Avowed 1.4 Update Introduces Arachnophobia Mode, Reveals 2025 Roadmap

Obsidian Entertainment has unveiled a 2025 roadmap for Avowed alongside detailed patch notes for its 1.4 update.

Insights into the fantasy RPG’s present and future were shared on the Obsidian website today. The 1.4 update brings notable enhancements, including an Arachnophobia Mode that transforms giant spiders into harmless blobs and improves map exploration. However, the roadmap steals the spotlight with its vision for the game’s future.

Obsidian has outlined three major updates for Avowed in 2025. The first, update 1.4, is live now, delivering the mentioned features, plus mouse and keyboard support on Xbox, increased gold and crafting materials, gear tweaks, a new party camp feature, and more. For those yet to explore Eora, the summer update promises cooking and crafting enhancements, new NPC interactions, additional weapons and armor, and custom map markers.

Closing out 2025, the fall update will introduce highly anticipated features like New Game Plus and Photo Mode. It’s set to be Obsidian’s most significant update yet, including a new weapon type, in-world appearance changes, expanded character presets, and more. The team also addressed players awaiting additional language support.

“We recognize the importance of playing in your preferred language,” Obsidian stated. “We’re actively developing localized versions for Korean, Japanese, and improving French support. We’re committed to delivering these as soon as they meet our quality standards, and we appreciate your patience.”

Avowed launched on February 18, 2025, and is available on PC, Xbox Series X | S, and Game Pass. Obsidian teased, “We’re excited to reveal what’s next.” For a complete breakdown of update 1.4, including all features and fixes, see the full patch notes below. Click here to discover a key hidden side quest.

Note: Potential spoilers are marked in bold.

Avowed Update 1.4 Patch Notes

Greetings, Envoys,

We deeply value your ongoing feedback, bug reports, and patience. Your input shapes our work, and we’re grateful for the time you invest in sharing your experiences.

Without further delay, here are the 1.4 patch notes for all to explore!

Thank you for being part of our community—we’re eager to share more with you soon!

— The Avowed Team

Features and Enhancements!
Arachnophobia Safe Mode
The much-requested Arachnophobia Mode is now live in Avowed! Enable it in the Accessibility menu to replace spiders with sword-wielding spheres. Note: their appearance is friendlier, but they remain deadly!

Community Highlights

Once nearly all accessible map areas are explored, the fog of war clears automatically. Entering a city like Northern Paradis in Dawnshore now reveals that section of the overland map. The fog-clearing radius during exploration has been expanded, uncovering more of the map as you travel. Critters can now be defeated and may drop loot. Players can wait to pass time (day/night cycle) at the Party Camp. Soul Pod throwables now dispel illusions, except for Ryngrim’s entrance, which still requires Yatzli’s interaction. New settings allow chests to appear on the minimap and enable canceling power attacks with Bow and Arquebus.

World Reactivity Enhancements

Arrows now fall naturally to the ground. Water reacts with splashes and ripples when players enter or shoot into it.

Economy & Loot Adjustments

Defeated critters now drop loot. More weapons, including pre-upgraded versions (+1, +2, +3), have been added to loot pools. Main quests and exploration yield higher monetary rewards. Small containers like backpacks and lockboxes may now hold larger items, such as body armor and weapons, for fairer loot distribution. Creature Parts, now usable for grimoire upgrades, have a higher drop rate. Higher-tier weapons drop more frequently in later regions, and loot lists include more upgrade materials.

UI/UX Enhancements

A visual effect and UI indicator now help locate Downed Companions in combat. The “Talk” prompt for Companions is enabled. Mouse and keyboard support is added for Xbox. Loading screen art for Dawnshore and Fort Northreach maps has been updated. A Graphics menu ‘Auto Detect’ option sets recommended settings for your hardware. Nvidia DLSS Frame Generation is supported for RTX 40 and 50 series GPUs. A “Read All” button is added to the Journal, with dedicated buttons for Quests, Documents, and Tutorials.

Combat Updates

Enemies in water now become shocked faster. Creature Parts can upgrade Grimoires.

Companion Enhancements

Companions now earn Ability Points every 3 levels instead of 4, raising their maximum from 8 to 11. Additional points are granted automatically upon updating.

Enemy Behavior

Enemy awareness now adjusts dynamically based on distance—closer enemies detect players faster, while distant ones react slower.

Unique Item Updates

Updated stats for various Unique Items: Thirdborn Brigandine Jacket: Faster regeneration. Civilizing Influence: 10% damage reduction against beasts, primordials, and wilders. Berath’s Blessed Ward: 20% damage reduction against vessels. Chitin Band: 20% damage reduction against beasts. Nimanna’s Ward: 20% damage reduction against spirits. Wildwalker Ring and Threads of the Faithful: Health regeneration increased from 0.05 to 0.5. Thirdborn Brigandine Jack: Health regeneration increased from 0.05 to 0.8. Faith and Conviction: Essence regeneration increased from 0.05 to 0.1.

Enchantments Rework

Obsolete Carry Capacity enchantments on certain Unique Items replaced with new stat buffs: Boots of the Bricklayer / Porter: +2 Might. Animancer’s Swallowtail / Stelgaer-Hide Pouches: +2 Dexterity. The Packmule’s Burden / Honorbound Mule: +1 Might, +2 Constitution. Tranton Family Brigandine / Tranton Tenacity: +2 Might. Thirdborn Brigandine Jack / Grim Hope: +3 Resolve. Thirdborn Boots / Explorer’s Boon: +3 Constitution, +10% Move Speed.

Key Bug Fixes

CPU usage during the “Compiling Shaders” screen is now limited for better stability. Fixed Shadows of the Past waypoints getting stuck at Naku Kubel’s entrance. Totem pieces now correctly enter the player’s inventory. Minoletta’s Conduit now works with Wand Mastery. Fixed companion removal issues breaking conversations and quests. Enemy vitals UI stays properly positioned. The statue in Ryngrim’s Domain remains interactable. An Untimely End quest now triggers its final objective correctly. Completing quests on older saves now counts toward the Pentiment achievement. Fixed Armor Fit for the Wilds quest stalling at “Gather Materials.” Re-added FidelityFX 3 for AMD graphics cards. Scroll wheel binding to hotbar slots 1–6 now works after restarting. Binding Ability Slots to keys 7, 8, 9, or 0 no longer triggers unintended abilities. Unkillable Dreamthralls outside Thirdborn are fixed.

Additional Bug Fixes

Crashes and Stability

Reduced CPU usage during Compiling Shaders for improved stability. Fixed rare PC freezes, map transition crashes, audio-related crashes, and radial UI/food item crashes.

Performance and Optimizations

Optimized wand power attacks, ‘Meteor Shower’ ability, and volcano eruption cutscene.

Animation

Fixed dwarf animations at Emergency Camp in Galawain’s Tusks. Improved gestures, emotions, and lip-sync in conversations. Corrected Mestru Varka’s outfit clipping. Enhanced unarmed idle animation.

Quests & Conversations

Fixed Shadows of the Past waypoints at Naku Kubel. Homecoming progresses correctly if Jail Guards are spoken to early. Added failstate for Nature vs. Nurture if the Hermit is killed with electricity after siding with them. One Last Drink advances correctly if Kohwa is spoken to first. Fixed Boundaries of Antiquity progression for specific paths. Tira Nui Hajime now appears in one location in Thirdborn. Added clarity for Garden quest’s final step. Ruanga’s conversation no longer ends abruptly. Cistern key in Claviger’s estate appears correctly. An Untimely End triggers final objective properly. Fixed Nature vs. Nurture progression if no decision is made before Fior mes Iverno is razed. Ryngrim’s Domain statue remains interactable. Parkour up rocks behind Margan’s Assay restored. Locate the Steel Garrote beacon updates correctly. Fixed teleporting NPCs, quest triggers, and repetitive conversations.

UI/UX

Fixed flickering Lore UI with large text. Adjusted Map Legend to prevent text overlap. Corrected Dream Touch status effect icon display. Updated controller icons. Added auto-detect graphics option. Fixed companion “want-to-talk” icons, HUD shake, and scroll wheel bindings. Improved radial menu accessibility and grimoire displays.

Art

Fixed Obsidian order armor clipping in first-person view. Corrected water splash visuals, navigation issues, and floating roots. Added splash effects for arrows in water and new downed companion indicators.

Combat/Systems Fixes

Increased arrow drop for bows. Fixed stamina drain aura duration for Ghost enemies. Added critter loot drops. Corrected Crackling Bolt’s shock accumulation and companion shock loops. Improved lightning accumulation in water. Fixed grimoire upgrade costs and Minoletta’s Conduit with Wand Mastery. Updated item descriptions and stats.

Programming Fixes

Fixed weapon enchantment loss during map transitions, companion combat states, and quest achievement tracking. Improved essence wisp spawning, hair rendering, and inventory slot issues. Fixed grimoire spell input conflicts and enemy model delays.

Localization Fixes

Corrected unlocalized strings in Polish ‘Sound Mix’ option, fast travel beacon translations, and item descriptions. Ensured proper pronoun acknowledgment in Polish dialogue.