Avowed in 2026: A Solid Game with Stunning Loading Screens That Steal the Show

Let's talk about Avowed. In 2026, looking back at this Obsidian RPG that dropped a couple of years ago, the consensus is pretty clear: it's a fine game. No, really, that's the word. After spending dozens of hours sweeping up every quest in the Living Lands, mostly in third-person view, the technical jank was minimal. It ran surprisingly well, even on the humble Xbox Series S—the little console that could! The art style? It goes for a colorful realism and pretty much nails it. It's good, competent, modern... but not exactly mind-blowing. Yet, there's one part of Avowed that, years later, still has players and critics alike craving something more. Can a game's loading screens be its most memorable artistic feature? 🤔

The Mesmerizing World Behind the Loading Bar

Here's the thing: while the in-game world of Avowed looks fine, its loading screens are absolutely mesmerising. These aren't attempts at the faux-realism of the main game. Instead, they are beautiful, vibrant, almost painterly depictions of the game's various settings. A few of the memory cutscenes and flashbacks use this style too, and it's incredibly evocative for telling the game's lore-heavy story.

It would have made Avowed a completely different game, but man, do we wish we saw more of this art in the actual game. It's the classic case of the appetizer being more exciting than the main course. This colorful, sketch-based art style feels bold, creative, and full of personality—a stark contrast to the safer, more conventional look of the playable world.

Why Don't Big Games Take More Risks?

This leads to the bigger question hanging over the AAA scene in 2026: Why is everyone so scared of color and style? Avowed's main art direction is a perfect example of playing it safe. This sort of vibrant, illustrative style might be considered too bold for a mass-market, triple-A title where the goal is often to hook players with a familiar level of graphical "comfort."

While niche, stylized games sometimes break into the mainstream, titles like Avowed are designed for broad appeal, which often rules out doing anything too radical upfront. It needs to "look the part" of a big-budget fantasy RPG. And it does. But occasionally, in those fleeting moments between zones, it looks better. That's the game a lot of us really wanted to play.

Of course, Avowed is the game that exists. It took years to make, was pretty well-received, and does not look like its loading screens. It looks like Avowed. And as you may have heard by now... Avowed looks fine. 😅

Giving Credit Where It's Due: Avowed's Palette

Let's not completely dismiss Avowed's in-game visuals, though. In 2026, it still holds up for what it is. The game lives within its technical means but delivered a world that felt at home in the mid-2020s. One area where it genuinely deserves praise is its use of color.

It uses color—lashings of it at times—in ways many modern AAA games seem scared of. This has been a relative strength for Xbox-published games (think Halo, Fable, even Gears of War), which often embrace more saturated, lively palettes. Compare this to the often self-serious, desaturated tones of many PlayStation narrative classics (shades of blue and grey, anyone?). Avowed's world, while not groundbreaking in its fantasy biomes, at least ensures each of its five major areas has a distinct personality:

• A dockside town bordering a forest 🌲

• A vibrant, enchanted jungle 🌿

• A sprawling, sun-bleached desert 🏜️

• A different, more ancient kind of desert 🗿

• ...and back to the jungle again.

They feel different from one another, which is half the battle in open-world design. The art style isn't a reason to dislike the game; it's just that it constantly dangles something far more creative in front of you and never lets you have it.

The 2026 Verdict: A Legacy of "What If?"

So, where does Avowed stand in 2026? It's remembered as a solid, enjoyable RPG from Obsidian with fun combat and decent writing. But its most enduring artistic legacy might be those stunning loading screens. They represent a road not taken—a glimpse of a more stylistically daring game that could have been.

In an era where the remake scene is busy "cartoonizing" realistic classics like Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain, and new titles often use realism as a crutch, Avowed's dichotomy feels particularly poignant. Maybe we don't need every game to look like its loading screens, but we definitely need more big games brave enough to adopt that kind of vibrant, illustrative soul.

Ultimately, the art style wasn't something most players loved or hated about Avowed; it was just... there. And perhaps that's exactly what Obsidian was aiming for. Other elements of the game sparked stronger reactions. But for those who noticed, the promise of those loading screens lingers. All we can do now is hope that someday, a major studio will give that beautiful, bold, colorful art style its full moment in the sun. Until then, we'll always have those perfect moments of anticipation, waiting for the game to load. ✨