While exploring Avowed’s mystical lands, you’ll encounter bears, so very many bears, along with a handful of other critters and brawlers who have it out for you. Sure, you could run in, sword-swinging and spell-slinging, but such an approach often culminates in an untimely demise. If you spend time leveling, then you’ll have far fewer ‘game over’ screens to contend with.

Side Quests

Yep, this is your standard RPG fare to some extent. You’ll tackle fetch quests and clear out abandoned houses and ruins of various enemies, collecting loot and leveling up along the way. But the little stories hidden within each side quest, like the Xaurip who feels connected to the young woman, Dehengen, in Claviger’s Landing, make for compelling side content.

Bounties

If you prefer the combat to the story, bounties offer straightforward side activities designed to thrust you into close-quarters fights with monsters and men alike. These bounties task you with hunting down dangerous enemies, and most drop high-end loot. Sometimes, you can even find a shiny treasure chest!

Exploration

As you traverse the game world, you could stumble upon various points of interest if you step off the beaten path and ignore your quest marker. Every time you find somewhere new, you get a nice bump of XP. In the early game zone, the Xaurip Camp and Seaside Cavern, to the west, both offer countless enemies and some adequate loot to keep you in the green. Be wary, however. Seaside Cavern is bogged down by spiders, and an ambush at the end of the cave proves rather ick.