Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 740 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 540 out of 740
  2. Mixed: 102 out of 740
  3. Negative: 98 out of 740
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  1. zexxx
    Aug 28, 2023
    9
    PoE:II is an improvement in everyway over the original and it sets a very high bar for any RPG to try and follow.

    Masterclass in storytelling and character development with every D&D mechanic you can want in such a game. I enjoyed it immensely and it deserves to be in the hall of fame along Baldur's gate 1&2 and their like. Obsedian are masters of their craft. they present a very    PoE:II is an improvement in everyway over the original and it sets a very high bar for any RPG to try and follow.

    Masterclass in storytelling and character development with every D&D mechanic you can want in such a game. I enjoyed it immensely and it deserves to be in the hall of fame along Baldur's gate 1&2 and their like.

    Obsedian are masters of their craft. they present a very compelling world with complex narratives, gods, characters, myths, magic and mystery.

    While in the first game you had a friggin castle to manage, defend and develop here you've got a ship! with a colorful crew too!

    I love the style of writing in this game which makes every character and location feel like they are truly part of the world. it's a brilliant game and I will be singing it's praises for years to come.

    This is the perfect game for RPG lovers and D&D lovers (though that mechanically this isn't D&D but close).

    A Highly recommended game!    … Expand
  2. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 24, 2023
    9
    Very good cRPG, in the line with the previous game but objectively better game. Improves significantly some questions of the gameplay, but his history, although deep and well written, lacks the freshly of the original PoE. The timeline of the quests appears to be chaotic with strange interrelation between main&secondary quests
  3. Tiradentes
    Aug 13, 2023
    9
    200+ hours into the game I can say it's one of the best game I ever-played.
  4. bigbigtimeboy
    Jul 18, 2023
    10
    Continues the story (love the writing) and has same great customization, combat system and sense of humour as POE 1 - and the addition of the "moving base" / ship is fantastic! Haven't finished it yet - but totally loving it!
  5. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    8
    Huge step up over its predecessor. Interesting concept of a pirate rpg, the story and setting are both very engaging. There are many interesting questions posed to the player, small and large. Combat is fun and did not wear out its welcome. Characters a bit hit or miss but some real stars in there. Soundtrack and presentation appropriately mythic.
  6. NotkerBiloba
    May 4, 2023
    10
    Very entertaining! Some challenging battles, endearing characters -- and some companions and NPCs that made me feel feelings, both good and bad. Not sure if I totally buy the premise, but it's fantasy, I guess. :) Can't wait for the next Kickstarter ...
  7. S3XU4LH34L1NG
    May 1, 2023
    7
    In its core a great game is hidden but I'll deduct a full 2 points for the shabby state this game is in 4 years after release.

    There a game breaking bugs with gear / spells / potions. Bugs that can ruin full playthroughs. There's memory leaking (I thinks this was an issue in P1 too). After 1-2 hrs this gets unbearable. Also you can clearly see some areas are extremly fleshed out and    In its core a great game is hidden but I'll deduct a full 2 points for the shabby state this game is in 4 years after release.

    There a game breaking bugs with gear / spells / potions. Bugs that can ruin full playthroughs.
    There's memory leaking (I thinks this was an issue in P1 too). After 1-2 hrs this gets unbearable.
    Also you can clearly see some areas are extremly fleshed out and others lacking heavily.

    The characters and the combat system is satisfying and I have no complaints there. The story is well thought out and deeply philosophical just like in the first game.

    Atm this is on gamepass. I recommend grabbing it there.    … Expand
  8. Hyperfailure
    Apr 29, 2023
    7
    In spite of improving on its predecessor in many aspect, the sequel simply does not reach the same heights as the first instalment. While mechanically much more sound, the story and characters do not feel as endearing as the first game.
  9. alex_opr
    Apr 14, 2023
    7
    I wanted to like this game more because I really liked the world and all the deep lore, but it had so many things going against it. The writing is pretty bad my biggest problem is the inconsistent tone, the gameplay is too safe, and too old school imo, and it felt that it provides 2 interesting dungeons in my 40-hour playthrough and the ending was just lackluster. I love RPGs but I thinkI wanted to like this game more because I really liked the world and all the deep lore, but it had so many things going against it. The writing is pretty bad my biggest problem is the inconsistent tone, the gameplay is too safe, and too old school imo, and it felt that it provides 2 interesting dungeons in my 40-hour playthrough and the ending was just lackluster. I love RPGs but I think there are better options out there to put the hours in.

    I will still give it a 7 because again I liked the world, the locations were beautiful, good music and good sound, there are some interesting quests and the combat is pretty enjoyable for a time. I also liked the reputation system and the responsiveness of the world to your actions.. well untill the end.    … Expand
  10. Alvt
    Mar 5, 2023
    10
    Besides problems witch long loading, pillars of eternity 2 is One the best experience playing classic RPG. The Turn mode works better in this game, the lore is so fantastic, it's One of the most underrated game that I had played.
  11. PenetratorGod
    Feb 10, 2023
    3
    It's a bad Divinity ripoff. The first game tried to copy Baldur's Gate. It's a series with no original ideas of its own. Even if we leave the story aside, the gameplay is terrible.
  12. cezar88augusto
    Dec 9, 2022
    8
    I decided to play it in turn mode. The story of the game initially is cool, but as the game goes on, it gets dense, with many unnecessary characters and dialogues. I managed to finish Pillar of Eternity in 65 hours of gameplay: I completed several side quests and obviously, the main quest.

    It's a good RPG game. The game is open world and there is a navigation system and naval battles    I decided to play it in turn mode. The story of the game initially is cool, but as the game goes on, it gets dense, with many unnecessary characters and dialogues. I managed to finish Pillar of Eternity in 65 hours of gameplay: I completed several side quests and obviously, the main quest.

    It's a good RPG game. The game is open world and there is a navigation system and naval battles different from conventional RPGs.

    I liked the game, but I confess that I expected more since I saw the many positive reviews before playing it. I recommend the game, but it's nothing fantastic.    … Expand
  13. Geralt123
    Sep 13, 2022
    7
    In one sentence: fun combat but mediocre story 7/10

    Pros ----- - Beautiful grahpics - Endless skills / weapons - Satisfying combat - Nice finisher animations - Ship management increases immersion - Entering other ships is fun - Quickload/Quicksave is really good Cons -------- - Load screens when you enter a house or even a new floor of a house, this is really too long -    In one sentence: fun combat but mediocre story 7/10

    Pros
    -----
    - Beautiful grahpics
    - Endless skills / weapons
    - Satisfying combat
    - Nice finisher animations
    - Ship management increases immersion
    - Entering other ships is fun
    - Quickload/Quicksave is really good

    Cons
    --------
    - Load screens when you enter a house or even a new floor of a house, this is really too long
    - Too much religious blah blah
    - Story and most dialogues rather boring
    - Pirate settings is so overused I can’t believe why they chose that
    - Not much to do on many islands
    - Disappointing ending    … Expand
  14. 2random
    Sep 4, 2022
    1
    The game feels extremely unsatisfying to play. A huge disappointment. Not even close to baldurs gate. It just tries to be what it isn't. There's no real depth to the world, most of the NPCs speak with one-liners, stand in 1 place all the time and are more like decorations than actual people. This isn't how you make this kind of games. The game is in poor technical condition- lags, bugs,The game feels extremely unsatisfying to play. A huge disappointment. Not even close to baldurs gate. It just tries to be what it isn't. There's no real depth to the world, most of the NPCs speak with one-liners, stand in 1 place all the time and are more like decorations than actual people. This isn't how you make this kind of games. The game is in poor technical condition- lags, bugs, takes ages to load. But the woke sure is there, the game's just infested with it.… Expand
  15. Tomplexthis
    Jul 7, 2022
    8
    This game builds alot upon the first pillars of eternity, but also has a Awful ending, the game in its entirety is pretty amazing, and worth playing, it adds on a lot of new features that are kind of awesome, like the dumb boat, with repetitive fights, or the many islands, with places to see and explore, loved its dlc, for what the game is, i liked it alot, but that ending, sours everyThis game builds alot upon the first pillars of eternity, but also has a Awful ending, the game in its entirety is pretty amazing, and worth playing, it adds on a lot of new features that are kind of awesome, like the dumb boat, with repetitive fights, or the many islands, with places to see and explore, loved its dlc, for what the game is, i liked it alot, but that ending, sours every aspect of playing this.… Expand
  16. Morigames
    May 30, 2022
    9
    Classic. Following the D&D line. A huge LORE with great character involvement. System in the line of old RPGs.
  17. SegeiNowichkov
    May 22, 2022
    9
    Awesome, but I would like to see more visual affects in the future games. For instance, ship's fights could be animated
  18. tontonac
    May 16, 2022
    10
    A masterpiece, made with a lot of love. It is not perfect but is probably the best you can do while staying true to the "classic" CRPG genre (including fixed, but absolutely beautiful backgrounds).
  19. jseph1234
    Apr 17, 2022
    7
    What a lovingly well-crafted game this is. From the beautiful animation and awesome story that carries over from Pillars of Eternity 1. Was a bit disappointed though how my original charater from #1 was Nerfed badly so I have changed my rating to 7 / 10
  20. RedDragonSchool
    Apr 10, 2022
    10
    Great game, just like its predecessor PoE1. A must have for RTwP fans. There is one caveat only: it's too easy except the hardest difficulty level, so this will be hopefully addressed in the future.
  21. Gamed2long
    Apr 6, 2022
    7
    Ultimately I developed a love/hate relationship with this game, that continued to its deeply unsatisfying conclusion. It is in many ways an improvement over POE 1. But would I recommend it to a D&D game fan? It depends. To anyone not already a fan of the genre? Definitely NOT!
    The good: Enemy and companion AI is a big step up from the first game. Characters have more voiced dialogue.    Ultimately I developed a love/hate relationship with this game, that continued to its deeply unsatisfying conclusion. It is in many ways an improvement over POE 1. But would I recommend it to a D&D game fan? It depends. To anyone not already a fan of the genre? Definitely NOT!
    The good: Enemy and companion AI is a big step up from the first game. Characters have more voiced dialogue. Characters are more grounded and there were better companion interactions to be had. Some settings are very creative and pretty. The class system is more polished and intuitive. Some more compelling side quests and 3 DLCs far better than the base game. The game even got a bit philosophical at times. In places it had that old school Baldur's Gate quirkiness that is missing in most modern games.
    The bad: Fight balance. How items were handled. I liked the idea of finding gold items and upgrading them until they had the best stats in the game and came with a special ability, however a lot of the time this meant I found a best in slot item for a character, and had no need to change it out for the rest of the game. I took half my crew through the whole game never changing off the equipment they started in. It already had the good perk attributes, so it was just a matter of upgrading with gold and generic crafting stuff. So that took some fun out of itemization. Potions/scrolls would have made a big difference early on, but it costs gold to brew/craft them. Was too poor to when they would have made a huge difference and by the time I was rich enough to, I'd amassed basically all I'd need. So that was largely a wasted opportunity. The 4 major factions in the game are all flawed. Perhaps too flawed to the point it was hard to see redeeming qualities in any of them. I appreciate they didn't want clear "good guy/bad guy" choices. But the factions could have shown more good to go with their bad.
    Then there was ship combat. Basically its own text adventure that ended in a typical fight anyway. I appreciate this game is small budget and chose not to go into battle animations or cutscenes. But the text crawl with unclear rules made it no fun if you know what you're doing and just bad if you don't.
    Finally the main plot started off strong, but ended with a whimper, not a bang. It started out better, but ended worse than most of the side quests and DLC.    … Expand
  22. F1_is_WWE
    Mar 20, 2022
    8
    This is the best CRPG game simply because it has by far the best combat of them all. No longer do you just spam heal and attack like in other games, here you have to actually use your skills and items with different tactics each battle. Muticlassing and leveling characters is fun. I can't go back to any of the older CRPGs after this one, it just blows them out of the water.

    The only    This is the best CRPG game simply because it has by far the best combat of them all. No longer do you just spam heal and attack like in other games, here you have to actually use your skills and items with different tactics each battle. Muticlassing and leveling characters is fun. I can't go back to any of the older CRPGs after this one, it just blows them out of the water.

    The only problems with the game are the boring story and naval battles, but they don't take up too much time.

    Would recommend playing with the Diffuclty Tweaks mod so you don't get overlevelled.    … Expand
  23. Nomac69
    Mar 19, 2022
    10
    Exceptional game and rich world full of nuanced side quests and fulfilling character development.
  24. Odal
    Nov 30, 2021
    6
    Too many things felt off with this game. From the weird aesthetics of African italians in European clothing with weird accents (woke?) to the whole theme of pirates and Islands. Characters were pretty weak as well. Apart from Eder, Aloth, Xoti and Serafin, there wasn't much there.
    And even then Aloth and Serafin are not the best characters ever created exactly. I did like Xoti and Eder    Too many things felt off with this game. From the weird aesthetics of African italians in European clothing with weird accents (woke?) to the whole theme of pirates and Islands. Characters were pretty weak as well. Apart from Eder, Aloth, Xoti and Serafin, there wasn't much there.
    And even then Aloth and Serafin are not the best characters ever created exactly. I did like Xoti and Eder is a likeable classic from PoE though.

    Some may like it better than PoE 1 and it did have some great moments, but overall a very "meh" experience. Especially comparing to Pillars of Eternity 1 in my opinion.

    The plus of the game is the movement with the text-RPG, those I really liked. But the story, atmosphere, characters and quests were all worse than PoE. The terrible combat from PoE was neither improved. The music is pretty good, but not again as good as Pillars Of Eternity 1.

    Still as a fan of RPG:s, I say, give it a try. However, I personally burned out pretty quickly on the game and had to force myself to finnish it.

    I hope if they make a PoE 3, which I hope they do, that they take it back to a classic adventure setting without pirates and that they improve on the things mentioned as negatives in this review: aeshetics, setting, combat, mainquest, characters.

    +
    Text RPG moments
    Beautifully made enviroments
    Music

    -
    Aesthetics
    Setting
    Character choice (too few good characters)
    Factions
    Combat    … Expand
  25. agekbaten
    Nov 27, 2021
    10
    A huge positive impression. Played 300 hours and did not meet the monotony of them. A very elaborate combat system, masterpiece quests, excellent tracks that are pleasant to listen to separately, well-developed lore, excellent graphics.
    It's surprising that such a small estimate. Of the shortcomings, after an abundance of battles in the game, FPS drops on my rysen 7 2700x and gtx 1070,    A huge positive impression. Played 300 hours and did not meet the monotony of them. A very elaborate combat system, masterpiece quests, excellent tracks that are pleasant to listen to separately, well-developed lore, excellent graphics.
    It's surprising that such a small estimate. Of the shortcomings, after an abundance of battles in the game, FPS drops on my rysen 7 2700x and gtx 1070, after loading from the main menu, everything is fine again.
    Less than 9 out of 10 (due to technical problems) this masterpiece does not deserve, it is a pleasure to pass on high difficulty, since the game has an excellent balance for those who want to understand.
    Sony games (with all due respect) move over and hold the obsidian beer.
    Fine!
    (I put 10 points to increase the overall rating of the game)    … Expand
  26. Akadrud
    Nov 1, 2021
    8
    I have mixed feelings about this game.. though I think it is worth playing, especially for it's beaufitul graphic. I really loved the atmosphere, the game system, the characters and the really impressive scenery, models, lightning and animation, but I feel it lacks in some parts: the story could be better and more involving for the main character but i won't spoil it: the naval system isI have mixed feelings about this game.. though I think it is worth playing, especially for it's beaufitul graphic. I really loved the atmosphere, the game system, the characters and the really impressive scenery, models, lightning and animation, but I feel it lacks in some parts: the story could be better and more involving for the main character but i won't spoil it: the naval system is pretty useless as it doesn't really has an impact on the game and you can basically ignore it. Some story lines also seems to die, and some others you can completely miss because of no hints whatsoever.… Expand
  27. Bioreactor1987
    Oct 19, 2021
    9
    Хороший представитель жанра. Залетела в список любимых игр рядом с ведьмаком и дивинити ос2.
    Возможно, если бы играл через активную паузу зашла бы гораздо хуже, но пошаговый режим кайфовый.
    Взбесил только dlc seeker slayer survivor.    Хороший представитель жанра. Залетела в список любимых игр рядом с ведьмаком и дивинити ос2.
    Возможно, если бы играл через активную паузу зашла бы гораздо хуже, но пошаговый режим кайфовый.
    Взбесил только dlc seeker slayer survivor.
  28. wanderu
    Oct 9, 2021
    9
    Великолепная ролевая игра, далеко шагнувшая вперед после 1 части. Рекомендую к покупке каждому поклоннику партийных РПГ.
  29. Woolee
    Sep 29, 2021
    7
    In my opinion, PoE2 is a huge step up from PoE1 (which was also a great game). It improved on many areas, and from what I've noticed hasn't worsened in any aspect that was in PoE 1.
  30. ministry86
    Sep 26, 2021
    6
    I don't like to **** on a game that's already sold poorly, but in this case, I have to. There's a lot of nonsense cultural jargon you're supposed to read and actually care about. I'm happy to learn a game world's history and lingo if the journey I'm going on is interesting, but it's not. Don't mistake a Fampyr for a Vampire or Hel for Hell. They're different, but not really. Even readingI don't like to **** on a game that's already sold poorly, but in this case, I have to. There's a lot of nonsense cultural jargon you're supposed to read and actually care about. I'm happy to learn a game world's history and lingo if the journey I'm going on is interesting, but it's not. Don't mistake a Fampyr for a Vampire or Hel for Hell. They're different, but not really. Even reading the quest log is annoying. Obsidian's idea of interesting writing is to throw as many adjectives, nonsensical character names and long winded descriptions into every line of dialogue and scene description. Yet, in the end, very little of it is engaging, exciting or worthy of the time I'm putting into it. As I hear some of the dialogue being spoken, I frequently laugh because of how damn silly it all sounds. It just comes off as pretentious to me. This is one of the most cynical games you'll ever play. Every faction is made up of monsters and bigots.

    There are a lot of time wasting issues within the game. For instance, the load times in between each floor of a building and entering and exiting a building. To fast travel around the city you have to run to an exit, you can't just open the map up and fast travel that way. Why? The "running" speed is also ridiculously slow. Nobody besides the obese run nearly that slow in real life.

    Why does it cost copper to craft items? For example, it costs 300 gold to create a single scroll of "Garden of Life" and 200 gold to craft a "Potion of Ironskin". That's a lazy way to "balance" crafting. If you add up the cost of the ingredients and the copper cost, it probably costs just about as much as buying one. That's stupid. What, are my characters tossing the gold pieces into the potion as it's being brewed? Why does it cost 30k gold to enchant an item from 'superb' to 'legendary' if I already have the skill and items to do so?. I've heard the counter arguments and they don't hold up. "Balance".

    So many potions and spells are so situational that they are useless because you can't use items from your personal inventory in battle. You can only use "quick items" in battle. That's 4 slots. I'm not going to load up my 4 slots with potions that I will likely never need.

    It's so easy to make your crew happy that low morale is never an issue. With all the money you rake in selling dead enemy loot, due to unlimited stash, that you can afford all the good food and drink and never have to worry about anything. You can also share the gold from every enemy ship defeated and that raises morale drastically. 10 morale up to plus 40 morale easily. There is no challenge in the ship combat because you can just board their ship and can avoid the text based naval battles every time. Obsidian is scared of commitments. They design a system but make sure to leave you an out and to allow you to skip it entirely, making that entire system they spent a long time developing pointless. According to the Fig campaign having a ship crew was an actual stretch goal, yet Ydwin, one of the more interesting sidekicks was locked behind the 5 million dollar goalpost. The ship crew was little more than flavor text. There are storms on the world map that you can see when sailing. They're just big circles on the world map to easily sail around. If you go through them there are some text based options that can kill or wound crew if you get unlucky, but mostly, you just gain a little experience. There is no risk whatsoever of running into a storm unless you want to. I sail into them for the nearly free experience points. The entire ship portion of the game is of no consequence. If I had donated money to that Fig campaign, I would be pissed off about the half-assed implementation of the systems on their stretch goals. I didn't and I'm annoyed.

    There is a formula for nearly every place you find exploring the world. You land on an island of interest, there is a site you want to visit. You're greeted by someone with vague speech who makes an offer. You say yes or no. Fight if you said no. You go to the site in question. The little text book pops up as you enter. Inconsequential words. You enter. It's essentially the same map as every other island's mini "dungeon". It takes 5-15 minutes and you're done. I have a feeling the writers were too busy arguing over which companions were going to screw each other than writing quests with substance. As a straight male playing a male character, having two male party members trying to **** me is a bit much.

    Obsidian, hire somebody to write for you besides 20-35 year old Californian hipster liberals. Get a little diversity in there. You actually do need it. And make sure to keep Justin Bell as your composer no matter what happens. He's really great. The music is fantastic.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best PC Game of 2018
22
#22 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
10
#10 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 71
  3. Negative: 0 out of 71
  1. RPGamer
    May 7, 2019
    70
    Those with an appreciation for the tabletop games and classic PC games this pays homage to will likely have an enjoyable experience. The learning curve is a bit steep, the seas may get choppy, and the deck can get rather slippery, but with some patience and perseverance, even the greenest sailor can go from lowly deckhand to decorated captain.
    Read full review
  2. Game Debate
    Oct 22, 2018
    95
    With DLC called 'The Deck of Many Things' and rules system that very closely mirrors the fundamentals of D&D right down to individual spells, it's sort of a crying shame that the powers that control licensing on both sides were unable to consummate this obvious marriage. Pillars of Eternity, for me, is the best D&D series there never was.
    Read full review
  3. Gamers Heroes
    Sep 4, 2018
    80
    Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is not for everyone. The web of intertwining features and mechanics are as deep as they are complicated, but for those looking for more from their RPGs – more character, more wonder, more life – Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a fantastic homage to the true roots of the RPG genre.
    Read full review
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