A certain contingent of gamers has made its voice heard, as Avowed's inclusion of pronouns and developer Matt Hansen's response spurred controversy online.
The latest RPG from veterans of the genre, Obsidian Entertainment, is finally here, taking fans on Xbox and PC on a sweeping first-person fantasy adventure in the world of fellow Obsidian franchise Pillars of Eternity.
Upon release, Avowed received largely positive reviews, garnering an 82 out of 100 on review aggregator OpenCritic. Critics praised the game for its visceral combat and choice-based conversation system, which allows players to forge their own path.
Why Are People Mad at Avowed's Pronoun Options?
Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed has found itself in hot water as controversy surrounds the game's pronoun options.
The Xbox Game Studios RPG, which launched on consoles and PC on February 18, prominently features the player character's chosen pronouns on the in-game character screen, next to key statistics like level, experience, and class.
This decision drew the ire of a segment of the gaming community. A large number of mainly right-wing fans took this choice as the development team forcing them to adopt a particular set of political views.
Tensions on the matter have been hot-button for months. In November 2024, Avowed Art Director Matt Hansen addressed the pronoun controversy online that stemmed from some pre-release footage featuring the option.
In a post on his Bluesky profile, Hansen shared a screenshot of Elon Musk's X profile in which the X CEO was upset with the game's pronoun character screen. Responding to Musk, Hansen wrote, "I wanted so badly to make him mad with my game, and I cannot believe it actually happened:"
"I wanted so badly to make him mad with my game, and I cannot believe it actually happened. Just wait until you see the default, you said little shit."
This led to pushback from the game's detractors, who pointed to the option to disable the pronouns section displayed on the character screen in Avowed's final release.
Some even viewed this option as a win, saying Obsidian had been forced to offer it after they brought up the matter, but that does not seem to be the case.
The pronoun drama has put the game under the microscope even more than before from this particular set of internet trolls. Since release, they have continued to look for anything to gripe about.
The game's incredibly diverse cast has drawn accusations of diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) mandates being present during development, something certain sections of right-leaning American citizens have sought to dismantle since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
These particular conversation points have also led these carpers of the game to blame its quote/unquote political agenda for what they see as a lackluster launch and fledgling early sales.
However, the numbers are based on the game's SteamDB page (which peaked at 17,171 in its first 24 hours on the market). One must not forget that Steam is only one of the platforms Avowed launched on, including one where fans can get it for free on PC thanks to the Xbox Game Pass subscription.
That is not to say Avowed lit the world on fire upon release, but it seems too early to tell with the data fans have for them to make sweeping conclusions about the game's performance at launch.
And with rumors of an Avowed PlayStation 5 release looming, there is a chance it will be a long time before gamers truly know what Xbox thinks about the game's post-launch performance.
Avowed is available on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
