Forget every Skyrim comparison you've seen, the best thing about Avowed is this incredible box art

Avowed's stunning artwork has us, and plenty of others, more excited than ever for the RPG.

Yesterday's Xbox Developer Direct treated us to a look at Obsidian's highly anticipated RPG Avowed and confirmed a release window of Fall 2024. While it's set in the same world as Pillars of Eternity, its mix of spell-slinging and melee combat from a first-person perspective has meant the Skyrim comparisons have come thick and fast. But following the latest showcase, it isn't any similarity to Skyrim that has us the most eager for Avowed; it's that incredible key art.

Featuring a creepy sword-wielding skeleton warrior with innards covered in vibrant vegetation, it's both incredibly beautiful and utterly haunting at the same time, and feels like the perfect way to encapsulate Avowed's stunning yet perilous fantasy setting. 

And we're far from the only ones impressed by it. Following the showcase, many took to Twitter to share their appreciation for the piece.

"Hella dope, that image came up, and I was like Dayeem!" user @DineroPrimero in the comments. "One of the hardest video game covers I've seen in a while, it's spectacular", says @Luqaido.

So impressed is @StudiosNmg that it may be their main reason for playing: "I might buy the game alone because of this art". Whilst in a separate appreciation post, @IV_Aoratos says, "Love it because something feels 'off' about everything from normal fantasy or dark fantasy, it feels almost psychedelic without going full-blown 'hey you're on a bad trip going down the rabbit hole'".

Of course, all this talk about the artwork doesn't mean the gameplay footage shown didn't deliver. We learned you can create customized loadouts to switch between spellcasting, shooting, and melee weapons or, thanks to your ability to dual wield, use a combination.

One particularly cool moment in the trailer showed the protagonist utilizing magic to freeze an enemy before shattering them into pieces with a swift strike of their sword. "It's not just hacking and slashing," Avowed gameplay director Gabriel Paramo explained during the presentation. "You're making real-time decisions about when to use your abilities, powerful melee attacks, blocks, parries, and special attacks."

For more big titles making their way to Microsoft's latest console in the near future, check out our guide to upcoming Xbox Series X games.