A giant beetle charged toward me, and as it stepped into a big puddle in the center of the room, I snagged it with a burst of magical vines that appeared beneath its feet. Then I blasted the creature with one of my dual flintlock pistols–this one charged with electricity–which sent arcs down through the water, shocking a few skeletons that were joining the fray behind it. As they looked to overwhelm me, I unloaded with both my pistols, zipped a little sideways with a dodge, and clambered away to unload on them before they could slice me up.One of the highlights of my hands-on time with Avowed, Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming first-person RPG, is its breezy combat and combination of elements. The game has seen some comparison to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and with a weapon in each hand, it feels on point. Mixing and matching different play styles, like blasting away with elemental pistols, sneaking around with a bow, or dipping into a pocket to pull out explosive jars to chuck into a melee, felt pretty good in my short look at the game. That brief time also highlighted that the options I tried only seem to scratch the surface of what Obsidian is going for.

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