Obsidian’s first‑person RPG Avowed is finally leaving the Xbox/PC corral. The studio announced a PlayStation 5 launch for February 17, 2026, timed to drop alongside a free anniversary update that adds some of the most requested features since the game shipped in 2025.
The short version: PS5 owners can pre-order now and will get the same post‑launch content that Xbox and PC players have seen, plus a few new toys aimed squarely at replayability and customization.
What’s in the anniversary update
Obsidian is rolling a substantial package for every platform that includes:
- New Game Plus — carry over equipped gear and abilities while restarting at level 1; enemies get modifiers (elemental resistances, reduced susceptibility to stuns) to keep later runs challenging.
- Photo Mode — a proper camera tool for capturing characters and scenery without awkward camera gymnastics.
- Three playable non‑human races — Aumaua, Orlan, and Dwarves — with distinct body shapes and sizes that affect how the game feels in first person.
- A new weapon type, the ability to change your appearance from the overworld, and other quality‑of‑life upgrades and presets.
Obsidian says these additions are a response to community requests and the extra time since launch. Lead character artist Dmitri Berman explained the challenge of adding multiple races in a first‑person game: different heights and proportions affect traversal, combat and even animation—things the team couldn’t fully finish before the original release but could now refine for a broader audience.
Existing owners won’t pay extra for the update; it’s free across platforms. PS5 buyers will receive the game with all post‑launch patches included.
Technical note: New Game Plus includes enemy modifiers to stop the mode from becoming a trivial gear parade—expect tougher, more varied encounters rather than simple stat bloat.
Why it matters
Avowed was often praised for its dense, tactile combat and worldbuilding, even if some critics thought its narrative ambitions didn’t quite match Obsidian’s best. Bringing the title to PS5 widens its audience and follows a growing Microsoft strategy of putting more first‑party titles on competitor platforms after an initial period of console exclusivity. You’ll see echoes of that shift in recent cross‑platform moves from other Xbox Game Studios releases.
For role‑playing fans, the addition of non‑human playable races is the headline here. In a first‑person RPG the difference isn’t purely cosmetic: a shorter character hits different sightlines in combat and explores the world differently than a towering dwarf. That subtle change can make replaying the campaign feel genuinely new.
Price and editions
Preorders are live on the PlayStation Store. The standard digital edition is priced in the mid‑range (retailers list around $50), while a Premium Edition bundles a digital artbook, soundtrack and cosmetic extras for a higher price. No official physical release has been announced.
Where Avowed sits in Obsidian’s lineup
Avowed builds on the lore of the Pillars of Eternity universe, but it’s its own beast—an action‑oriented, first‑person fantasy that leans into melee and magic in equal measure. If you’ve followed Obsidian’s wider work and studio priorities, the team has been clear it wants to keep creating original worlds as well as honoring fan favorites—an approach that helps explain why the studio invests in substantial post‑launch improvements rather than quick patches alone. You can read more about Obsidian’s current focus in this piece on the studio’s direction and upcoming projects (/news/obsidian-original-ip-over-new-vegas).
If you’re curious about the Pillars connection specifically, the franchise continues to evolve in different ways—recent updates to the Pillars series even explored turn‑based modes in open betas, showing how developers are experimenting with new systems across the same fantasy setting (/news/pillars-eternity-turn-based-beta).
Small details that matter
Obsidian stressed community feedback drove priorities for this update; Photo Mode and character tweaking in the overworld were both common asks. The team also appears to be taking care to make each race feel right in first person rather than tacked on—expect animation and camera tweaks that reflect different statures.
If you own Avowed already on Xbox Series X/S or PC, nothing here changes your ownership: the anniversary update is free. If you’re on the fence and own a PlayStation setup, the PS5 launch is a convenient time to try it with all patches and extras included. For folks who buy the game on PS5, there’s also the option to pick up a higher‑tier edition with soundtracks and artbook extras.
A note about hardware: if you’re upgrading or shopping for a PlayStation 5 to play Avowed on console, the current PlayStation hardware remains the clearest way to experience the PS5 edition—many retailers list bundles for the PlayStation 5 Pro Console.
Dates and final thoughts
Mark your calendar for February 17, 2026. That’s when Avowed arrives on PS5 and the anniversary update goes live across platforms. For players who enjoyed its first‑person combat and exploration last year, the new races and New Game Plus promise meaningful reasons to return. For newcomers, Obsidian is handing you a more polished, broader version of the game than what launched in 2025—one that tries to answer the chorus of player feedback it’s collected since.
No neat wrap‑up here—just a reminder that this is the kind of post‑launch course‑correction that can turn a good game into a more interesting one, and that, in 2026, platform fences feel a lot more negotiable than they did a few years ago.