Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

 PC
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Cubed3
    Sep 13, 2021
    70
    Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is not a big improvement over Kingmaker, but it is an improvement, nonetheless. Some of its elements are exceptional, like the overwhelming variety in classes, skills, and "paths," or the general epic aura it has, while some other parts sit somewhere between decent and good, like the story (which is a bit too stereotypical), the Crusade portion of the gameplay (which is a buggy chore), and the actual role-playing, which, while fine and all, won't be enough for those spoiled by other modern classics of the genre. Despite some its flaws, it is undoubtedly very entertaining, and highly recommended, as it will surely satisfy your hunger for a good RPG.
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  1. 3DJuegos
    Sep 17, 2021
    Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is an excellent RPG with engaging story, and deep gameplay mechanics and well-written characters.
  2. GamesBeat
    Sep 3, 2021
    I’m now preparing to storm Drezen, a fortress-city full of demons. Along the way, I have plenty of quests to take care off to both defeat the Abyssal incursion and dive into the stories of my companions. This is what I want from an RPG, and Owlcat does an stellar job delivering this. The few bugs I encountered were either pathfinding errors (sometimes, one of my characters would just spin around as they tried to get to where they’re going) and one instance of freezing when I was casting a buff spell on my cavalier.

Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Best PC Game of 2021
26
#26 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

User Reviews

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User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 361 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 252 out of 361
  2. Mixed: 41 out of 361
  3. Negative: 68 out of 361
  1. wcdsith
    Sep 3, 2021
    10
    awesome game. If you need some D & D in your life, this is the game for you.
  2. ShakkaZu
    Sep 18, 2021
    4
    I wouldn't recommend this in its current state and even after the bugs are fixed the actual game suffers from serious balancing and pacingI wouldn't recommend this in its current state and even after the bugs are fixed the actual game suffers from serious balancing and pacing problems.

    + Writing is solid, although spoiled by the occasional 'cartoonish' good/evil option.
    + Voice acting is great.
    + Music is on point - some of the best game music I've had in a long time.
    + Itemisation is very cool - less about the numbers and more about the effects.
    + Owlcat really nailed the 'wow' moments of the story.

    - Difficulty is extremely erratic. Some mini bosses are easier than regular encounters in the same area.
    - Save scumming is a must - many fights hinge on save or die spells (both for and against the player).
    - Some fights require very specific meta knowledge and builds.
    - Lots of enemies cause permanent debuffs. Not difficult to deal with, just extremely annoying.
    - Many companions feel forgotten as they go long stretches without any interaction / quests.
    - Many of the companions are simply unlikable with little redeeming features.
    - Bag of Tricks mod is mandatory due to broken quests and bugs.
    - Game breaking bugs including broken quests. graphical issues, and cut scene problems.
    - Some skill/save requirements are simply ridiculous.
    - Game requires regular restarts as it slows down after a couple hours played.
    - Crusader section feels very underwhelming. Basically Kingmaker but with a diluted HoMM game tacked on.
    - Game guides are basically mandatory due to the amount of missable things, and the poor telegraphing for quest/campaign progression.
    - You need to manually save regularly due to this as well.
    - Secret/True ending requirements often feel arbitrary rather than something you could consciously and naturally work towards.

    Bugs aside, the game just isn't fun or challenging, rather it's frustrating and tedious. Every enjoyable moment I've had in this game has quickly been spoiled soon after either through poorly planned quests or tedious fights.

    It's a real shame Owlcat seems to have focused so much of their attention on the poorly implemented mechanics, instead of (where I think their true strength might lie) on the story and character development. What little gems of enjoyment WotR has to offer are drowned in the mire of sheer tedium the poorly designed mechanics and gameplay offers. It takes the worst from Kingmaker and expands on it, while seeming to shelve what was good.

    WotR is an exhausting mess of over-tuned fights and missed opportunities in character driven story.    … Full Review »
  3. Laurykat
    Sep 5, 2021
    7
    "Almost fantastic, but not quite" is how I would describe Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. Past the fans or haters that will rate 10 or 0,"Almost fantastic, but not quite" is how I would describe Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. Past the fans or haters that will rate 10 or 0, with either not an ounce of criticism or praise for a product that deserves both, you will discover that this game has a lot to offer, but it also has a lot of problems.

    Let's start with the positives: The setting is really compelling, and the story, most of the time, is really well written. The voice acting is superb, and the way quests are weaven with one another makes a lot of sense. There is a fantastic feeling of being part of something larger than life, and that is really inspiring if the player enjoys that kind of "chosen one" overarching epic fantasy adventure. For those that prefer more of a humble, contained adventure, this might not be so great. The UI and interface are improved in comparison to Kingmaker, and the game is much easier to get into and be good at, despite the plethora of options to choose from. There are 140+ different classes/archetypes to choose from, only at level 1. That is simply absurdly deep, and it can not be a bad thing, ever.

    Less impressive is that the turn-based mode is still amateur-level. If you are like me, that enjoys playing CRPGs in this setting, you will be sorely disappointed. You will lose turns because your character chose to not cast the spell you asked her to cast, but still consumed her turn. You will lose turns because of switching weapons, even though that does not consume a turn as per the game's own rules. You will see Attacks of Opportunity happen somewhere around the battlefield when it's not even the turn to act for any of the characters involved in the interaction and they were just idly staring at each other. You will see enemies that are there but can not be attacked, presuming that it is because the turn mode was triggered by the game before the enemy models were actual part of the game, and the animation in which they appeared was playing out. If you liked the idea of mounted combat, you might as well let it wait. It just does not work well, especially with turn-based mode.

    Asides from that, which won't affect you a lot if you enjoy playing the game in real-time with pause mode, and one can assume that will be eventually patched, there are deeper problems that can't be patched. This is in the inability to really roleplay your character the way you wish. You are encased into an array of standard Lawful/Chaotic/Good/Evil behaviours in your dialogue choices, and the only way you have to communicate your character behaviour to the game is through those dialogue choices, which also determine how everything around you reacts. There is no nuance, no delicacy, no personalisation whatsoever. If you are, for example, a Chaotic Good swashbuckler, that has a fair morality compass but in the end, doesn't give a sh*t about most people's problems, you won't be able to feel the game reacting to you. Sometimes, you will have to choose between a lawful and chaotic dialogue choice, and you will choose chaotic because well, the lawful one doesn't make sense to you, but you are not really anywhere close to the chaotic choice presented either, and you will accept it as the lesser of two evils. This happens recurrently, and constantly, and it is quite disheartening for an RPG that is so complex in other areas, yet so lacking in the one that matters. And that is my main gripe with this game. It does not let me play the character I want, it forces you to play the one that suits their own writer's fantasy, and that is not how you RPG, at least not if we are talking about the values that Pathfinder promotes in its tabletop versions, and which this game tries so hard to emulate.

    Another issue is once again the "management" part of the game, which in this version, rather than realm management, is army management. To me, it really gets in the way and takes too much time/focus/effort to deal with, as well as not being really fun or compelling, in my opinion. Feels like a chore that takes you from playing the proper parts of the game, and you can't even set it to "automatic", because if it's like Kingmaker, there is a fair chance that you will lose the game and have to restart from scratch after 80 hours playing, just because the AI made poor choices to keep your realm/army alive. Ah well.

    All in all, the game still offers a fantastic experience to most players, especially those who enjoy real-time with pause, and those that enjoy reading a novel with pre-written outcomes, rather than trying to create their own. If you love turn-based mode, wait for patching. If you don't like railroaded RPGs or being encased into very cliche "hero" roles, wait for a sale. If you like both real-time with pause gameplay, and being guided through a heroic tale of ascension and conquer where you play one of a few predetermined cliche heroes rather than something nuanced of your own, this game is easily a 9/10.    … Full Review »
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