Avowed’s rarest ending has only been seen by 0.2% of players and demands you make the correct choice at every major quest to not get your head chopped off

After finishing Avowed, I started digging into the different ending slide possibilities and was shocked at just how many permutations there are. Its most challenging and hidden ending not only demands a game-long commitment, it also leaves the Living Lands in its roughest possible state while all your companions hate your guts. Spoilers ahead for Avowed’s endings.

It’s foreshadowed throughout Avowed that you have the option of siding with Kreia meets Legate Lanius antagonist, Lödwyn, and her fanatical Steel Garrote paladins. Like Avowed’s other endings, you’re not locked out of the Steel Garrote ending by any major choices, but things don’t exactly go your way if you haven’t been ideologically coherent.

If you didn’t consistently make choices Lödwyn approves of, siding with her against the other factions results in her giving you a traitor’s reward before the credits roll: She chops your dang head off, and then narrates an abbreviated version of the ending slide sequence where she takes over the continent without you.

Big Dan Gaming on YouTube has a guide on how to side with Lödwyn and not get killed before the curtain falls, unlocking the “Tyranny” achievement currently held by only 0.2% of players on Steam at the time of writing. Basically, you have to make the most pro-Aedyr, pro-Lödwyn, or anti-Sapadal choice at every major crossroads in the main story. The specific key choices are:

• Kill Ygwulf in Paradis.
• Let the Steel Garrote burn Fior.
• Let Kostya destroy Solace Keep.
• Kill Sapadal in the Garden.

If you gain Lödwyn’s approval through these choices before siding with the Steel Garrote, she knights you at the end of the game instead of killing you. Hope it was worth it: All of your companions abandon you for this choice, and the ending slide show makes it clear that Lödwyn’s vision for the Living Lands is her boot stamping on a face forever.

Not the ending for me, but a great example of how your choices actually matter in Avowed. Obsidian’s latest really has a comparable level of written reactivity to Baldur’s Gate 3, with quests not breaking if you finish them out of order, as well as characters making reference to surprisingly small choices and character background details. Avowed mainly falls behind with its lack of systemic interactions, and I still don’t think I’ve seen a game with quite as many edge case accommodations as Baldur’s Gate 3.

But I’ve really enjoyed how Avowed told its story, as well as the way it provides a (literal) new perspective on Pillars of Eternity‘s setting of Eora. This may not be the last we see of Avowed either: Project director Carrie Patel has indicated that Obsidian is open to doing sequels or DLC down the line.