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. evesea
    May 17, 2018
    10
    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.

    Damn near everything is voice acted, the writing is vastly improved & the combat is much better. The music is better, the sound is better, the voice acting is better. The graphics look amazing for an    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.

    Damn near everything is voice acted, the writing is vastly improved & the combat is much better. The music is better, the sound is better, the voice acting is better. The graphics look amazing for an isometric (not that it matters), the character models are improved, and the animations are MUCH more fluid. The story is great, the dialogue is so much better (way less pretentious and far more human - More 'pulp fiction' less 'lesbian film festival' ), and the story is engaging. The characters have much more personality, the companion system is vastly improved, and dialogue choice feels even more weighty.

    I could keep going on positives but here are the negatives I can think of: I heard there are bugs (haven't encountered any), the difficulty could be turned up a few notches - it works for a first time, but replays are going to need it to be the first games PoD difficulty, and loading screens (saw a review give it a 2 strictly on loading screens - its inconvenient sure, but really not THAT bad jesus.)

    Anyways, I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes RPGs - especially anyone who likes isometric RPGs. People who don't like RPGs will likely just say its boring because they're talking and not shooting but w/e. Recommended! Go buy now!    … Expand
  2. sgy0003
    May 9, 2018
    10
    "People don't enjoy single-player games anymore" said EA.

    Well, suck on God of war and POEII's success, EA. You see, this might be a news to you, but you don't need to have predatory monetization practice with multiplayer games. All you need is an amazing narrative-driven single-player game. Good game means people love it and that equals more sales. It's a win-win situation EA.
  3. OverWind
    May 9, 2018
    10
    Improves on everything. The first one was a bit sluggish, but the tempo in the sequel is perfect. It's like they took all the best parts of PoE1 and Tyranny and put together.
    This is the closest game to Dragon Age: Origins (which is #1 on my list) I've tried, and that's amazing.

    If you like RPG's this is a must buy!
  4. segasweden
    May 8, 2018
    10
    An amazing sequel and a great RPG to explore!
    The best thing is the story-telling and the characters.
  5. Hadriel
    May 9, 2018
    10
    Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is the Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn equivalent in terms of improvement on the original in the series. It is an instant classic and deserves nothing less than a perfect 10/10.
  6. umbershap
    May 9, 2018
    10
    Great game. Obsidian did it again and deliver us a great RPG experience.
    This game deserves better scores.
  7. BillyCorgan81
    May 8, 2018
    10
    300 hours on Pillars 1... 40 hours on Deadfire Beta... any doubt that i'll love this game !
  8. Chameleon187
    May 8, 2018
    10
    Excellent game, building on the solid foundation of the first game to deliver a much deeper and rewarding experience.
  9. kozzy420
    May 8, 2018
    10
    Simply amazing and every aspect is improved from the last game. Well done Obsidian, well done.
  10. krugman25
    May 9, 2018
    10
    By far the most beautiful isometric RPG ever made, as well as the most feature packed and complex.
  11. Sevorast
    May 10, 2018
    10
    The best CRPG since Baldurs Gate 2, a true masterpiece that outdoes the first game in every possible way!

    The morons leaving low scores have not played the game and are just abusing the open nature of this site.
  12. Ogi79
    May 9, 2018
    9
    Imrpoved on every level compared to PoE 1. Fantastic game so far (did not finish it yet)
  13. marc5477
    May 28, 2018
    5
    Update 2: I finally got passed the 10 hour mark and unfortunately, the game actually got worse about 25 hours in. Initially I though the boat battles were fun, now I find them a complete waste of time. I also realized there is no economic balance to the game. If you do boat battles, you get rich so fast, that you can buy all the unique stuff in shops by 15 hours in. The writing does notUpdate 2: I finally got passed the 10 hour mark and unfortunately, the game actually got worse about 25 hours in. Initially I though the boat battles were fun, now I find them a complete waste of time. I also realized there is no economic balance to the game. If you do boat battles, you get rich so fast, that you can buy all the unique stuff in shops by 15 hours in. The writing does not improve, though quest quality did improve. Dialog however never improved and remains terribly boring.

    Update 1: I just tried playing it again and again, 10 hours in and I couldnt stay awake. The story is not interesting and the writing is just horribly boring. I am not sure how this is above a 8.0. Its not like the RPG elements have not been done before in every infinity engine game. This game plays it too safe. It needs something to call its own. Text boat battles dont do it.

    First the good. There are a lot of class options for player customization. I actually enjoy creating unique characters and trying different combinations. I settled on a monk/wizard using staffs which makes sense and actually did fairly well in the time I played the game.

    The not so good but still ok.

    Graphics are decent but areas are very small and it feels static. Everything seems to be voice acted which is nice, except the voices were inappropriate for the game. Some voice actors are great which is why I am placing this here but others are atrocious for the setting. See below for an explanation. Combat is iffy.

    The combat ok but the interface design is very poor. For an action style RPG, they went out of their way to place important information out of the action (view) area requiring you to take your eye off the action to see characters conditions. For example, there were a few situations where my characters almost died and I never even noticed they got hit. This is because health indicators are not above the characters but down below outside of view. Also the camera does not turn, a negative for a modern game with a large budget because it means that at times, its hard to see due to bad angles. The menus are terrible popup sub-menus inside of menus inside of other menus... terrible gui design. Still combat itself is not bad inherently but they added absolutely nothing new.

    Last, the bad stuff...

    #1 Completely UN-immersive. This is a two parter. First, this game that takes itself very seriously (like the 1st) but the story is high school level silly. The two simply do not mix. If you are going to take yourself this seriously, you better have a grade A story and dialog to back it up otherwise it will be a complete drag. I barely got to the 2nd island and I dreaded clicking on an NPC because I didnt want to hear more about the Watcher or get another fetch my money quest... There is a little bit of comic relief but it is very far and few between.

    Second, the accents... oh my god they are so out of place that snap you right out of the game entirely. The girl (Xoti) and her mom, with the southern accents were a complete turn off. I made a mistake by recruiting her but I didnt want miss any content so I usually recruit everyone. I just turned down the volume and started reading so I didnt have to do a double take every time she spoke. But that was not the only accent out of place. The Italian accent is also completely out of place and through the 1st 5 hours it seems that half of the population was Italian. How did someone think that this would be immersive in a game that is as serious as this one? It would have been great for a comedy but not here.

    #2 Group AI is completely borked and unreliable. For example, the AI does not even turn on if your characters are moving at the start of an encounter. It takes them about 5-10 seconds before the AI kicks in and in the meantime, they enemies will get 2 rounds off against characters that are just sitting there doing nothing. Since I play on the highest difficulty, this means that at times, 1 character is dead before the AI even starts up so I had to micro everything. Also, the AI turns off for a bit if you directly order your characters to use a special ability. All this means you have to constantly micro everyone in the party or you will have serious problem at higher difficulties even against trash enemies. This makes every battle a huge drag. You need to do a lot of pausing and clicking and pausing and click and pause and click every few seconds. Too much repetition. Macro'ing in this game is not fun, fair, nor balanced. If you micro everything the game becomes nearly trivial. If you dont micro you will lose to laughable enemies... POE1 had similar problems and I got bored of that quickly too. Baldurs Gate was never like this. They need to fix the AI and reduce the number of clicks (better gui).

    Ultimately, I played about 10 hours and I was so bored that I didnt want to continue. I may go back to play this again later but right now, just seeing the game icon makes me feel sleepy.    … Expand
  14. GiantMoth
    May 9, 2018
    10
    This is a once-in-a-generation RPG. It's not just the best role playing game of the past few years -- which isn't really saying much -- it may be the best game since Baldur's Gate II... and, in many respects, it is clearly superior to BGII, as well!

    The graphics are a thing of beauty, the game engine has been thoroughly optimized so that load times are much faster than they were in the    This is a once-in-a-generation RPG. It's not just the best role playing game of the past few years -- which isn't really saying much -- it may be the best game since Baldur's Gate II... and, in many respects, it is clearly superior to BGII, as well!

    The graphics are a thing of beauty, the game engine has been thoroughly optimized so that load times are much faster than they were in the first PoE, the combat (on hard difficulty) is appealingly complex and strategic, the storytelling is very well done, the game is very well-balanced across multiple dimensions, and the overall "open seas exploration" theme is handled admirably. Most importantly of all, it's an extremely engaging and entertaining game to play, with a lot of depth to it.

    This game has surpassed the first PoE just as BGII surpassed the original Baldur's Gate. It is going to go down as a classic. Game of the decade, easy.    … Expand
  15. klajton
    May 8, 2018
    10
    I'm a big fan of cRPG - I loved ID, IDII, both Baldur's Gate games and now we have the game which can stand comparision to BG2... Obsidian - good work!!! If you 're looking for deep rich beautiful world - buy and play. If you are new - also buy and play… You'll be amazed… Only comparable game for me is Witcher 3...
  16. Kain_Stark
    May 8, 2018
    10
    A Great Game in a fantastic Universe. GREAT RPG OLD STILE. An amazing sequel and a great RPG to explore! The best thing is the story-telling and the characters.
  17. night4
    May 8, 2018
    7
    Pros:

    - Amazing graphics - Incredible sound - High flexibility in creating a character due to subclasses/muticlassing - Probably good replayability - Unmatched AI options Cons (Roughly in order of importance): - The drop to 5 party members is unnecessary and a step in the wrong direction. Improving the AI addresses the micromanagement concerns people had. - With so    Pros:

    - Amazing graphics

    - Incredible sound

    - High flexibility in creating a character due to subclasses/muticlassing

    - Probably good replayability

    - Unmatched AI options

    Cons (Roughly in order of importance):

    - The drop to 5 party members is unnecessary and a step in the wrong direction. Improving the AI addresses the micromanagement concerns people had.

    - With so many subclasses and multiclassing options, the game will *never* be balanced, or even close. Balance isn't the most important thing in a single-player RPG, but it is something that needs to be done, and they've created far, far more work for themselves than they can handle.

    - Dropping back to level 1 with your characters is... somewhat expected, but I'm finding that because most spells/abilities are identical to the first game, it's like I'm just playing the first game all over again. I thought we were getting a sequel here.

    - Related to the previous point, far too many spells are identical to Pillars 1, with longer cast times and adjusted damage. It's disappointing. The new spells they did come up with are, again, mostly blatant copies of D&D spells.

    - It feels like they spent far too much time and far too many resources on martial characters rather than casters. Somewhat related to the previous point on unoriginal spells.

    - Most spells take too long to cast and/or recover from. It makes combat feel like a slog.

    - Too much information during character creation is far too vague.

    - Loading screens are still too long.

    - It's a bit too "pirate-y".    … Expand
  18. darksorc
    May 8, 2018
    10
    The storytelling this time around is exquisite! There is a tremendous amount of care spent on the world building and helping the player to feel like they really are visiting this wonderfully crafted fantasy world.

    Combat is as thrilling as ever in CRPGs, with the added flair of just gorgeous artistic interactions and graphics. This is a pure 10 game, and deserves every bit of love    The storytelling this time around is exquisite! There is a tremendous amount of care spent on the world building and helping the player to feel like they really are visiting this wonderfully crafted fantasy world.

    Combat is as thrilling as ever in CRPGs, with the added flair of just gorgeous artistic interactions and graphics.

    This is a pure 10 game, and deserves every bit of love and every minute you have to spare!    … Expand
  19. Caveretien
    May 16, 2018
    0
    Pros: Pirate! Beautifully old graphic, a lot of classes and a lot of abilities.
    Cos:
    -Terrible music, cheap quality regarding both composing and producing tracks. - long and drag out unimportant and uninteresting dialog. Even with alot more voice over compare to POE 1. Voice over team has little to no emotion or that many lines to say. Saying "I got it" 50 times in a row is terrible.    Pros: Pirate! Beautifully old graphic, a lot of classes and a lot of abilities.
    Cos:
    -Terrible music, cheap quality regarding both composing and producing tracks.
    - long and drag out unimportant and uninteresting dialog. Even with alot more voice over compare to POE 1. Voice over team has little to no emotion or that many lines to say. Saying "I got it" 50 times in a row is terrible.
    - Main story is very very short and boring. There is not really a lead of why one thing lead to another. Their purpose of the whole POEII: Deadfire is not convincing.
    - Too many side quests, they are random and uninteresting. Aside from distracting the player from the main quest, in one town, there are about 20 NPCs each gives 5 quest. It forces you running back and forth too much, not only that the amount of loading screen, you tell me. Game feels like a series of side quest rather than telling a story. I'd call this one Pillar of Many Random Pirate Side quest.
    - Pausing/AI configuration. Again, developers provide too many unnecessary tools for a simple task, 95% of the scripted AI condition aren't needed. Getting interrupted on a spell will make character skip that spell entirely..Compare this to Dragon Age: Origin or Final Fantasy XII ( game on a ps2), they are simpler and doing a much better job.
    -Even though there are alot of classes, abilities and weapon of choices, the way active and passive abilities are made making building a character is oblivious, you cannot fail to build a character in this game. It's very wide but shallow. I'd rather have something narrow but deep, that's character building.
    - Pathing, character can't reach a destination run around and getting hit by engagement attack continuously.
    - Developers are so lazy to balance the game so that they make an option of scaling, game is too easy even on path of the damned difficulty once you reach high level
    -level of a character define its power, everything else is irrelevant: your class, weapon of choice, abilities, potions, scroll etc..

    Final word, I can't believe this PoE I and PoE II both budget about $6 M, compares to DOS I and
    DOSII with the same budget. or even its predecessor NWN or Baldur's Gate. After 40 hours to finish this game on Path of The Damned. I'm very dissapointed    … Expand
  20. Sayno
    May 14, 2018
    4
    If you want a bunch of flowery language, buggy inconsistent combat, bland characters, a quota-filling system of sexuality with hetero being the minority, a much shorter game then PoE and not as good as any RPG in recent or semi-recent memory but are desperate for an isometric game, then I suppose it is OK. The world is quite nice. I'm really concerned about the direction Obsidian is takingIf you want a bunch of flowery language, buggy inconsistent combat, bland characters, a quota-filling system of sexuality with hetero being the minority, a much shorter game then PoE and not as good as any RPG in recent or semi-recent memory but are desperate for an isometric game, then I suppose it is OK. The world is quite nice. I'm really concerned about the direction Obsidian is taking though with their game quality and leftist agendas.… Expand
  21. marcus113
    May 14, 2018
    0
    Do people have no standards? Baldurs Gate I & II, are so much better in every way and they're almost 20 years old... they put better graphics in the game and assume that this is all you have to do? Why not do something different and unique? If this were a movie that remade an older movie it would get destroyed in reviews. Why are gamers giving it a pass for being a safe remake of an olderDo people have no standards? Baldurs Gate I & II, are so much better in every way and they're almost 20 years old... they put better graphics in the game and assume that this is all you have to do? Why not do something different and unique? If this were a movie that remade an older movie it would get destroyed in reviews. Why are gamers giving it a pass for being a safe remake of an older game.

    Also this is an RPG. Graphics are not what makes RPG's great. Its character development, story, writing, lore... This is a lot less complex than the original D&D games in terms of classes, combinations and abilities so no points for that. I mean... if you are going to copy, at the very least maintain the level of quality of the old games and dont cut content. The bad thing about this game is that its so boring. The story is just drab and tiring.    … Expand
  22. svarog
    May 9, 2018
    2
    Loading screens, loading screens everywhere... Optimization? No, better to add more loading screens.
  23. maxmoefoe
    May 8, 2018
    0
    Boring characters, boring story, boring narrative design. Easy combat. This feels like a horrible DLC for the original pillars of eternity.
  24. RMDsilva
    Jan 13, 2019
    6
    It's a good game, but definitely not as good as the original.
    The storyline gets considerably simpler, there's a "pick your own ending" and nonsensical alliances/diplomacy.
    Combat is also still not super satisfying. Running over everything with the same tactic unless you're on POTD is a bit meh.
  25. nomemory
    Dec 6, 2019
    7
    There a few wrong things with the game to distance it from a great experience: loading screens, weak main story and easy combat even on higher level of difficulty.
  26. theirrelephants
    Jun 9, 2020
    7
    Good game but I didn't enjoy it as much as PoE1. 90% of the quests happen around one hub city, and 90% of the other "dungeons" consist of (admittedly pretty) one to two rooms on a single floor. The story didn't flow very well either, and while the faction system was entertaining, none of them were remotely likeable.

    The new party members were okay, but Eder and Aloth were the most    Good game but I didn't enjoy it as much as PoE1. 90% of the quests happen around one hub city, and 90% of the other "dungeons" consist of (admittedly pretty) one to two rooms on a single floor. The story didn't flow very well either, and while the faction system was entertaining, none of them were remotely likeable.

    The new party members were okay, but Eder and Aloth were the most enjoyable companions. The new ones didn't really compare to old favorites like Durance or Sagani. Xoti and Maia were.. okay. The rest of them were either bland or bad. The only one that might have been more interesting was confined to a companion role with no real story (some elf undead woman).

    The main quest also feels incredibly rushed. It's basically four missions and the final "boss fight" is a quick check list of questions and then the credits are rolled.

    It's a good RPG, but it's not a great one. Thaos was a much better villain than Eothas was. The latter comes off like a spoiled child who's smashing things because no one else will let him have his way, and yet his fellow gods wont intervene for reasons that are never really clear despite hitting him with a magic nuke the last time he tried to pull this. Despite attempts to handwave their inaction away, Woedica repeatedly makes it clear that they could stop him, they just wont because...reasons?

    I liked PoE2, but I didn't love it.

    By the way Sawyer, if you're reading this and still confused why it didn't sell as well as the first one - it's because of bad marketing. I didn't even know a second one had ever released until years later when it popped up as being on sale on steam.    … Expand
  27. Nimbus1701
    Mar 22, 2019
    5
    Deadfire features a number of 'qualify of life' improvements over the previous game. The problem with Deadfire, however, is that the writers seem to have gotten lost in their own mythology. The lore is quite hard to follow, despite a familiarity to pacific cultures in real world. Even the logic behind the main storyline feels forced - and segmented. The player spends most of their timeDeadfire features a number of 'qualify of life' improvements over the previous game. The problem with Deadfire, however, is that the writers seem to have gotten lost in their own mythology. The lore is quite hard to follow, despite a familiarity to pacific cultures in real world. Even the logic behind the main storyline feels forced - and segmented. The player spends most of their time moving between large swathes of ocean, stumbling onto islands, where you 'play' multiple choice text-games - that is to say, it is mostly padding.

    Had the developers simply extended the storyline, and maintained every other aspect of the original PoE - you'd still have a superior game.

    It's worth buying on discount, to support the developer. But I can't recommend it at full price.    … Expand
  28. 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
  29. 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.
  30. mondovious
    Jun 25, 2018
    8
    Solid game. I'd rate the first game at 7/10, and this one is a solid improvement in just about every way.
    - combat is better and easier to see what's going on
    - better itemization - ship exploration is cool some nitpicks: - the story is slow at times. To me this has the effect of making the experience feel less epic than it should. - too many spells/abilities are carbon copied    Solid game. I'd rate the first game at 7/10, and this one is a solid improvement in just about every way.
    - combat is better and easier to see what's going on
    - better itemization
    - ship exploration is cool

    some nitpicks:
    - the story is slow at times. To me this has the effect of making the experience feel less epic than it should.
    - too many spells/abilities are carbon copied from the first game    … 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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