https://youtu.be/xhL1NZugsBk

This video is both exactly what I expected out of Avowed and exactly why I didn't want it even if it hadn't been targeted toward the Concord/Veilguard "audience" (all 700 of them).

Reposting my comment from c/Gaming about the video:

I feel like Obsidian always took the wrong lessons from TES/Bethesda Fallout, namely that people want a linear story with some fairly shallow sandbox RPG stuff, rather than what they should be focusing on which is a systems based game with a story on top of it, a medieval fantasy immersive sim essentially.

Outer Worlds was like this as well, where it's clear they seem to ignore that TES/Beth Fallout are very much games that have many systems which combine to be more than the sum of their parts. Individually they may not be make or break for players, but removing them leaves the player without the experience of the agency they gain by having them all.

It's telling that their best game is the one where they didn't design the mechanics of the game and were able to execute their story on top of the framework that Bethesda built.