Now Is The Best Time To Play Two Incredible Xbox Game Pass RPGs (2025)

It can often be difficult sifting through the abundant Game Pass catalog. With its active rotation of both heavy-hitting triple-A and indie games, there are always titles competing to get your attention and build value for the service. Some titles of note were developed by Obsidian Enertainment, which, after being acquired by Microsoft in 2018, has seen many of its classic RPGs hit Game Pass. With Avowed, its first RPG in almost five years, launching in February, now is a perfect time to play the two-game franchise that created its setting, Pillars of Eternity.

These two games are emblematic of the age-old Infinity engine CRPGs such as Planescape: Torment and Baldurs Gate 1 and 2. CRPGs are an older style of the broader RPG genre, being heavily based upon old tabletop RPG systems, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, and often featuring real-time combat and immersive stories and worlds. Both Pillars of Eternity games are simultaneously a loving call-back and a modernization of the genre. It is well worth a playthrough of the games, not just in anticipation of Avowed and their connection to it, but to experience two of the best CRPG games ever made.

Pillars Of Eternity Is A Great RPG Series On Game Pass

Even Without Avowed, They're Worth A Playthrough

Pillars of Eternity is a well-crafted entry in the CRPG genre. Its combat was heavily based on Advanced DnD rules, with both games featuring a delicate stat system where dump stats, a recurring feature of builds in DnD 5e, don't exist. Even if real-time with pause combat isn't your cup of tea, its story, world, and companions are all masterclasses in writing. If you can get past the noticeable lack of voice-acting, and charming but dated art-style, its fantastic core systems and story will keep you hooked.

Deadfire, the second installment, followed suit with many of the beloved components of the first. Beyond maintaining the standard of Pillars 1, it has some much appreciated and noticeable additions beyond the ship-exploration and coastal theme. For one, it introduced both subclasses and multi-classing, adding an extreme level of diversity and depth to character creation. For fans of the story, but not the combat, it added a fully-functioning turn-based mode, akin to what Baldurs Gate 3 did for its franchise. Overall, it retained the top-tier writing, story, and world, while adding a huge amount of depth and variety of gameplay.

How Pillars Of Eternity Sets Up Avowed

Avowed Will Continue One Of The Most Interesting Conflicts In Pillars Of Eternity

Avowed takes place a few years after the events of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire within the world of Eora. The player character is a part of the Aedyr Empire, itself made up of largely elves and humans, and has existed as a powerful colonial nation. There is an interesting relationship between Aedyr and some major world-building aspects of Eora, namely the world's gods, and animancy, the study of souls. Much of Pillars of Eternity takes place in a former colony of Aedyr which broke its rule via an incarnated god, and has a soul-based disease plaguing the land.

Gods and souls are two of the most distinct features of Eora's worldbuilding, and Aedyr's complicated relationship with both will surely be of interest in Avowed. Beyond this relationship between gods, souls, and Aedyr, a compelling question the games haven't fully answered, their loss of a colony hindered them as a nation, with their absence felt in Pillars of Eternity 2, a game centered around the power-struggle in colonizing an island nation. Avowed is going to bring players close to the absent nation, and will likely explore how they're faring after the revelations which have fundamentally altered the world.

Pillars Of Eternity Can Take A While

The Wait For Avowed Is The Perfect Opportunity For A Playthrough

Playing both games can easily net over 100 hours of content. While there is some ability to rush main objectives, the side content, world, and companions, perhaps the games' greatest aspect, would be left behind. With multiple endings dependent on choices throughout the story, replaying either game, or at least using multiple saves to see endings will certainly encourage some added game time. This is especially true as players can import Pillars 1 endings and decisions into Pillars 2, allowing for a fluid and dynamic transition between the games, while keeping the impact of the player character still present.

With Avowed's release in February, there is plenty of time to play through these two precursor games. There is an immense amount of nuance present within Pillars of Eternity and its sequel, and hopefully, that nuance will transfer over to Avowed. Regardless, Avowed will certainly maintain the world-shaping decisions and discoveries of the first two games, with now may being the last chance to experience those stories in their full, spoiler-free glory.

Pillars of Eternity

RPG

Franchise

Pillars of Eternity

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , Switch , Xbox One

Released

March 26, 2015

Developer(s)

Obsidian Entertainment

Publisher(s)

Paradox Interactive , Versus Evil

Engine

Unity

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence