Pillars of Eternity Reviews

This is the first CRPG I have played through to its end, I have tried a few in the past but never really took to the genre. I'm a bit older now so I decided to stick with it and try to understand the appreciation people have for these games, wow have I had my mind opened. Pillars of Eternity is an incredible experience. It's engrossing, pulsing with vitality, teeming with endearment, a great story well unravelled, rewarding of effort, nourishing of the mind, it's simple but with depth. There is a learning curve when you start out which will determine whether you continue with the game and a lot of reading that can put you off, but it is imperative to be able to weave the rich and captivating tapestry of the game's character. If you can endure the acclimatisation process and you are still in decent shape, everything from that point just starts to grow and flourish. It really felt different to other games I've played, it was refreshing and rejuvenating to play, not a grind or inconsistent. I enjoyed the vast majority of my time in Eora and it has reignited the affection I have for gaming in general, reminding me of what the art can be. You can feel the love and passion infused into Pillars' creation, it takes itself seriously and in turn is life-affirming. I'm a bit undecided on the story's ending but it really is only a minor contemplation in the grand scheme of things. A great game I will remember for a long time, thank you Obsidian.

Really beautiful isometric RPG with great story & writing. Mechanics similar enough to D&D to be familiar to players who remember the original Baldur's Gate (and BG2), or Icewind Dale, but a lot of well designed mechanics to make it feel and run in a unique way.

I was sceptic at first, i'm really not into retrogaming. But after playing Avowed and learning about the universe, I remembered how much I had fun with baldur's gate and Ice Wind dale in the past.

Should I recommend Pillars of Eternity? Well, no. This game is both brilliant and deeply...frustrating. I had to play the game in "story mode" until the last boss to finish. And I was playing on "normal mode." When I finished the game, I unlocked the achievement and realized that 15% of players had unlocked it. My question is: How many people finished the game with the "Ultimate" achievement? 0.1%?

The game starts by slowly setting up it's lore and terminology with heavy amounts of text, but if you prioritize story, lore and worldbuilding it's worth reading. When you do the homework, the set up pays off and leads to an interesting story that explores metaphysical conversations that challenge you on an intellectual and moral level. This game has clear strengths, but it's not for everybody especially the gameplay. Otherwise POE has what you'd want from RPGs: player agency, choices that matter, believable world, solid companions, memorable music and immersion. The White March DLC is just as good and the bundle has good discounts sometimes.

This is a game I have been coming back to for the past 6 - 7 years. I have mainly played it on my PS5 due to being more of a PS5 user. It's just absolutely amazing how the characterisations of the characters, great voice acting & music throughout the game can have such a positive effect on a person! Well done to every single person included in this project! :))))

If someone told you that you don't need to play this game before Deadfire, they clearly have no idea what they are talking about... and you only hurting yourself not play this game. Although they change and revamp alot of stuff in Deadfire...

Pillars of Eternity.... So, I'll just say that Real Time With Pause roleplaying games are my favorite genre of game, ever. Can't really explain why, it's just my favorite type of game. The hybrid of action and turn based just scratches the itch for me in a way other RPGs don't... And I think this game is maybe the best of the best within this genre, though it has some stiff competition to be fair, lot of great real time with pause RPGs out there. Even Final Fantasy 12 with it's custom AI "gambit" systems represents a pretty strong competition here.... But I would describe this game as something like this... It's Icewind Dale on steroids, combined with some similar themes and writing style as Planescape Torment. Everything that made the original Icewind Dale great is here I think and just amplified overall. The art, atmosphere, and design is top tier Imo. I wouldn't say the story is as good as Planescape or even most of Obsidian's other works prior to this, mainly because the cast of characters are a little weak compared to Obsidian's past titles, but I still find the philosophy of the game to be really compelling. Much like it's predecessors in KOTOR 2, Mask of the Betrayer and New Vegas. Looking back I think this game was tackling a lot of subjects that were extremely relevant in 2015 and remain relevant 10 years later. The role religions play in people's lives in the game world, the different things they worship and playing god through moving souls into objects and other people... I interpret some of these themes as being sort of about the "God shaped hole" hypothesis in Christianity and it's about this form of transhumanism that exists within the game world here, and maybe even themes of post modernism in some ways. I don't know if the writers intended it, but the echoes of these themes speak strongly to me, and I think it's really interesting. I'm a religious person myself, and the ending of this game comes at you really hard with really brutal anti religious arguments. When I first played the game I felt a little preached to and wasn't kind to it at the time, thought it was maybe pretentious, but on replays I really think it makes the game more compelling. It's trying to challenge your perceptions of things and really ask hard questions. It's ballsy and I think it's actually really cool. Combine that with how reminiscent the game world is to Forgotten Realms... That Defiance Bay resembles Neverwinter in many ways and the White March expansion area is very reminiscent of Icewind Dale, this game really feels like an Icewind Dale 3 and a Neverwinter Nights 3 combined. Also the reincarnation of souls and the way "Adra" works in the setting reminds me a lot of the lifestream from Final Fantasy 7 or the fayth from Final Fantasy 10. I just love all of these influences this game took, it's like a perfect homage to RPGs in general. I think the game is brilliant and the only other RPG within this genre that I like more is Dragon Age Origins, in all of it's Arthurian influenced glory, and epic LOTR level stakes in the plot about the darkspawn invasion, and of course the lovable fellowship of characters that became Bioware's signature at the time... I've come to realize I do love both of these games almost equally though... But it's kind of insane to me how Obsidian's little kickstarted project here ended up in my top 10 games of all time. I didn't even like this game much when I first played it, thought it was slow and boring like many others did, but once it clicked for me, it REALLY clicked. And I can't emphasize this enough, the white march expansion elevates this game to a whole new level, so I think it's pretty much mandatory if you play this game.. I was so glad I tried it again when I finally did, this is a game I'll most likely be replaying for decades, just like I do for New Vegas, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, ect, ect. So, yeah, Pillars of Eternity 1 is a modern classic for me.

Great Game, after 65 hours of playtime im absolutely hooked. The Story is greatly written and the tactical aspect of the fights is sometimes a bit much but its very interesting and has a very high learning curve.

A grand adventure and love letter to late-90s/early-2000s cRPGs. This is RTwP, not turn-based. For newcomers, you can't really tank and smash you're way through, especially early game. Always consumables prior to combat. While in combat buff/debuff first. When leveling, a good rule of thumb when selecting skills and attributes Passives > AoE > Individual Target. Always look for synergies, both local to a character and between characters. Respec is super cheap if you screw up any character or want to try something else. Make a named save file prior to respec and test your heart out. Runs great on Steam Deck, but you will need to spend some time mapping controls. Pillars will give the track pads something to do.