Avowed

The Gunslinger build — dual-wielding fast-firing pistols paired with an Arquebus as a high-damage secondary — is the most versatile setup, scaling cleanly from early game through the hardest difficulty (Path of the Damned). Medium armor balances protection against the agility your dodge-heavy combat demands. Add at least one crowd-control ability (Charm, Freeze, Knockback) before pushing higher difficulties; raw DPS isn't enough on tougher encounters because you'll get overwhelmed by enemy positioning. Avoid heavy armor early — Avowed rewards mobility, not tank specs.

Source: HackTheMinotaur Builds Guide

Avowed has Story, Normal, Hard, and Path of the Damned. Normal is the recommended starting point — it teaches the dodge/parry/spell timing without trivializing combat. Path of the Damned (the hardest mode) layers permadeath onto companion characters and locks the matching achievement to a single uninterrupted playthrough, so save it for a confident replay rather than a first run. You can change difficulty mid-game on any setting except Path of the Damned.

Source: XboxAchievements Difficulty Guide

Companion quests for Kai and Marius are the most important to complete before the late-game point of no return — they're tied to backstory revelations and the achievement track. Giatta and Yatzli's stories are interwoven into main quests and progress automatically. The hard cutoff is the "Our Dreams Divide Us Still" quest: once you enter the Garden, you can no longer backtrack to earlier regions for unfinished sidequests. Clear region-by-region as the main story progresses, and don't trigger that quest until your map is fully scrubbed.

Source: Game8 Missables List

No. Avowed shares the Pillars of Eternity world (the Living Lands are part of Eora, the same setting as PoE 1 and 2) but is fully self-contained — the story, characters, and threats are new, and the lore primer feeds you in via dialogue and codex entries. Pillars fans will catch faction names and gods they recognize, which adds flavor, but new players miss nothing structurally important. Avowed is also a first-person action RPG rather than an isometric party-based one, so the gameplay genre is entirely different.

Source: Wikipedia

Avowed shipped without traditional New Game Plus, so post-credits focus is on multiple ending paths and any companion or side quests you skipped before triggering the late-game point of no return. Reports indicate the 2026 Anniversary Update added NG+ build carryover; check the in-game patch notes or current store listing for the most accurate state. There's no roguelike-style post-game loop — finish, then replay with different choices.

Source: Game Rant Missable Items