets appear across chapters. Combat is competent but never exciting.
Price: $39.99 base, Gold Edition $49.99. Sales floor is $9.99 on Steam.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick GreedFall when the political and faction manoeuvring of Avowed’s Living Lands drew you in more than the sword swings.
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, same world as Avowed
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is the direct predecessor. Same world of Eora, same gods, same setting rules that Avowed borrows from. Isometric party combat, six companions with proper writing depth, a ship layer that lets the party sail the Deadfire Archipelago, and DLC that adds three full sub-campaigns.
Where it falls short: Isometric perspective is a wall for anyone who came to the series through Avowed. Real-time-with-pause combat has a learning curve. The initial pathfinding release was rough, though 2020 patches fixed the worst of it.
Price: $29.99 Ultimate Edition. Base game plus all DLC sells for $19.99 during sales.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick Pillars of Eternity II when you want to stay in Avowed’s world and are ready for the tactical party style Obsidian was doing before it went first-person.
How to choose
The fastest way to pick between these is to name what you liked most about Avowed and match it here.
If you want the Obsidian voice in dialogue and side quests, The Outer Worlds is the closest same-studio pick, and Pillars of Eternity II is the deepest one for anyone willing to try isometric party combat.
If you want the first-person swing weight and stamina management, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is the 2025 game that pushes that further than any RPG on Steam, at the cost of the fantasy layer.
If you want a bigger open world and 300 hours of mod content, Skyrim Anniversary Edition remains the cheapest long-term investment on the list.
If you want the party dynamics and want a story with actual consequences, Baldur’s Gate 3 sets the bar in 2026 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the action-flavoured second choice.
If diplomacy and faction politics were the pull, GreedFall is the undervalued option that plays like Avowed with a colonial rulebook.
Stay on Avowed if you have not touched New Game Plus or the promised story DLC. Obsidian confirmed a paid expansion is in production and the base game keeps getting free updates on the Xbox Insider preview branch.
FAQ
Is there a game like Avowed on desktop?
Yes, several. The closest experiences are The Outer Worlds and Pillars of Eternity II because they share Obsidian’s writing style, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II for the first-person combat feel. None copies Avowed exactly, but each covers a part of what Avowed does well.
What is the best Avowed alternative for players who want a bigger world?
Skyrim Anniversary Edition, once modded, offers a world that dwarfs the Living Lands and runs on 15 years of community content. It costs less than Avowed and lasts longer for players who enjoy building their own experience.
Is Avowed connected to Pillars of Eternity?
Yes. Avowed is set in the same world of Eora and inherits the same god lore, factions, and cultural background as Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Players who want the deeper lore should go back to the Pillars games after finishing Avowed.
What is the cheapest Avowed alternative?
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire at $29.99 is the cheapest full-priced option, and it drops to $9.99 on Steam sales. GreedFall’s sale floor is also $9.99. Both offer 40 to 80 hours of gameplay.
Is Baldur’s Gate 3 better than Avowed?
Different games. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a turn-based party RPG with deeper choice-and-consequence writing and a much larger overall scope. Avowed is a tighter first-person action RPG with a shorter, more focused story. Players who prefer combat feel in the moment will lean Avowed. Players who want the deepest RPG on desktop right now will lean Baldur’s Gate 3.
