Pathfinder: Kingmaker

 PC
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 598 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 402 out of 598
  2. Mixed: 82 out of 598
  3. Negative: 114 out of 598

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  1. Thothistox
    Sep 6, 2021
    7
    Pathfinder: Kingmaker is the hardest game I've played this century. Granted, I sort of asked for it by playing on "Challenging" mode, but the combat isn't the hardest part. The difficulty is, in many ways, both its biggest strength and biggest weakness. Years in the future I'll remember how I got past the hardest fights in this game. In fact, I won't remember anything about thePathfinder: Kingmaker is the hardest game I've played this century. Granted, I sort of asked for it by playing on "Challenging" mode, but the combat isn't the hardest part. The difficulty is, in many ways, both its biggest strength and biggest weakness. Years in the future I'll remember how I got past the hardest fights in this game. In fact, I won't remember anything about the unremarkable story or the unremarkable characters. I'll only remember the PnP and how I actually managed to whoop the giant fireball that is the final boss.

    I both love and hate PnP rules. I understand why they made it like this. It makes a good succinct pitch to a board of directors because they don't play games and have short attention spans and they they will reject complexity. But you can hide complexity when you pitch it as "PnP rules", even though much of that complexity is outright gratuitous.

    There are half a dozen different ways to die in combat besides a zero hp. If dexterity on your mage is zero you die. If strength is zero, you die. If you turn to stone, you die. The default result for anything is you die, and reviving a dead player is so expensive you'll usually reload.

    Most of my reloads weren't because I actually lost but because things went sour in ways that were too annoying. There are dozen ways your enemies can break your 'will' score and make your team useless. You'll start fights charmed, confused, dazed, asleep, laughing uncontrollably, etc., I always reloaded and hurriedly cast one of dozens of completely different buffs before the fight. The same goes for if the enemy AI targets my mages instead of my tanks. (Quite a few fights come down to which of your people the AI decided to target.)

    I'm generally against streamlining in games, but does it really make sense that stoneskin protects against slashes but not arrows?

    At least the buff spells are guaranteed to work. Most offensive spells never work unless the enemy is already easy to defeat. P:K's fighting odds are stacked against the player who fights anything more than one level higher, while anything more than one level lower is very easy. Attacks on higher level enemies will nearly always miss, while lower levelled ones get hit with crits.

    If it's going to be like that then why have combat at all? Why not just auto-win any fight with lower level enemies and auto lose higher level fights?

    Too much of P:K's game play feels like I'm rolling dice and repeatedly reloading a save and re-rolling. No where is this more prevalent than the kingdom management. A hint to new players: your kingdom managers have to succeed. The dice are rolled once before the day of a project's completion. Keep reloading until they succeed.

    Playing P:K's kingdom management feels like playing Civilization on diety mode. Winning means reloading hundreds of times. To make things more annoying, there are situations where your entire kingdom is paralyzed for two weeks while you upgrade something or annex something. You often have to re-run that two week cycle in hope of rolling a better outcome.

    What happens when the outcome is poor? Your kingdom can die and the game ends. There are at least two separate stability scores that can fall to zero. I remember one particular time when I was crowned king and there was a long sequence of dialogue about how great I was doing. Then I ran the skip day feature and my kingdom flopped over like a wet corn flake. Stability equals zero. Game over.

    Nothing stressed me so much as that stability score. All sorts of things can reduce it and very few things bring it back up. Your kingdom is periodically invaded by hill giants or other stability-reducing enemies that would be a minor nuisance if you had to actually fight them. But you can't. Instead they have to be purged using kingdom management, and the stability penalty (usually) doesn't get restored after you've rolled the dice a dozen times and gotten rid of them.

    Thankfully, you can throw your citizens a feast and bring stability back. I spent most of my in game money on feasts.

    Speaking of feasts, if this game were a pizza it would be lined with ghost peppers. The hot spiciness would disguise the fact that the sausage is rancid and the dough has whitefly larvae the same way as the difficulty disguises the fact that the story is uninspired, the characters are a cliche mix of cutesy and arrogant, and the C&C is not all that deep. For example, there is one character whose entire persona turns out to have been completely false, but if you forgive him his betrayal he reverts to that deception as if it never happened and everyone else does too.

    That said, the game hides its depth well. I wasn't expecting some of the twists in the main conflict. The game is also pleasantly long. There are lots of environments and enemies crammed into it.

    Would I recommend P:K? Maybe. I'll definitely consider buying the sequel. But I'm not replaying the original.    … Expand
  2. blubberguts
    Mar 6, 2019
    7
    I was really attracted to this game and wanted to play it back when it came out. I liked the look, I liked the system, it was so pretty, and I was hooked storywise from the start by the treachery of Tartuccio.

    But bugs. So many bugs. So I put it away and waited..until last a couple of weeks ago. By then the games was up to patch 1.16d. Surely by now I could enjoy this great game? No.    I was really attracted to this game and wanted to play it back when it came out. I liked the look, I liked the system, it was so pretty, and I was hooked storywise from the start by the treachery of Tartuccio.

    But bugs. So many bugs. So I put it away and waited..until last a couple of weeks ago. By then the games was up to patch 1.16d. Surely by now I could enjoy this great game?

    No. At one stage, the "i" for inventory button stopped working and i was unable to see the inventory ..then all the other hotkeys stopped working too...loading an old save did not fix this. In the end I had to exit out of the game and restart before the keys would work again.

    Sometimes enemies become invincible - for example there will be a set of goblins on a map and you will kill most of them easily but the last one will be invincible...you will hit and hit but nothing kills him and finally your entire party is wiped out...so you reload from an old save, go back in and discover he's just an ordinary enemy this time and wiped out in seconds...

    There are items that give bonuses like "ac+1" - now i know these don't stack; for example if you have two items that give "ac+1" on one character then only one of the bonuses will be applied...(you can see this by inspecting the armour bonus; it will list in green all the bonuses that got applied and red all those that were not applied)

    But i got one item that was NEVER applied, no matter who I gave it to, and didn't even appear in the listing, red OR green....it may as well have been a piece of fluff. (I guess it was a cosmetic item!)

    I got my entire party up to level four and was able to wipe out several sets of bandits....one set included a warrior, a necromancer, an archer and a thief but I got them all..then entered the next map and was wiped out by a single "mature leopard" who was apparently invincible...I watched the combat log and noone in my entire party, even the magic users, got a single hit against him until he eventually wipe us all out... a single leopard!!

    If they ever get the bugs out, it could be a good game...but will they? It's been six months and from what I've seen for myself and others it's still a buggy mess, even to the point of game breaking bugs....

    I'm giving a seven, because it's so beautiful and when it works - when combat isn't bugged and hotkeys function and monsters aren't invincible and your party ai works - it's fun. I hope they do a better job next time - guys, whoever did your coding needs a kick in the ass. Fire them and keep whoever did the music, the graphics, the story writing and music and item design.

    Better luck next time deepsilver.    … Expand
  3. Auticus
    Sep 26, 2018
    7
    Great game in the spirit of Baldurs Gate, Torment, Pillars of Eternity etc. The Kingmaker series is one of my favorite RPG modules of all time, so seeing this was pretty exciting.

    The game out the gate is pretty good for a group of developers' first attempt. The game for the most part plays solidly, has good voice acting, and an engaging story. The visuals are on par with existing    Great game in the spirit of Baldurs Gate, Torment, Pillars of Eternity etc. The Kingmaker series is one of my favorite RPG modules of all time, so seeing this was pretty exciting.

    The game out the gate is pretty good for a group of developers' first attempt. The game for the most part plays solidly, has good voice acting, and an engaging story.

    The visuals are on par with existing games in the same genre.

    I'm giving it a 7 right now instead of a higher score because there are some initial bugs that need worked out. Nothing has been game breaking for me, but I have had one crash to desktop, and there are little annoying minor things such as string place holders for descriptions showing, or the name of an item being called NULL. Little things like that.

    Bottom line for me is if you enjoy isometric RPGs, then this is worth checking out.    … Expand
  4. Valkyrje
    Nov 26, 2020
    7
    It scratches BG itch better than BG3 but ends up being too repetetive and relying too much on its pen and paper Pathfinder mechanics which means that the end game is an endless slog through the same enemies and micromanaging your equipment and skills. Loved it until I didn’t. Story-wise it’s solid but nothing groundbreaking. Also kingdom management is boring at best.
  5. Syrona
    Sep 28, 2018
    7
    Only played it for 2 hours and got a refund.

    1. Noticed a large amount of clipping and glitches. The characters don't even hold 2 handed swords properly, as the right arm is bent at an unnatural angle and looks very bad. Also, I couldn't get out of a room in the 1st part because apparently clicking on a space in the hallway outside the room, means the character needs to move to another    Only played it for 2 hours and got a refund.

    1. Noticed a large amount of clipping and glitches. The characters don't even hold 2 handed swords properly, as the right arm is bent at an unnatural angle and looks very bad. Also, I couldn't get out of a room in the 1st part because apparently clicking on a space in the hallway outside the room, means the character needs to move to another spot in the same room. So obviously has some pathing issues as well.

    2. There is only one portrait for a human female, and that one looks bad as well. Overall very very small selection of portraits that I, personally, can work with.

    3. The combat is highly complex, with a lot of spells and gimmicks, and you don't get slowly introduced to them, you're just handed a whole party group in the first 15 min of the game, and they all have like 10 abilities each or something. I'm sure this is a good thing for many, but personally I cba with it.

    Overall, my sentiment is "meh!". Maybe I'll buy it again when I really have nothing else to play.    … Expand
  6. Cb11106
    Oct 9, 2018
    7
    I'm biased being a backer of the game, so keep that in mind.

    To me this reminds me of those sandbox games of yesteryear, all the Pathfinder core classes (D&D "3.75" for the uninitiated) are there, plus a bunch of archetypes for each. There are also a handful of prestige (advanced) classes. The area(s) you explore are fairly big, loot a-plenty. While I like the game overall, there    I'm biased being a backer of the game, so keep that in mind.

    To me this reminds me of those sandbox games of yesteryear, all the Pathfinder core classes (D&D "3.75" for the uninitiated) are there, plus a bunch of archetypes for each. There are also a handful of prestige (advanced) classes. The area(s) you explore are fairly big, loot a-plenty.

    While I like the game overall, there were balance issues & I still have some issues with kingdom building. The good & bad in equal measure is/are that OwlCat Games are addressing the issues. They've been releasing hotfix patches fairly often. Today they released the largest one yet (1.07 at 5.4 GB). That in itself is a potential problem, no one in their right or wrong mind wants to play a "buggy mess".

    My opinion as it stands, keep an eye on the player reviews on both Steam & GoG, as well as any game streams. They're currently mixed, but steadily getting more positive as time goes on. Once you see that that patches have essentially stopped then check out the title.    … Expand
  7. Macbaine
    Mar 3, 2019
    7
    I like this game.. the story is rich and interisting ... you need like reading for enjoye this game
  8. Pigofiend
    Sep 27, 2020
    7
    Prepare for a 100+ hour ride. The game was riddled with bugs, but now, 2 years after release you can actually play it without a hitch. BUT you will have to manage

    - items, items, items, lots of them - your kingdom - the whims of your companions - your advisors. Early advice: do not go to Fangleberry cave early in the game since the SWARM will zero your party. You have been warned    Prepare for a 100+ hour ride. The game was riddled with bugs, but now, 2 years after release you can actually play it without a hitch. BUT you will have to manage

    - items, items, items, lots of them
    - your kingdom
    - the whims of your companions
    - your advisors.

    Early advice: do not go to Fangleberry cave early in the game since the SWARM will zero your party. You have been warned :). Maybe after level 5!

    All in all a beautiful RPG, but requires a lot of time because of unnecessary micromanagement and too many, way too many options. Play it on cold winter days when you have literally nothing to do.    … Expand
  9. SpookyTanuki
    Aug 5, 2021
    7
    First half of the game is really nice. I enjoyed the character creation, turn based combat, open world (kind of) and really nice quests. After maybe 20-30 hours I felt like I'm wasting my time using turn based combat because there is a lot of fights with low-level enemies and it takes ages to go through quests. And what seemed to be a big world with a lot of locations turned out to be aFirst half of the game is really nice. I enjoyed the character creation, turn based combat, open world (kind of) and really nice quests. After maybe 20-30 hours I felt like I'm wasting my time using turn based combat because there is a lot of fights with low-level enemies and it takes ages to go through quests. And what seemed to be a big world with a lot of locations turned out to be a bunch of small places with single monsters and nothing really exciting.
    Anyway that's a really okay game if you like rpgs, maybe not the best but solid.    … Expand
  10. Hyperfailure
    Apr 29, 2023
    7
    A well-meaning tRPG hitting on nostalgia notes of Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment. However, the balancing of the end-game is ridiculous. Wolves should not have higher stats than my level 16 barbarian ffs. Main story was good, side-stories could be hit or miss. Enjoyed overall tho.
  11. Malvolio
    Oct 4, 2018
    6
    Half these reviews: Game needs fixing 10/10 That's not how scores work. As of 4 Oct not a single person has completed the game according to steam. Is it that long? Nope its so bugged out you cant even fkn complete it but my god 10/10.

    Numerous Kingdom bugged events that end the game entirely, your advisors bug out in your own throne room making numerous quest un-completable, Act 3-4 bug    Half these reviews: Game needs fixing 10/10 That's not how scores work. As of 4 Oct not a single person has completed the game according to steam. Is it that long? Nope its so bugged out you cant even fkn complete it but my god 10/10.

    Numerous Kingdom bugged events that end the game entirely, your advisors bug out in your own throne room making numerous quest un-completable, Act 3-4 bug either ends your game or prevents you from moving forward at all. But call a game difficult and the hipsters come out of the woodwork to call a game that isn't even fkn finished a masterpiece.

    Game has good writing, amazing character backstories, great voicework on the parts that are voiced, and a ton of character customization.

    What it doesn't do is actually work at all. People who say nothing is wrong have no idea that a bunch of their items aren't granting bonuses at all. One misclick and items disappear from a bugged stash. That one advisor that walks up to you at your throne and talks about random stuff is actually supposed to be different people but he bugs out. Artisans capable of crafting you items at the beginning of every month almost all stop functioning.    … Expand
  12. iamaneviltaco
    Jun 2, 2021
    6
    I swear some times I like this game despite the developers' best efforts. I'm gonna give it a 6, but it's really like a 9 game bogged down by some truly baffling design choices. Very mild spoilers for a few very early fights, but I did my best to not give any specifics.

    The good: - Combat. Both real time with pause and turn based feel satisfying, turn based in particular is like    I swear some times I like this game despite the developers' best efforts. I'm gonna give it a 6, but it's really like a 9 game bogged down by some truly baffling design choices. Very mild spoilers for a few very early fights, but I did my best to not give any specifics.

    The good:

    - Combat. Both real time with pause and turn based feel satisfying, turn based in particular is like playing the pen and paper game on a computer. They nailed the game play, at least on a mechanical level.

    - Sound. The music is great, and the voice acting is surprisingly good for an old school crpg. The sound effects, too, this is a genre that tends to suffer from bad voice acting and sound design. It's good to see owlcat thought of this when they made the game.

    - Kingdom management. If you like this sort of thing, the kingdom management is honestly pretty fun. Manage advisors, handle crisis situations and opportunities, build stuff to improve your barony's stats, it's got a lot to it.

    - The aesthetic. It looks like the game is written on a book, with the dialog choices and various cutscenes. The map is an actual map, with little toy pieces that slide around it. They spent a lot of time on the ui for this thing, I bet. It's beautiful.

    The bad:

    - Henchman balance. Harrim is a dwarven cleric with a dex of 8 and a cha of 10. He gets hit every other swing and his channeled healing is legitimate garbage. Valerie has mostly odd numbers for stats, literally wasting points. The only cleric that CAN heal properly, Tristian, can't wear freaking armor. Most tellingly? Amiri and Linzi are built using 20 points, like a mercenary. Valerie has 2 more points than the player, but they're wasted. Regongar and Octavia have 5, they're flat out better than the "main character". Ekundayo? 6! He's hilariously better than you, if you build an archer as well.

    - Combat balance. Some fights you steamroll over. Alternatively? In one area, there's a few bodies dead near a camp site. A skill check (knowledge nature) has a high difficulty, so you won't pass it by the time you get there. Gotta sleep, because some of the fights in this area are hard? Free camp site! Oh, but there's a demilich. That has an ac in the high 30s. Who is immune to healing spells. And magic missiles. And has concealment, so you miss 50% of the time. And casts fear every round. And has an automatic aoe electricity attack. You're level 3. Oh, and you know what skill you use to tell if something died from undead? It's not knowledge nature, it's knowledge religion. Another fight? invisible were rats that do like 20 damage per swing with sneak attacks, while you lose a lot of your defensive bonuses. The main tank in the game has about 60 hp at this point. She dies pretty much instantly. Another one? Bug swarms you can only kill with fire or aoe spells, that do damage and poison you. Again, level 2-3. With probably no mage, so you have very limited grenades (if you found any) or freaking torches.

    - Troll developers. That previous statement about the demilich that attacks out of nowhere? The game is full of that, random fights that are much higher level than you, and nearly impossible at times. With no warning. In an area you're set to at a level way below what you'd need to fight them. This has gotten better over time, but it's still a major problem.

    - The Deal With the Devil quest. This is a tie in to the Troll developers. Some dude on kickstarter paid 4 grand to put a quest into the game, and what he added was a mary-sue led adventure that the entire community absolutely hates. You have one path through it, it railroads you into helping this dude (Darven) and actually doesn't have any options to just end the quest or arrest the dude. Even though he kills people on sight, and is very very evil. Kill him? That's an evil action. Ignore him? Kingdom crisis events your advisors can't fix, slowly destroying your entire game. Oh, but help him? Your alignment is screwed, and you have 70k gold for some reason. It's actually the worst thing I've ever seen in a video game, and I played Ride to Hell Retribution.

    The final verdict:
    It's like dungeons and dragons, but you're playing with a malicious and vindictive DM. There are moments of absolute brilliance, but you will want to uninstall the game at times.    … Expand
  13. marc5477
    Oct 24, 2018
    6
    Should be called Roguefinder: Sneakmaker. Why? Because of its insane bias towards sneak attack.

    But 1st let state the obvious. There are a lot of new accounts on metacritic reviewing this game with 9s and 10s... think of that what you will but to me this says the real score is about 2 points lower than stated and that the group is either paying for reviews or making accounts to review    Should be called Roguefinder: Sneakmaker. Why? Because of its insane bias towards sneak attack.

    But 1st let state the obvious. There are a lot of new accounts on metacritic reviewing this game with 9s and 10s... think of that what you will but to me this says the real score is about 2 points lower than stated and that the group is either paying for reviews or making accounts to review it themselves.

    Apparently, Pathfinder rules removes backstab immunity from everything and gave dexterity full damage bonuses via "agility" weapons. This renders the strength stat practically worthless by comparison since you also get armor class with dex as well as range weapon flexibility. They also added backstab feats to any class (precise strike). This is terrible design, for the obvious reason that is forces you to balance the entire game around backstab damage and that is exactly what they did. In this case, they overtuned enemy stats and sadly, this pigeonholes you even farther into sneak attack classes.

    Full caster can eventually do some damage at high levels but that comes very late in the game when you no longer need them to do damage. Before then, casters are very weak due to mediocre spell damage and high resists. Case and point, playing on normal, my level 5 sorcerer with greater necromancy feats tried to cast blind on a bandit lord, a not so strong enemy. Again, this is around a level 5 encounter and I beat him easily... but his fortitude save at level 5 is 40!!! To give a comparison, my dedicated tank units barely have a fortitude of 9 at the same level. A paladin may has about 14 or so tops at that level. I was able to land a hideous laughter on him after 4 tries (his will save was 23).

    On top of gimping every other non-thief class, this video game makes backstabbing ridiculously easy. You only need 2 units engaging an enemy in melee. Once the 3rd melee attacker engages, all 3 units can backstab with impunity from any angle... So basically, if you want to do any meaningful damage in melee through most of the game, you have to take thief or hybrid thief classes (trickster or that alchemist subclass) or backstab feats. Even a caster cant do anything without backstabs from touch spells for 80% of the game so you really need to take a rogue splash and the trickster class for damage.

    I did try a optimized high strength 2H build at one point just to see how it works out and as expected it has many weaknesses, the biggest is that it cant do any major damage until about mid way through the game. The only reason that short trial succeeded is because I got everyone a companion pet which doubled my party to 12 units. It was very sad to see that the extra 6 pet units barely made up for 2 rogue units on a previous run in terms of damage output. Its really ridiculous how powerful rogues are.

    Other issues to note. At hard and unfair difficulty, game devolves into a slot machine. Completely dependent on random roles for success for at least 6-7 levels before you have enough hit points and gear to survive a few bad roles. Dont be surprised if your custom made tank dies in 1 hit the 1st 4 levels because enemies have such high stats that even a dagger wielding kobold can kill anyone with 1 critical hit. It it manageable if you cheese via pets and all archers but it gets boring fast. How bad is it? At level 2, a bandit at one of the starting areas (just a regular bandit) has a attack of +17!!! At level 2 lol. My 2 hand weapon specialist with max strength and rage and charge barely hits +11. If I throw on a bard and bless we get up to +13. When my guy hits, he does so for about 6 to 18 damage on average with a greatsword. The bandit, who was asleep on the floor when the fight began, stands up, takes one whack and averages about 20 per hit and crits about 25% of the time for over 40. I should know, i had to save scum that fight about 15 times. His sidekick rogue backstabs on every hit for about 18 and has an AC of 28 lol. Yes, this is level 2 in a game where resting (which does not even completely heal you) is punished by invisible timers. It can be done, but the design is atrocious, depending too much on luck and specific builds.

    One of its biggest features was kingdom management which is completely broken and poorly implemented. Its not playable right now (prevents finishing the game) so just set it to easy so that you cant fail (failing = game over).

    Aside from the above issues, the game is actually ok. It is definitely not as good as the old infinity engine games and it has other annoyances like MEGA TONS of bugs and A LOT of slow load screens (actually stopped playing a few times because of this), but its still a fun game overall. You can still build traditional stuff but you need to be mindful of design biases and plan around them. I would say that in time, once everything is fixed, the game will be worth a play and is definitely more fun that most of the drivel being peddled by the big companies.    … Expand
  14. Artur_
    Feb 14, 2022
    6
    Pros: great idea to expand a typical RPG journey by building a kingdom :-) Companions have a short histories, but still well done. Easy and clear management of team, equipment, trade. A very stable game: I didn't experience even one crash.

    Mixed: nicely done companion progress, stats, fights but using overcomplicated DnD rules limites fun. Cons: difficulty of clashes constantly jumps    Pros: great idea to expand a typical RPG journey by building a kingdom :-) Companions have a short histories, but still well done. Easy and clear management of team, equipment, trade. A very stable game: I didn't experience even one crash.

    Mixed: nicely done companion progress, stats, fights but using overcomplicated DnD rules limites fun.

    Cons: difficulty of clashes constantly jumps between trivial and impossible, in the same part of map. On normal difficulty you are going through enemies with little to none trouble then WHAM! a very next hostile brings your whole team to ground in a few seconds, or it is untouchable and you can't do jack. It happens with random encounters too, not just statically located antagonists like turbo-cat, Rambo-zombie or that overclocked troll in dwarf keep.

    Lacks field of view: how far enemies can see.

    I spent about 100h hours playing this game, it has the potential to be very enjoyable, but due to hidden timers in many quests I abandoned this game - if they were as clear and consistent, as timers of curses, then everything would be fine. Making such a decision screwed up the game for people, who aren't fanatics.

    Update: with "Kingdom Resolution" mod the game feels more controllable, it restores some fun, so finally I completed playthrough :-)    … Expand
  15. beewarrior
    Jul 29, 2021
    6
    Story: 6/10 (pretty meh)
    Gameplay: 8/10 (good after recent fixes, but Kingdom management is still a joke)
    Voice Acting: 3/10 (very few lines are voice acted)
    Music: 7/10 (good, but not that many musics)

    Overall 6/10
  16. Avva
    Oct 26, 2018
    6
    It’s a good game, though I would not compare it to the old classics like BG or modern one like PoE. As many here mentioned, it’s a faithful transfer of well known (in Pathfinder universe) P-n-P campaign with the same name. Let me say it again – TRANSFER. Not adaptation, not a “computer variation” – but literal transfer from one media (table top pen-and-paper) to another (computer). TheIt’s a good game, though I would not compare it to the old classics like BG or modern one like PoE. As many here mentioned, it’s a faithful transfer of well known (in Pathfinder universe) P-n-P campaign with the same name. Let me say it again – TRANSFER. Not adaptation, not a “computer variation” – but literal transfer from one media (table top pen-and-paper) to another (computer). The result – it did not work all that well.

    P-n-P is designed to work with a human DM (and creative group of human companions). DM is there to correct, interpret or simply remove the rules that spoil fun. He is there to help the group to solve the quests, to create the adventure. When you remove that DM and leave rules only, observed by a computer, you get what many call “unbalanced difficulty”, that in reality is simply a bare ruleset. All things DM would do – giving hints for the nature of the future encounters, description of atmosphere, directions for the party, so it would not wonder somewhere they should not have, ability to assess the danger by different means, creative use of skills and abilities, even simple things like to be able to “take 20” on a skill check – nothing is there. It’s just an animated basic rulebook with all variations and interpretations cut off. And the difficulty level is adjusted by universally hated bloating HP of the mobs and shifting probability of dice scores.

    Developers said it was done to accommodate the ability to save/load. The problem is, save/load was left as THE ONLY mean to get anything done in the game. You want to open the chest? Better save before, because you have only one chance to roll the dice (and the roll is not in your favor, and as I said, you can not “take 20”). You see a monster or expecting one? Save! There is no way to check his stats and it’s not what “monster manual” (not existing in the game, btw, use the book) will tell you. The fact that this little goblin in front of you has Strength and Dexterity of a young dragon, you will learn only during the fight.

    It would not be even that bad, if not for the engine problems. Owlcats used Unity – same as Obsidian for PoE (many features from PoE too, but not enough, unfortunately). However, they did not have enough skills/time/money to optimize it. Meaning first and foremost lag and long-long-looooong loading screens. So, you can (and you have to!) constantly save/load, but you will be swearing every time you do it, because of a long waiting time. Btw, those loading screens are everywhere and you will be swearing endlessly anyway.

    Kingdom management could be fun should there be any synergy with adventuring. So far one is always on the way of another. Add to this many artificial restrictions within already very restrictive system of kingdom management, many bugs and bad communication (a lot of things happen without so much as warning) – and the fun can be gone pretty fast. Again, faithful to PnP campaign but without DM. To their defense, there is an option of “automatic management”, that you might consider to use at your first run to see the plot.

    Speaking of plot – you would not really see it. It sure exists (!) but you will be too busy fighting the game (and the monsters to some degree) to notice it. And as in a campaign itself, it’s very discrete – to let you wonder around like you do in Skyrim, for example, forgetting about the main goal, yet, because of computer limitations, very strict – you have to do everything in a specific order, or you will ruin not only the current quest, but some quests after that you do not even know about yet. Somewhere in that plot supposed to be bits from Chris Avellone, but aside one companion (not typical for Avellone either) it's hard to find any. Well, at least Zhur’s music is there for sure and it's beautiful. Though, I can not help but wonder what if they spent money on a rules adaptation and the engine optimization instead of expensive luxury like famous writer and composer.

    Anyway, despite everything above, the game is good enough (or will be after bug fixing) to entertain CRPG lovers. Give it half a year and buy!

    P.S. IGN reviewer described problems very accurately.    … Expand
  17. gunther_nt
    Oct 16, 2018
    6
    I had to restart the game 4 times (new character, repeating all quests) and today I just gave up - it's broken again and I can't continue it past Act 4. That's it, I'm done.

    1) Buggy as Hell, basically unplayable. 4 times re-rolled, still unable to finish it. All hot-fixes are on. 2) Terrible loading times, 1+ min on a machine capable of running Witcher 3 on High 3) Almost every    I had to restart the game 4 times (new character, repeating all quests) and today I just gave up - it's broken again and I can't continue it past Act 4. That's it, I'm done.

    1) Buggy as Hell, basically unplayable. 4 times re-rolled, still unable to finish it. All hot-fixes are on.
    2) Terrible loading times, 1+ min on a machine capable of running Witcher 3 on High
    3) Almost every location requires a loading screen to enter or exit
    4) Difficulty is not high or low, it is just ridiculous and stupid. You can wipe 3 monsters with ease, and in the next room you will be killed by one monster of the same type. DnD has always been about random rolls, but there is no touch with reality in this game.

    And still I liked the game, but I will never recommend it in THIS state.

    When tech is fixed it will be solid 7.    … Expand
  18. Whiskeyjacker12
    Sep 29, 2018
    6
    Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a faithful adaption of the pen-and-paper that seeks to emulate the old golden age of isometric RPG's such a Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and in this it is successful for better or worse. The game definitely gave me a nostalgia trip, the writing and combat are very much reminiscent of the games it seeks to idolize. But as a fun CRPG competing with the likePathfinder: Kingmaker is a faithful adaption of the pen-and-paper that seeks to emulate the old golden age of isometric RPG's such a Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and in this it is successful for better or worse. The game definitely gave me a nostalgia trip, the writing and combat are very much reminiscent of the games it seeks to idolize. But as a fun CRPG competing with the like of Pillar's of Eternity and and the Divinity: OS series it kinda falls flat on its face. The difficulty level is extremely variable between instances, you can easily carve your way through two dozen bandits without one tactical pause but god help you if you run into a spider swarm or any creature with poison or level drain because the incredibly fast stacks of these effects will wipe out even a high level party in a few paltry seconds. And in explaining these effects and how to counter them, the game does an extremely poor job. I found myself trawling through game books and bestiaries just so I knew what exactly the my poor characters was rolling against as the in-game bestiary is all but useless leading to more than a few frustrating moments where spamming healing spells and potions were all that got me through a 5 minute slog of a fight. Which brings another weakness of the game, a poor combat UI. Oh, you can easily see when your own characters health is going down, but trying to see if that wyvern you're attacking is nearly dead or if you're spell had any linger effect on it and it turns into a guessing game. In comparison to Pillar's of Eternity and it's open and helpful stream of information, I felt like i was flying in the dark for most fights. In this it definitely sticks close to it's pen and paper roots, but in a modern computer game it feels dated and a little cruel, though I'm sure old CRPG fans and Pathfinder fans will beg to differ. The only thing more frustrating than getting a party wipe are the quest bugs that prevent you from finishing a quest in the first place, twice now (30 hrs played) i've seen questlines break or otherwise railroad me into a decision just so I finish them without the game glitching out. The counter intuitive usage of the kingdom management section also irked me. Several timed missions may give you a year to complete it's conditions but will only lay down the quest strings for it's completion 3 weeks before quest failure, the lack of side quests in between these sporadic bursts of questing are a dull drone of aimless exploring and waiting for events and projects to complete improving a kingdom stat that... really doesn't change anything but does mess up the tension and pacing of the story. In conclusion, the game has promise. It's balancing issues and bugs aside, the aesthetic of the game and writing are beautiful but are dragged down by balancing issues, bugs and poor implementation of the kingdom management feature. I'll aim to complete this run through but I can't see much of a draw after to turn around and do another run through.… Expand
  19. tma2
    Oct 2, 2018
    6
    The game has alot of potential but it is not the masterpiece these 10/10 reviews claim. It is full of bugs, including many which are game breaking. Basic class feats don't function. The difficulty even on normal is very unbalanced to the point where you will reload just to hit an enemy, let alone win encounters.

    The content is definitely good but its not comparable to Baldur's Gate 2.    The game has alot of potential but it is not the masterpiece these 10/10 reviews claim. It is full of bugs, including many which are game breaking. Basic class feats don't function. The difficulty even on normal is very unbalanced to the point where you will reload just to hit an enemy, let alone win encounters.

    The content is definitely good but its not comparable to Baldur's Gate 2. Graphics are pretty good but the loading times are very very slow. Story and voice acting is good.

    At launch and currently, the rampant issues seriously detract from its rating. 6/10. In time a 9/10 may be reasonable.    … Expand
  20. MyBestFriend
    Oct 14, 2018
    6
    It is incredibly complex and lacks a meaningful tutorial where character progression and classes/races would be explained. The gigantic "encyclopedia" only complicates everything. I found only later that the game is based on a table game. So I guess that's why I was so frustrated with the whole combat system and character progression.

    So I guess it was targeted to the players who    It is incredibly complex and lacks a meaningful tutorial where character progression and classes/races would be explained. The gigantic "encyclopedia" only complicates everything. I found only later that the game is based on a table game. So I guess that's why I was so frustrated with the whole combat system and character progression.

    So I guess it was targeted to the players who already played the table version of it. It does not mean It does not need to have better tutorial for complete newbies.    … Expand
  21. FrostormNidhegg
    Oct 27, 2019
    6
    Странная игра. С одной стороны - есть интересные самобытные моменты, например, перемещение по карте, события по таймеру, которые просто происходят в определенный срок и ты или подготовился или нет, неплохая ролевая система. С другой стороны - абсолютно плоские характеры персонажей. Вот баба варвар, она тупая, она хочет рубить врагов, у нее меч, который в реале весил бы тонны полторы (почтиСтранная игра. С одной стороны - есть интересные самобытные моменты, например, перемещение по карте, события по таймеру, которые просто происходят в определенный срок и ты или подготовился или нет, неплохая ролевая система. С другой стороны - абсолютно плоские характеры персонажей. Вот баба варвар, она тупая, она хочет рубить врагов, у нее меч, который в реале весил бы тонны полторы (почти меч из Файнал Фентези, заточенное крыло от самолета на ручке). Вот баба паладин, она паладин, она за мир и справедливость. Вот мелкий хитрый злодей, который хитрый и злодей. Никаких граней, никакого именно характера - просто опереточные маски. При этом например все та же баба варвар рассказывает байки, как она стадо мамонтов за хобот таскала в свою деревню - то есть на юмор время нашли, а на описание нормального характера - нет, очень странно. Портреты многие просто сделаны анимешными, например все тот же мелкий хитрый злодей - он выглядит как аниме персонаж. Зачем? Почему? - не понятно. Итого - поставил ее и одновременно Пилларс оф Этернити 2 - после Пилларсов играть в Пасфайндера просто не приятно, слишком все какое-то несерьезное, и убогие персонажи. Удалил, играть дальше не стал. Ну и багов запредельное количество - кладешь в слот оружие, а оно не кладется, отменяешь - кладется, а иногда нормально все. В общем, рпг с большим потенциалом, но его не раскрыли. И не серьезный подход к сюжету и персонажам убивает весь настрой. Оперетка, играть в которую на фоне других рпг такого типа не хочется. Тем более жанр этот нишевый, и пытаться вот эти мотивы привносить несерьезные - очень странная идея. Надеюсь разрабы подумают над тем, что они делают и выпустят нормальную вторую часть. В общем, попытка была не плохая, но не получилось… Expand
  22. Soullex
    Nov 30, 2022
    6
    Fightlar çok yavaş abi. 50 kez vuruyor 49u ıska. 60. saatten sonra bile yolda kamp kurmak da sıkıcı oluyor artık.
  23. Geralt123
    Oct 20, 2020
    6
    It is a little bit sad. This could have been a great game, but there is one serious design problem: The balancing. I have NEVER seen a game with such a bad balancing. While the normal enemies are ok, when it comes to bosses or minibosses, it is possible that you cannot defeat them without lowering the difficulty. Even on Normal Mode, the encounters can be extremely unfair. Normal Mode isIt is a little bit sad. This could have been a great game, but there is one serious design problem: The balancing. I have NEVER seen a game with such a bad balancing. While the normal enemies are ok, when it comes to bosses or minibosses, it is possible that you cannot defeat them without lowering the difficulty. Even on Normal Mode, the encounters can be extremely unfair. Normal Mode is actually Hard Mode!

    However, this game was made with love, it can be seen clearly seen. They just did not find the right balance and obviously ran out of money during the development. But the end result is worse than it could have been. Which is a pity because the Story, atmosphere, companions and music are very good.

    --> Overall, I can recommend this game to cRPG fans. I would give it a 6/10 because of the bad balancing and horrific Kingdom Management. Otherweise it would be 8/10. Buy it at max 12 Euros on Sale. You can tone down the difficulty when things get too hard.

    Story:
    It is good. I liked it. It is deep and complex, sometimes serious, sometimes funny. A good mixture.

    Music:
    Music is done well, but nothing exceptional like Witcher 3.

    Combat:
    Combat is fun. There are so many spells and skills, it is really amazing. Real time with pause is good. However, in many fights even on Normal mode, the balancing was totally off, making it nearly impossible to defeat certain bosses

    Graphics:
    Graphics are cute with a lot attention to detail. I like it!

    World Design:
    You move on an overview map and enter the actual game maps from there which are quite small. Open World would have added to the immersion. Load screen are very often and annoying. No fast travel.

    Pros
    ===================
    - Nice graphics
    - Interesting Companions, deep character stories, good dialogues, good banter
    - Complex combat
    - Good music
    - Very long game (if you do all quests, certainly 200-400 hours)
    - Good atmosphere
    - Good story

    Cons
    ===================
    - Balancing of the fights is sometimes totally off, especially in the endgame where everything counts. Frustrating!
    - A lot of F5 / F8 involved in this game (Quickload, Quicksave) because outcomes are determined by virtual dice throws
    - Some quests are so vague that you don't know what to do next. This is not Ubisoft style of quests. Quests will make you Google like an idiot every 2 hours because you don't have any clue what to do next
    - Kingdom Management is a nice idea but totally broken so that sooner or later you will turn on "Easy Mode" or "Invincible Kingdom" anyway. Very annoying.
    - Load screens every time you go to a new minimap or go back to the main map, or enter a building
    - Voice acting only about 20-30% of the dialogues
    - The last chapter is such an enormous difficulty spike that it is absolutely annoying. Diffculty has to be lowered
    - Some quests have a time limit and since you have to travel back and forth on the map due to conflicting quests, this can be very annoying and stressful    … Expand
  24. Oshiri_Maeda
    Jun 18, 2022
    6
    No reason to play this game if you haven't played Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - same game but better. Then you can come back to this one if you really want to.

    Pathfinder (D&D-like game) adaptation, all the Pen n Paper mechanics are implemented well, and overall it feels like a well made CRPG game. However Pathfinder rules are VERY tedious. Within first 20 hours I had to spend    No reason to play this game if you haven't played Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - same game but better. Then you can come back to this one if you really want to.

    Pathfinder (D&D-like game) adaptation, all the Pen n Paper mechanics are implemented well, and overall it feels like a well made CRPG game. However Pathfinder rules are VERY tedious. Within first 20 hours I had to spend more time in various wikies than in the game itself to understand how this and that works. Inventory and ability panels fill up with tens and tens of icons, and every one of them does something. You REALLY have to sink your time into it to understand it all, and I have no desire to sacrifice my time for that.
    Overall, it's a good game, but there is a number of games doing it better.    … Expand
  25. Honze7
    Dec 12, 2021
    6
    The game's flaunted apparent complexity tries to hide it's lack of useful content. So many choices provided to the player that in the end feel void, boring and useless. The whole world is shattered into small lands each with specific encounters and fetch quest deprived of any link with the main story and the overall territory the player is forced to explore.

    Characters are boring and    The game's flaunted apparent complexity tries to hide it's lack of useful content. So many choices provided to the player that in the end feel void, boring and useless. The whole world is shattered into small lands each with specific encounters and fetch quest deprived of any link with the main story and the overall territory the player is forced to explore.

    Characters are boring and fights are repetitive. The only real way to enjoy this stuff is to either go for a solo run in hard difficulty or lower everything to the easiest setting, also forcing automated choice in managing your government.

    Overall it's too stuffed with useless crap that lacks any interest and feels like placeholder just to give something to the players. Replayability is complete grabage, being too boring.

    Amazing detail in creating maps and the world, but nothing more. Played through the game and uninstalled it. It's just too much boring and its pretense at being complex falls flat by its own liomitations clearly apparent for anyone experiencing fights and the managment system.

    I hoped for a better game. Totally inferior to Solasta.    … Expand
  26. Barrage
    Apr 24, 2023
    6
    I have a strong love-hate relationship with this game. I enjoyed the characters, but the bugs made it barely playable. I was also not a fan of the difficulty spikes.
  27. elguru
    Feb 5, 2020
    5
    cheapo, art looks retarded lol
    cheapo, art looks retarded lol
    cheapo, art looks retarded lol
  28. aidan0
    Jan 24, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I was going to give it a 7, but instead I'll put down a 5 for all those brandspanking new accounts giving it a 10. I guess they hired a marking company to help with the bad reviews, bad form guys.

    Time to ramble a lot.

    So, I played this game for 160 hours, as a backer I did get my money's worth I'll admitted that. But many of those hours were painful and not really fun, I play on normal. I waited until November to play it. So, patch 1.1 roles in and I started playing. The 160 hours is due to a restart when I was at 55 hours in, because somehow kingdom management decides to spiral out of control. You don't know what is going on and you better hope and pray that stuff works out somehow. What I've learned is that taxes are bad.

    So, what to say about the rest. It's pretty, but Baldur's Gate/ never winter nights are far better. Less is more. It felt so special to get a +3 sword in those games. This game just gives you +5/+8 items like it's nothing. The stuff you work for, the artifacts you work hard to put back together, are worthless. There is always some superior free gear around. Oh wait, the point is to sell those "useless" +5's so you can bankroll the kingdom? That's just stupid.

    Remember when companions were memorable? Remember when they were useful. Well these aren't, your companions are an extra challenge, you'll need to overcome their weaknesses to make them usefull. There is no Mazzy Fentan or Minsc to save your bacon. Maybe that's why the game tries to kill them at the end. It's trying to help you, because a custom party is far better than your companions.

    Gimmicks oh the gimmicks. A gimmick is not a challenge. Ability drain and paralysis is easily countered with 50 scrolls of the appropriate counter spells. I mean you solve a problem but it's not fun. My characters should be solving those problems not a backpack full of scrolls. Don't forget the 50 scrolls of resurrection, you have money to burn anyway. Why even heal with low lv spell when you can res. or turn your non cleric into a full heal healer with 50 scrolls of heal.

    Be ready for 40+ AC on enemies. Not really a problem, right? Just haste up and keep on swinging until you get a crit. 15 damage resistance you say? ohhh my 28 str barb doesn't need to care. She needs to crit to hit and when she hits the enemies just explode. RNG not working? Best to pop that true strike wand. Come on, that's not fun. To give you a example, there is this epic black dragon you can fight. I went in thinking this will be a very hard, but epic fight. Nope... the RNG gods wanted me to win. Buff up, fight starts, fights over. Checked the logs. (ugh ohhh the immersion) Barb did two crits in a row and the dragon was pretty much dead.

    I guess that's about it. I killed a lot of time with this game, but in the end I didn't really have fun. POE 1 was cool, played it twice, played the expansions. POE 2 was meh, won't play the expansions although I'll get them for free. Kingmaker? I won't even bother with the next one.    … Expand
  29. Rilke21
    Oct 2, 2018
    5
    This is not a finished game.

    I'm a big fan of the genre. I have logged many hours into Pillars, Tyranny and the like. I bought this game sight-unseen based on the premise alone, and I nearly requested a refund. I will re-asses this review after I have logged more hours (I'm currently around 5.) Here are the problems that the game is seriously suffering from, at least in its current    This is not a finished game.

    I'm a big fan of the genre. I have logged many hours into Pillars, Tyranny and the like. I bought this game sight-unseen based on the premise alone, and I nearly requested a refund.

    I will re-asses this review after I have logged more hours (I'm currently around 5.) Here are the problems that the game is seriously suffering from, at least in its current version.

    1) Pathetic load times and poor optimization. I am playing on a top-end system. The initial loading screen now reads "first time loading may take several minutes, please wait." This is because every time you log in, you have to wait 2-5 minutes. We are past the days of Deus Ex running on a Compaq, and there is just no excuse for this.

    2) Questionable voice acting, from the first scene.

    3) Horrifically tuned encumbrance mechanics and no option to increase game speed. Your characters will be trudging through molasses, even when your party is not encumbered. If you find the default speed in Pillars to be slow, you will quickly either take up knitting or stop playing Pathfinder in frustration...and, unlike Pillars, there is no option to speed up the action.

    4) Poorly optimized difficulty settings. I started playing on "challenging" since I'm no stranger to the genre. I breezed through the initial encounters, and then came to the first main "outside of town" event. The encounter was impossible. I went to the next area in the hopes of leveling up, and the encounters were even worse. I lowered the difficulty to "normal" and got through with a tough fight...but the next main area was pathetically easy. You also have to play on normal (or custom) if you want to avoid the ridiculous encumbrance penalties. As noted above, even if you do avoid the penalties, you party will be moving like geriatric garden gnomes.

    All that said, I feel a spark of potential in this game. It is precisely the kind of game that I want to love. I just can't in its current version. I am very much hoping that the developers fix, primarily, the lack of speed issues...until then, I'll be plugging away while my patience lasts, which hasn't been for long.    … Expand
  30. MoppleTheWhale
    Oct 6, 2018
    5
    Pathfinder: Kingmaker could become an outstanding game at what it wants to be: A Pen and Paper adaptation to it's core.
    For now it is unfinished. There are a lot of bugs. Story bugs, UI bugs. Abilities (or "feats") don't allways do what it says in their description. The kingdom management system gets out of control and sometimes you just can't do anything about it.
    In this kind of game    Pathfinder: Kingmaker could become an outstanding game at what it wants to be: A Pen and Paper adaptation to it's core.
    For now it is unfinished. There are a lot of bugs. Story bugs, UI bugs. Abilities (or "feats") don't allways do what it says in their description. The kingdom management system gets out of control and sometimes you just can't do anything about it.

    In this kind of game your journey shouldn't allways go smooth. Not every enemy encounter should be fair. I absolutely agree. But in this game there is just too much that is totally messed up. If this was beta stage my tendency would be 9/10. But it is not ok to release a game in this condition.

    There is not even a way to finish the game yet, that's how broken it is. Noone has done it yet.    … Expand
  31. Lasius-Niger
    Jan 20, 2020
    5
    Overly and unnecessarily complicated game with boring and repetitive (same sized) sand-boxed areas. It tries to copy the PoE, but at this point it looks more like unfinished kick-starter project. it has the feel of a poor indie game. What irks me the most is that they try to substitute bad design with weird game mechanics, shoving in numbers and calculations, making it just overlyOverly and unnecessarily complicated game with boring and repetitive (same sized) sand-boxed areas. It tries to copy the PoE, but at this point it looks more like unfinished kick-starter project. it has the feel of a poor indie game. What irks me the most is that they try to substitute bad design with weird game mechanics, shoving in numbers and calculations, making it just overly complexes but not in a good way. It's one of those games that feel like chore. Skip. get PoE.… Expand
  32. ireviewbadgames
    Feb 12, 2019
    5
    Kingmaker falls under the category of games we know could be critically acclaimed masterpieces, but sadly for one reason or another, fails to do so. For this grime-encrusted gem, there was a serious lack of play-testing and not enough development time. Had Deep Silver allowed for an additional three months of bug-squashing and fixes, the reception might've been much friendlier.Kingmaker falls under the category of games we know could be critically acclaimed masterpieces, but sadly for one reason or another, fails to do so. For this grime-encrusted gem, there was a serious lack of play-testing and not enough development time. Had Deep Silver allowed for an additional three months of bug-squashing and fixes, the reception might've been much friendlier. Unfortunately, they hastily pushed out their product like an actor with half his costume on and the game suffered greatly.

    What I don't understand is how the developers thought everything would be fine, despite the fact that no one could actually complete the game. That in it of itself should have stopped them in their tracks, but I'm sure the allure of ill-gotten cash from naive Steam users smelled too delicious.

    In conclusion: huge potential and brainless, drool-spilling release date.    … Expand
  33. Nozomu
    Oct 4, 2018
    5
    To understand the severe issues with Pathfinder: Kingmaker we just have to look at what the Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights series from BioWare did right: lots of character portraits, able to access character customization in the game, access to specific AI scripts for all your characters and lots of customization options on how you avatar/characters should look regarding the in-gameTo understand the severe issues with Pathfinder: Kingmaker we just have to look at what the Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights series from BioWare did right: lots of character portraits, able to access character customization in the game, access to specific AI scripts for all your characters and lots of customization options on how you avatar/characters should look regarding the in-game model.

    Pathfinder: Kingmaker is rushed out the door in a terrible "alpha stage" (read the game-breaking bug reports on steam and it becomes quite evident that the game was not even in a BETA stage at release). The design concept regarding "timed quests" all over the board does not fit the game style at all.

    However, despite the current issues with Pathfinder: Kingmaker, it's a good game. Give it some months for "real patches" to kick in and I am sure the game will be "playable" and well worth your time. Until then you should not support the developers at all!!!    … Expand
  34. Lucky_Nike
    May 4, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When I look back after 140 hours of gameplay, i see no fun but rather pain. Version 1.2 - 1.29 or something like that.

    Game has cca 10 maps/dungeons that are worth to play and those take cca 20 hours of 9-10/10 rating gameplay. Those dungeons/maps are really original or at least ideas are combined very well. Some ot those dungeons takes some time to figure out what to do or how to beat it.

    Story is something I have seen in many games or movies, but can be original for many so np with that.

    All the rest is pure waste of time. Artificial prolonging game can be seen in almost every aspect of game.

    Some players say Kingmaker is like Baldurs Gate. Forget about it. Only because its similar in graphics and battle system doesnt mean its like Baldurs Gate. BG has great maps, basically every screen brings something new. Just imagine first map with Irenicus and all what happened there. Pathfinder has nothing like that, only max five maps are closer to this and those areas are spread all over so you waste your time by walking. You are revisiting same places with same graphics just only of sake to be something in game to visit.

    And now why this game is so pain and deserve 5/10?

    Simply because there are too many small things that adds to each other to the point you simply dont like it.

    Gameplay is very slow so Unity cheat program with speed hack is a must otherwise the game is boring and is waste of time.

    Kingdom - the way you take throne and how npc see you as their king is absurd. NPC bow to you like you are some kind of god and managing kingdom is simply clicking on cards and wait what happens. You can not affect results by yourself going to places cards are talking about. Basically its your kingdom, but everything is done by somebody else. If you stay at your kingdom for too long, you will loose and you have no idea, why is game over. It brings nothing to game and literally is not worth your time, there is no reward and no purpose, no sense. Better make computer take care of your kingdom and play game with your party. Nevertheless you still will have to go to city to click here and there. Garbage.

    Moving on map is another artificial pro-longing game. Why it is in game is question. Its waste of time. It brings really nothing, zero. And its slow even with speed hack.

    Loading and resting. OMG that is the worst thing about game. You load with every change: load map, load resting, load playing area.. Loading in this game is like 20% of game time (SSD), 20% is looking at big map and moving on it, 50% is in your kingdom and moving from place to place and only 10% of your time is real gameplay. This game utilize only 4 giga of ram - loading, loading, loading. I have no idea why you have to load traveling map or when your rest. And if you have party of pre-made NPC and you rest they start to talk crap and you waste minut(es) just by waiting till they finish their "bla bla bla" include waiting for info how long u hunt, if u coocked good meal etc. (and dont forget another loading screens). Garbage, garbage, garbage.

    Side quests of your party imo brings nothing special, but why not. Nevertheless only reason why you do them is xp.

    Replayability: zero. There is no challange and once you finish game you already know everything about game. I drop at lvl 9 with "perfect" party.

    If game had no loading screens all time, no moving on map, no kingdom management but pure isometric walking from map to map, game could be 8/10 maybe 9/10. But in the state it is now even 5/10 is really generous. Game was released 25 september but at the same date people give it 10/10 - its absurd as to finish the game you need minimum 50 hours even if you know everything about the game.

    SPOILER about gameplay:
    Gameplay is something like: "spoiler ahead": ............................................ you basically buff your characters, move tank or two to the front and rest is beating mobs to death. That is all, nothing more in this game. It can be fun in some parts of game but because of other game mechanics even that starts to be bothering. You can do some micromanagement, but you will find out soon its annoying so basically you buff and slaughter everything. Otherwise you are slaughtered.    … Expand
  35. Donutstalker93
    Nov 29, 2020
    5
    I really wanted to like this game. I have nothing negative to say about it from a narrative standpoint, in fact I was pretty invested in that aspect of the game, and it's the only reason I'm giving it a 5. But the gameplay here is god awful. I've been playing a lot of CRPGs lately, and I've played tabletop games before, and I've NEVER seen this many misses in any game before. I'm notI really wanted to like this game. I have nothing negative to say about it from a narrative standpoint, in fact I was pretty invested in that aspect of the game, and it's the only reason I'm giving it a 5. But the gameplay here is god awful. I've been playing a lot of CRPGs lately, and I've played tabletop games before, and I've NEVER seen this many misses in any game before. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I had Harrim in my party for around 45 minutes, through several battles, before he finally landed a single attack. I thought it may just be me but when I looked it up it seems like a lot of players were screwed over by the biased rng in this game. It's unlikely to happen, but it needs to be fixed. I'd actually give it another go if it was. But for now I don't feel like putting up with artificial difficulty that just boils down to being annoying and time consuming.… Expand
  36. grillonbleu
    Jul 22, 2023
    5
    Such a hard game to rate. It's a large, generous CRPG and the premise is refreshing. It's fun to both explore and govern. There's charm too in the characters even though so many of them are either Chaotic Neutral or Evil nut jobs.

    Unfortunately the execution slowly falls apart as the scenario progresses. Kingdom management is obtuse and flawed. Some quests are broken. Issues are well    Such a hard game to rate. It's a large, generous CRPG and the premise is refreshing. It's fun to both explore and govern. There's charm too in the characters even though so many of them are either Chaotic Neutral or Evil nut jobs.

    Unfortunately the execution slowly falls apart as the scenario progresses. Kingdom management is obtuse and flawed. Some quests are broken. Issues are well known and remain unfixed. Meaningful choices are often made with little to no info on the outcomes. Too much playtime is spent picking up loot junk. I could go on.

    It's all the more disappointing because of the potential it shows. I feel like rating it higher and lower at the same time.    … Expand
  37. Ivanstankevich
    Dec 27, 2021
    5
    I tried for approximately 20 hours, but this game is pain. It is badly optimized and and it contains a lot of bad mechanics. Traveling just damage dynamic of Baldurs Gate, PoE or DAO. Quests are so unintuitive, that it is almost impossible to play without spoilers. (eg. sometimes to trigger next quest in main storyline you are to wait ~20 days and game just does not say anything about it;I tried for approximately 20 hours, but this game is pain. It is badly optimized and and it contains a lot of bad mechanics. Traveling just damage dynamic of Baldurs Gate, PoE or DAO. Quests are so unintuitive, that it is almost impossible to play without spoilers. (eg. sometimes to trigger next quest in main storyline you are to wait ~20 days and game just does not say anything about it; or you cannot travel to location which you are suppose to go without speaking with specific character who does not relate to particular quest at all!). I like D&D, I like RPG and I hoped, but I failed. AI of Companions also is a fail. either you do ultra micromanagement or they deliver something ultra stupid. I understand that creators are not a big studio, but the game just badly done. I'd like to continue with story and Characters development, but I had to abandon :(.… Expand
  38. PenetratorGod
    Aug 19, 2023
    5
    It's not a bad game but it's really tiring. It can get very boring. And yet somehow you keep playing.

Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
100
#100 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. CD-Action
    Feb 13, 2019
    75
    Pathfinder: Kingmaker offers an interesting world to explore along with satisfying combat, and the first half of the adventure is top-notch old school fun. Unfortunately later the game loses its momentum and becomes boring. Anyhow, it’s a solid RPG that should keep Baldur’s Gate’s fans happy for many hours. [12/2018, p.86]
  2. Games.cz
    Jan 15, 2019
    80
    A great adaptation of the original Pathfinder gamebooks. The story is sidelined by tough tactical combat - its steep difficulty may be daunting to genre newbies, but D&D veterans will be delighted. There are technical problems, yes, but those are overshadowed by refreshing kingdom management and interesting companions.
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  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Dec 31, 2018
    80
    RPG for the hardened. Get used to loadings and getting lost in the rules, get ready for an ok storyline - and in the return you will enjoy a deep level of challenge and great management of your own kingdom. Obsidian has a new competitor. [Issue#290]
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