Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Reviews

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire takes the deep role-playing of the first game and sets it loose in a massive, open-world archipelago where you command your own ship, make tough moral choices, and get into some seriously tactical battles. It’s Baldur’s Gate meets Pirates of the Caribbean—but with more gods, more intrigue, and way more ways to mess up your party’s relationships. The writing is top-tier, packed with rich lore, branching dialogue, and choices that actually matter. The world feels alive, full of factions to befriend (or betray), and the turn-based or real-time-with-pause combat lets you play at your own pace. Plus, sailing around, upgrading your ship, and getting into naval battles adds a fresh twist to the classic RPG formula. For fans of deep, choice-driven storytelling and tactical combat, Deadfire is an absolute gem. Just be warned—your crew might not appreciate it when you side with their enemies… or forget to pay them.

Fantastic game. I have 216 hours and have not even started the ending yet. There are so much to explore and so many ways to do things. If the combat in the first game puts you off, try this instead (turn based, my beloved<3) Anyway, it stands on it's on well enough and explains most things if you don't mind a lot of reading.

Love the isometric artstyle. Although I expect more from the naval combat, and rationing of foods and wages does not feel punishing enough.

Not quite as good as the original, but still a really fun RPG with good storylines and good PC interactions.

A much improved class, leveling, and combat system from the first game. Really fun to play. The overall story is still excellent, but not as good as the original. I rank both games as equally good.

Man I love this universe....I decided to try the Pillar series in anticipation of Avowed. The first game had some hiccups with combat AI that were fixed in this one. Gone are the days of your party staring into the distance, refusing to do anything, and honestly, I felt comfortable enough to let the AI take over for my tank and melee dps. This game has a turn-based option too if that's more your style. You're rewarded for being thorough in your first play through by doing achievements with *Blessings of Berath* that make subsequent play throughs easier. The voice acting is good! Though you'll notice a bunch of familiar performances if you've ever seen Critical Role. I....don't like redneck Laura Bailey and i'm from Appalachia. The story is decently placed and interesting enough that you wanna chase Green Jesus across the Deadfire. The factions are all interesting and I understand why folks would side with any of them. The only part I dislike is when the story gets good and begins racing towards the climax.....the DLC hits and it really slows you down. Beast of Winter is by far the best and it's the only DLC you can do from act 1. The Arena from seeker, slayer survivor should be doable from the start, and the Wael bit really needed to be a part of the main story, but you can just....skip it. The companions are fun, Maia surprised me, but Teheku and his cosmic mom in my head was very grating. Overall, if you're looking for a fantasy RPG that is also about pirates you'll have a good time. Hit the seas, plunder some islands, eat a ton of hard tack and water and welcome home loveless.

Wonderful isometric game in a great world. Probably the last good Obsidian game. A little anticlimactic at the end.

Highly recommend, although the optimisation of the game is horrible. Reducing my used cpu core count from 8 to 3 tripled my ingame performance (silly game cant handle more threads). Apart from that, if you love crpgs and enjoyed the first game this is a perfect game for you.

very good game with horrible performance on modern hardware and too small of a community to have fixes available for the steam version.

The soundtrack[b] i[/b]s pretty amazing, especially tracks like [i]All Gods[/i]—very haunting after talking with Berath (my favorite deity in Eora). The slang like [i]Aimica[/i], [i]Gellarde[/i], and [i]Bazzos[/i] is used very well in the right places, making the world of Eora feel immersive. Almost no modern phrases like "demmmn" are used, which sometimes ruins immersion, so nicely done. [b]QoL[/b] since [i]Poe1[/i] are significant, conversations no longer pause the game, with characters instead idling naturally while dialogue unfolds. Footnotes in dialogue add depth. While it might seem unconventional, mods from Nexus (like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/32]these[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/495]this[/url] further refine these features, making the experience even smoother. [h2]Story[/h2] The [b]main story[/b] feels rushed and lacks the philosophical depth of [i]PoE1[/i] Thaos arc, still, I liked the final conversation on the [strike]Raftel[/strike] last island [spoiler]Ukaizo[/spoiler] about existential debate. Faction quests, however, shine brighter, I recommend halting the main quest at [i]Ashen Maw[/i] to complete all faction storylines first(you know when to stop) The [b]Beast of Winter DLC[/b] is truly the best in terms of story and choice impact. [i]Forgotten Sanctum[/i] is just okay but has the hardest battles in all DLCs, yes, harder than [i]Seeker, Slayer, Survivor[/i] (I played on veteran). Now [b]all dialogue is fully voiced[/b] (except Badema interaction, maybe bug or something), unlike PoE1 maybe 40% only. The voice acting is great—like King Wingauro o Waturi I when he denies blame, full of emotion, shaking and anguish in his voice. Also I can’t get enough of Pike Trickfoot (Vox Machina) or Ashley Johnson’s voice for narration, so good of her! [h2]Something I did not like[/h2] [list] [*][b]Weapon balance[/b] is bad, really really bad: swords, sabres, greatswords dominate the unique loot pool, while others are cried in the corner, sad days for me when using War Bow as main weapon, now has to change to dual pistols, glad that I found Thundercrack pistol really on early game. Beware of Wand or Scepter, almost non exist in early and mid. [*][b]Performance issues[/b] [b]and glitch[/b]: The game freezes every time when first opening it after booting, resulting in "not responding." Poor optimization causes FPS drops in a 2018 CRPG, even on my decent rig on 2024, yes 2024 not 2025 :sadge:. Sometimes saves won’t load (gear icon error), forcing me to move the 'folder save' repeatedly. NPC quest givers like Nungata vanish after finishing bounties Uamoro (RIP my completionist behaviour) [/list] [h2][b]Conclusion[/b][/h2] A [b]strong 8/10[/b]. The immersive world, voice acting, and QoL improvements shine, but performance issues, loot imbalance, and a rushed main story hold it back. Still, a must-play for CRPG fans willing to overlook its flaws. Edit : okay, rushed may not the correct words, more like too short, go there, seek there, find there, contront them and suddenly done for main quest.