How long does it take to beat Avowed?

Avowed is an RPG with plenty of side content, but it is a smaller-scale game than many of the biggest, most sprawling open worlds. How long it takes to beat will depend on how focused you are on the main campaign — but you may be surprised at how necessary it is to go and explore the hidden corners of its world.

In this guide we’ll detail how long it took us to beat Avowed and explain why it might take you longer than you expect, alongside details about the point of no return.

How long is Avowed?

It took me just under 15 hours to get to the credits in Avowed. I ended at level 23, which is past the point where you can unlock the most powerful abilities in the game (level 20), and I completed much but not all of the early side content.

However, in the final third, I ended up knocking the difficulty down so that I could finish without having to totally clean up every optional activity in the last couple of areas. The way Avowed works, if an enemy out-levels the quality of your gear, they’ll receive 35% less damage and deal 35% more damage. There are five quality levels to equipment, and despite constantly searching for upgrade resources, I consistently felt under-prepared. At the end of the game, my tools were between the Exceptional and Superb quality levels — the third and fourth tiers out of five.

To keep up with the game’s enemies, you really need to focus on side quests. One Polygon writer finished the main story and completed all optional content in 40 hours, though that number also included a few hours of save-scumming to test various outcomes.

Is there a point of no return in Avowed?

There are multiple points in Avowed where decisions you make result in legitimately consequential changes to the world and to its characters. Consult our full Avowed walkthrough to see which moments these branching paths occur.

For the most part, you can dip in and out of the main questline until the very end of Avowed. The true point of no return is only just as you are about to enter the final boss fight. When you see a certain character (no spoilers, but if you pay attention to the main story, you’ll know it when you see them) and are invited to speak to them, you might want to make a hard save.

However, the game should autosave too, and after the closing screens, choosing to “continue” will place you back at this moment, where you’ll be able to double back and complete any side content that you wish to.

For more Avowed guides, see our full Avowed walkthrough, plus learn what background to pick, the best attribute points to assign, how to unlock all companions, and how to play in third-person.