Avowed All Secret Locations & Easter Eggs — Hidden Areas Most Players Walk Past

Obsidian has a track record of hiding things in their games that most players never find. Avowed is no different. The Living Lands are packed with tucked-away caves, environmental storytelling nods to Pillars of Eternity, and at least one developer room that had me laughing out loud.

I spent an embarrassing amount of time hugging walls and swimming into dead ends to find these.

The Dawnshore Cavern Network

Early in Dawnshore, near the river that cuts through the eastern side of the map, there's a waterfall. Behind it - I know, the most predictable hiding spot in gaming - is a cave entrance. Inside you'll find a skeleton with a note referencing the Saint's War from Pillars of Eternity lore. The skeleton also has a unique ring that gives a small flat damage bonus to all attacks. Worth grabbing at level 2.

More interesting is the underwater passage near the Dawnshore docks. Dive into the water by the abandoned pier and swim down. There's a submerged tunnel that leads to a small chamber with a treasure chest and a journal entry from a smuggler who worked for the Vailian Trading Company (another Pillars reference). The chest contains a mid-tier upgrade material that's normally unavailable until Emerald Stair.

Emerald Stair's Invisible Bridge

This one took the community about a week to find after launch. In the northeastern corner of Emerald Stair, there's a cliff face with seemingly nothing on it. If you approach from a specific angle - the rock formation that looks like a claw - a shimmer effect appears. Walk toward it.

There's an invisible bridge. It spans a chasm to a small floating island with a unique grimoire that contains a spell not found in any other grimoire in the game. The spell is called Echo of Eora, and it summons a spectral version of a companion for 15 seconds. The community datamine confirmed this is the only source.

To find the bridge: from the Emerald Stair fast travel point, head north-northeast until you see a twisted tree with purple leaves (that's the landmark). Face the mountain from the tree. The shimmer is most visible at dawn or dusk - the game's dynamic lighting makes it nearly invisible at noon.

Shatterscarp Sandfall Cave

There's a section of Shatterscarp where sand cascades down a cliff like a waterfall. Behind the sandfall is a hidden temple containing lore about the Godless, a faction referenced in Pillars of Eternity that never appeared in-game until now. The temple has three puzzle rooms (light beam reflections, standard stuff) that unlock a chest with a unique armor set themed around the Godless.

The armor has a perk that reduces companion ability cooldowns by 20%. It's the only armor piece in the game with this effect. If you're running a companion-heavy build, this is basically mandatory.

Galawain's Tusks: The Dev Room

In the far northwestern corner of Galawain's Tusks, past a field of hostile wildlife that the game clearly doesn't expect you to traverse, there's a small cabin. Inside, you find a note from "The Watchers" (the developers) thanking players for exploring, plus a unique weapon called The Pen Sword - a quill-shaped rapier with absurdly high critical hit chance but very low base damage.

It's clearly a joke weapon - the description text reads "Mightier than the sword? Why not both." It's not optimal for any serious build, but it's a fun novelty and a clear nod to players who go off the beaten path.

Pillars of Eternity Lore Nods

If you played Pillars of Eternity or Deadfire, you'll catch references all over Avowed. The Living Lands are mentioned in both those games as this mysterious, dangerous frontier. Now you're walking through them.

Specific callouts:

• The Adra pillars scattered across zones are the same Adra from Pillars, just visually updated for Unreal Engine 5. Interacting with them sometimes triggers flashback-style lore snippets about the Engwithans.

• A side quest in Shatterscarp involves a character who claims to be a descendant of a Deadfire companion. Obsidian hasn't confirmed which one, but the character's dialogue references a "Captain who sailed the Deadfire" and a sea monster hunt.

• The Godlike fungal growth on your character is directly connected to the same metaphysical rules established in Pillars - Godlike are touched by gods before birth, and their physical manifestations vary by which god did the touching.

• There's an easter egg in Paradis: a bookshelf with titles that are anagrams of Obsidian staff names. Someone on Reddit decoded them in week one.

Totem Fragment Locations

Totem fragments are collectible pieces scattered across all zones. Each zone has one totem set (five fragments each), and completing a set gives a stacking passive bonus. The fragments are usually hidden in places that require light puzzle-solving - rotating statues, pressure plate sequences, that kind of thing.

Emerald Stair's totem is the easiest to complete. Four of the five fragments are in plain sight near fast travel points, and the fifth is behind a destructible wall in a cave (hit it, there's no visual indicator that it's breakable).

Galawain's Tusks totem is the hardest. One fragment requires you to complete a timed jumping puzzle across floating platforms that despawn after 8-10 seconds. I fell at least a dozen times. The reward is worth it if you're running a Godlike-focused build - the completed set increases Godlike passive effectiveness by 15%.

A Note on Community Discoveries

The Avowed community on Reddit and the Fextralife wiki are still finding new things as of mid-2026. The PS5 release in February 2026 brought a wave of new players who are discovering things the Xbox/PC crowd missed in 2025. Check those sources if you're hunting for anything I didn't cover here.

And no, there's no cow level. People keep asking. There isn't one. I checked.