It’s not easy surviving in the Living Lands. Everywhere I go in Avowed, I meet desperate, scared people, laid low by nature, or criminals, or political conflict. They tell me their sad stories, and I swear to help them however I can. And then I walk into their house and steal all their possessions.
Fair warning: this is going to be a fairly petty rant. But I’m baffled that in 2025 this is still so common in RPGs. To be clear, I’m not against the option of stealing things. It’s when you can do so with no consequences or reactionâpeople’s cupboards and shelves functioning exactly the same as the treasure chests and weapon racks in dungeonsâthat it bugs me.
Every time I’m in any kind of settlement in Avowed, I can feel this feature chipping away at the immersion. These refugees are starvingâbut they don’t care if I pick up all their remaining food right in front of them. This shopkeeper owns the most exclusive emporium in the city, but doesn’t lift a finger to stop me walking into the back and rifling through his stockroom. After a crucial and intense conversation with a mysterious oracle about the nature of my soul and the destiny ahead of me, I’m free to stride up the stairs to her bedroom, take all her jewelry, and read her diary. It’s just silly.
Avowed’s only the most recent offenderâlast year’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard had the same problem, and it seems to be an immovable tradition in JRPGs. These big budget adventures that otherwise expend huge effort and resources to create an immersive world and an engaging story undermine themselves with this one feature, and I can’t work out why.
I understand that I control the buttons I press, but the balance of these games often hinges on the idea that you’ll play the relentless kleptomaniac. Avowed’s gear upgrade system has me endlessly scrabbling for materials, and there are often unique items to be found in other people’s possessionsâto ignore it all in favour of preserving my character’s dignity would just be handicapping my playthrough. The game directly incentivises you to break its own illusion. Sometimes important pieces of lore are even hidden in these stashes, tying your understanding of the plot to the same larceny the storytelling never acknowledges.
Not all games have the scope for a full crime and punishment systemâI understand that too. Games including Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 let you fully roleplay the thief, sneaking past NPCs and breaking past locks to secure ill-gotten gains. They have guards watching out for you, ready to throw you in jail or charge you a fine if they catch you, and in some you can even earn a lasting reputation for lawbreaking that follows you from town to town. But implementing something like that is a huge amount of work, and often RPGs simply put their focus elsewhere. I’m enjoying Avowed, but it’s an intentionally modest game, and its world simply isn’t made to be reactive in that wayâthat’s absolutely fine.
But then why fill every home and shop with containers of items in the first place? If a theft system isn’t in the budget, just don’t put stuff I can grab all over the placeâsurely it’s as easy as that. Is the fear that players will become bored in settlements if they aren’t constantly bombarded with loot? Or that a drip-feed of incentives is needed to keep players engaging with the environment? It doesn’t seem necessary, to meâI like in RPGs when adventuring in urban spaces feels very different to exploring the wilderness, and sidequest rewards can surely make up for any shortfall in loot.
Am I just overthinking it? Maybe. I’m sure there are lots of players out there who not only don’t care whether a game notices them clearing out every house in town, but have never even considered that it might be an issue. But I come to roleplaying games to play a role, and I love the immersion of losing myself in another world. Anything that regularly snaps me out of that risks pulling back the curtain on the entire game, reducing a kingdom in need of saving to just a checklist of things to click on until they either die or give me something. Please, RPG developers: if you’re going to let me snatch a man’s life savings just so I can buy a slightly nicer hat, at least give me a slap on the wrist for it.
