Pillars of Eternity

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2683 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,104 out of 2683
  2. Mixed: 308 out of 2683
  3. Negative: 271 out of 2683
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  1. KuriousJorj
    Sep 3, 2016
    4
    Yet another overrated game by people apparently desperate for ANYTHING in the RPG genre.

    Boring world, boring plot, boring combat, boring game. Long-winded walls of text. Pathetic combat (enemies that move away from your attacks, but if you do the same, you get a "Disengage" penalty. AND NO, just because it's a pause RPG does NOT mean it's supposed to be that way. Does NOT mean it    Yet another overrated game by people apparently desperate for ANYTHING in the RPG genre.

    Boring world, boring plot, boring combat, boring game. Long-winded walls of text. Pathetic combat (enemies that move away from your attacks, but if you do the same, you get a "Disengage" penalty.

    AND NO, just because it's a pause RPG does NOT mean it's supposed to be that way. Does NOT mean it gets a pass on being boring.    … Expand
  2. flexy123
    Apr 5, 2015
    4
    The comparison with Baldur's Gate is an insult. What made BG so great was being able to play with friends/roommates in the party over the network! PoE doesn't even have multiplayer - a shame since isometric RPGs IMHO are just the perfect thing for multiplayer! This is MEGA lame! Second...people rate the game highly because "it is a good read". If I want to read something I get my Kindle.The comparison with Baldur's Gate is an insult. What made BG so great was being able to play with friends/roommates in the party over the network! PoE doesn't even have multiplayer - a shame since isometric RPGs IMHO are just the perfect thing for multiplayer! This is MEGA lame! Second...people rate the game highly because "it is a good read". If I want to read something I get my Kindle. Sounds to me this is just another crappy indy game with crappy graphics and a complete lack of multi-player/co-op. Thanks. NO.… Expand
  3. notchedbandit
    Apr 4, 2015
    4
    I was hoping that PoE would have a story that would keep me interested, however the sad truth is that the story is very bland and generic. There is nothing that stands out. The way the story is told is bad as well, considering all they do is just throw a bookful of text in front of you to read. No visual suspense at all. Just read a book instead if you like a good story.

    I stopped    I was hoping that PoE would have a story that would keep me interested, however the sad truth is that the story is very bland and generic. There is nothing that stands out. The way the story is told is bad as well, considering all they do is just throw a bookful of text in front of you to read. No visual suspense at all. Just read a book instead if you like a good story.

    I stopped playing the game 10 hours in mainly because of the story, and secondary because how little environmental interaction there is. All the game does well for me is the combat, which is exactly what I was not interested in.    … Expand
  4. Bongo_clive
    Oct 13, 2015
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Having just completed Wasteland 2 and Divinity: Original Sin, I was very excited about trying another high quality RPG, but I cannot bring myself to finish this drudgery.

    The other 2 games had wit, humour and fun, with crisp, snappy dialogue, truly interesting characters and a quest you could relate to, Pillars had none of these things.

    It is clearly well made, it look pretty good, but it is just so boring.

    And don't even get me started on the number of bloody loading screens.

    I loved Baldur's Gate, but that was 15 years ago. Design has moved on. Wasteland 2 showed how it should be done. This is just a terribly boring game.    … Expand
  5. Xharlie
    Apr 3, 2015
    4
    My friends and I were gathered around a table, dice at hand. Our dungeon master gave the following advice: "Unless you are excellent at accents, talk normally." In Pillars of Eternity, every voice actor and every script writer could benefit from that advice. All of them sound like Americans trying too hard to force a "cool", nonchalant or wise accent and they all fail miserably. Even theMy friends and I were gathered around a table, dice at hand. Our dungeon master gave the following advice: "Unless you are excellent at accents, talk normally." In Pillars of Eternity, every voice actor and every script writer could benefit from that advice. All of them sound like Americans trying too hard to force a "cool", nonchalant or wise accent and they all fail miserably. Even the written text reads like it was carefully sculpted to give this very impression. The resulting level of immersion is nil and the story falls flat.

    The level of immersion remains bland, throughout, and there are frequent moments that break immersion entirely. Some conversation branches are voiced for one paragraph, not voiced for the next paragraph and then voiced again. All of the voiced sections are read immediately, regardless of the unspoken descriptions that appear in the same paragraph, forcing you to read the paragraph twice or out of order. The narrator is the weakest voice actor of the cast and you are often dropped onto a screen featuring nothing but a sketch and some text that this narrator proceeds to read.

    The game-play offered is also very unsatisfying. The old Infinity Engine games worked because of a simple principle: your party was truly powerful if you were truly cunning. Even if the odds were stacked against you, you could still win by careful planing and preparation, positioning and a bit of luck.

    In Pillars of Eternity, this is not the case. Min-maxing, use of dump-stats and certain party recipes will give you a stupidly over-powered party but, if you don't exploit these, you're actually very very weak and there isn't much you can do about it. You can't prepare for a battle because you can't buff your party outside of combat so reconnaissance is useless. The dungeon design does not really lend itself to ambushes and the like and positioning during the battle seems to have little effect. Even magic is rather unhelpful because nearly every spell is area-of-effect and nearly all of those inflict friendly fire. (In Bladur's Gate, a the perfect spell at the opportune moment could give you a victory in the face of certain failure and the satisfaction that brought was immense!)

    Nearly every encounter follows the same formula: line up your party, send in the tank to "draw" the mobs (being exceptionally careful not to draw more than one encounter-group because there's no way you can handle two at once if you aren't a munchkin), retreat, engage, fire a few uninspiring spells, watch and see.

    Stealth is not only useless, it is also incredibly annoying: you have to put your entire party into stealth-mode to detect traps and you have to do that in every room with containers in it.

    Lastly, be aware that the game has shipped with several disastrous bugs that will ruin your experience if you don't wait for them to be fixed. Even if you do play it, don't play it now!    … Expand
  6. losik
    Feb 13, 2016
    4
    There is one big issue with this game - the combat is a chore. I don't want to explore another location if I will have to defeat another group of lackluster enemies in this turnbased clickfest. I also think that developer tried to fill as much references/throwbacks to Baldurs Gate as possible to blind people with blind people with nostalgia and it looks like it worked.
    One more thing -    There is one big issue with this game - the combat is a chore. I don't want to explore another location if I will have to defeat another group of lackluster enemies in this turnbased clickfest. I also think that developer tried to fill as much references/throwbacks to Baldurs Gate as possible to blind people with blind people with nostalgia and it looks like it worked.
    One more thing - can we finally start CRPGs in cities? It is not fun to explore different possible approaches to game when I have to go through the same introductory area over and over. It is even worse here than in Wastelands 2, as most locations are out of reach until you complete quests.    … Expand
  7. ErobererZim
    Apr 1, 2015
    4
    Unfortunataly just an average game, a Baldurs Gate "light".

    I played Baldurs Gate back then, I loved the Forgotten Realm-Setting and the aD&D-Ruleset. PoE won't give you that. Obsidian created a new fanatsy-universe with its own rules and gamemechanics. PoE is Baldurs Gate's son, who did everything to fallow his fathers footsteps to make him proud, but simply hadn't the talent to begin    Unfortunataly just an average game, a Baldurs Gate "light".

    I played Baldurs Gate back then, I loved the Forgotten Realm-Setting and the aD&D-Ruleset. PoE won't give you that. Obsidian created a new fanatsy-universe with its own rules and gamemechanics. PoE is Baldurs Gate's son, who did everything to fallow his fathers footsteps to make him proud, but simply hadn't the talent to begin with to become what he was.

    Pros:
    -Overall good art design
    -Kinda good music
    -The story seems to be okey so far
    -Very aesthetic UI
    -You can only rest a couple of times in the wilds

    Con:
    -Tons of gamebraking bugs
    -German localization is a MESS. You have grammatical mistakes and misspellings in almost every single dialogue. Feels like they partly used a auto translater for this game, I'm serious right now. Or someone translated it who's motherlanguage isn't german
    -Therefore you are kinda forced to play in english
    -New Fantasy Universe with a lot of creepy races you don't give a **** about (no orcs, gnomes halfelves and so on, but some fishman and ... ratpeople? Or what are these little freeks supposed to look like? Also you can play as a alien in the game, called godlikes)
    -Only 8 (boring) follower to can recruit. All I encountered so far seem to be dull and boring, I don't really care about them. You can ask them tons of questions about their past, but other then that they don't seem to have much dialogues.
    -NO ROMANCES. You lazy asses. Sorry
    -Dialogues are strange, you can search in someones soul for information about is life he had before, which is A LOT of text, that doesn't have to to anything with the plot in the slightest. It's so interesting like reading a book in Baldurs Gate.

    -You have also a bazillion gestures and discriptions about what's your counterpart look like in the dialogues, or what he's doing at the moment, like:

    John walkes down the street, he scratches his kin. Then he notices you: "Oh hello there", he says.

    And **** like that, which is really annoying and uninteresting to read.

    Well, thats good enough for so far I suppose. It's a kinda good game, especially for 26€ you can't do anything wrong. But don't expect a second Baldurs Gate experiance. This game won't give you that.    … Expand
  8. nilleratus
    Oct 1, 2015
    4
    I'm very much a fan of this type of games, I've played them all.

    This games starts of extremely well, me and a close mate didn't talk about anything for the first few days. Act 1 is awesome. In act 2, you start getting a little bit bored because the fights are so easy, that could be countered by raising the difficulty though. In act 3 you steamroll everything and you reach max level    I'm very much a fan of this type of games, I've played them all.

    This games starts of extremely well, me and a close mate didn't talk about anything for the first few days. Act 1 is awesome. In act 2, you start getting a little bit bored because the fights are so easy, that could be countered by raising the difficulty though.

    In act 3 you steamroll everything and you reach max level late act 2 or early act 3 depending on how you play. That means the only exploration left is story and loot. This isn't diablo, so loot is only mildly interesting. So rule that out.

    The story then, it's ok, it's not bad and it's not great. I wasn't entirely captured by it but I wanted to get through it, and I did, barely because the gameplay is so **** boring the last act.

    I followed this game from the start and I'm super disappointed unfortunately :(    … Expand
  9. Wiebe
    Feb 27, 2020
    4
    I started this game 3 times, but I couldn't get in it. Maybe if it actually came out in 2005, but it was not engaging enough for me now.
  10. Voyou
    Nov 24, 2015
    4
    It seems that many bad reviews focus on bugs. Not mine. I play(ed) a bug free game. Well, with the exception of the memory management, which is so bad that the game can't work on a 32 bits system, making those programmers the laughing stock of the industry. Anyway...

    I give a less than average note because the inanity of the gameplay easily ruins any good aspect of PoE. Whatever our    It seems that many bad reviews focus on bugs. Not mine. I play(ed) a bug free game. Well, with the exception of the memory management, which is so bad that the game can't work on a 32 bits system, making those programmers the laughing stock of the industry. Anyway...

    I give a less than average note because the inanity of the gameplay easily ruins any good aspect of PoE. Whatever our favourite game is between BG2, Planescape Torment or other, most of us here enjoy the Infinity Engine. To me, the combat was their weakest point, but it was never an hindrance, and at times it was even very enjoyable. Every single fight in PoE is a pain and a bore; and there is a huge amount of bloodshed.

    Here are some of the worst and most ridiculous flaws of the game:
    - Stats and skills (the full 5 of them) are awful. The system was clearly designed by an all-too-geeky amateur.
    - Playing equals crunching numbers, complete with percentages and fractions. Not to mention that this numbers are ugly to read. This hobby feels like working.
    - Itemisation is everywhere. The looting system is as boring as in many games. What's more unusual, the spells are equally annoying to read and boring to use (e.g., AoE hobbled for 1.7 sec vs Will + dazed 2.016 sec vs For... or whatever.)
    - Fighting is nothing more than grinding, due to an accumulation of inane mechanics. You won't find here the large variety of play styles and tactics you had in an IE game.
    - To detect, you must sneak. You will then explore all maps at a turtle's pace. A terribly cheap and mean way to make a game last longer.
    - Thieves are sad. I'm the guy who plays BG2 with at least 4 thieves at once. I can safely say it's my favourite class in video games. Of course, I expected PoE to improve them (and everything else.) But you can't pickpocket, you can't backstab (well, technically you can, but you'll be dead in the next 2 seconds,) sneaking is clumsy, traps are a joke, and you can do nothing new compared to an IE game.

    This is not the place to mention and detail all the design flaws of the game, but the list goes on and on. The good sides, on the other hand, are quick to note: The game is gorgeous, and some of the companions are terrific. The only reason I'll keep playing, if sporadically, is to interact with a priest named Durance. The best NPC ever, so props to whoever wrote this geezer with such a level of maturity and intensity.    … Expand
  11. Athenryn
    Feb 11, 2016
    4
    Appalling dull, generic story and some of the worst RPG combat/level design ever devised! Just replay Baldurs Gate instead, since the only charm this game has is the BG nostalgia trip.

    I am totally done with Obsidian, no-one is better at draining the fun from an RPG, while leaving a miserable story, miserable characters and bizarre difficulty (the early levels are literally almost all    Appalling dull, generic story and some of the worst RPG combat/level design ever devised! Just replay Baldurs Gate instead, since the only charm this game has is the BG nostalgia trip.

    I am totally done with Obsidian, no-one is better at draining the fun from an RPG, while leaving a miserable story, miserable characters and bizarre difficulty (the early levels are literally almost all fights you need to come back and finish in 5 levels, it's So. Weird. To build a game like that).

    Also, YES, kickstarter is a menace with the jacked up player reviews, this is just not a fun product.    … Expand
  12. FKAsavage
    Mar 30, 2023
    4
    I really wanted to like this game, as a fan of Obsidian and the CRPG genre, but after 3 attempts this game feels a bit lifeless. I would say I held some hope for it after the intro sequence, where some interesting things do happen. Unfortunately this is not representative of the adventure that follows it.

    It reads as an inferior Dragon Age Origins, with less engaging characters,    I really wanted to like this game, as a fan of Obsidian and the CRPG genre, but after 3 attempts this game feels a bit lifeless. I would say I held some hope for it after the intro sequence, where some interesting things do happen. Unfortunately this is not representative of the adventure that follows it.

    It reads as an inferior Dragon Age Origins, with less engaging characters, cluttered lore and dry dialogue. It even feels a step back mechanically, which when considering this game is 6 years newer than DAO it's profoundly clear how dated Pillars of Eternity feels.

    I have gripes including, but not limited to:

    Antiquated mechanics and UI/interface
    Excessively long exposition dumps
    Flat, uninspired writing
    Companions that range from dull to obnoxious (Durance), but rarely likable
    Predictable enemy encounters which makes combat feel repetitive
    Complicated mechanics with barebones explanations
    Over rehearsed voice acting that lacks a feeling of authenticity
    Graphically ugly for a game made in 2015

    Despite the above, it is still a serviceable game in the sense that it does evoke the nostalgia + framework of an old school CRPG, and the combat is decent enough - I will admit that I struggle to play original BG1&2 because of how dated they are and this game is just enough of an update to be more playable, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be doing a lot better. Therefore if you enjoy those games and can frame PoE as if it was a early noughties release (along with all the shortcomings that come with that time period), and can see past the plain writing then feel free to disregard this review. I'm writing this however because it has been compared to other contemporary more dynamic, inventive, exciting CRPGs that I have adored, which is why it is disappointing to me that the drop off in quality is so apparent here. Buyer beware!

    Despite all of this, I will be trying PoE2 next, as I have heard that it corrects a lot of the mistakes of the 1st game, has more engaging combat, less monotonous writing and optimisation of its systems. Fingers crossed.    … Expand
  13. garhent
    Apr 7, 2015
    3
    If you like the suck, this is the game for you. The developers set up an old school system, completely ignoring 15 years of game progress. DO NOT MAKE A SPELL CASTER, again I repeat DO NOT MAKE A SPELL CASTER, they limited the times you can camp to reset spells and if you make a caster you will be running back to the Inn wasting 5 minutes after every battle. The game is just BAD.If you like the suck, this is the game for you. The developers set up an old school system, completely ignoring 15 years of game progress. DO NOT MAKE A SPELL CASTER, again I repeat DO NOT MAKE A SPELL CASTER, they limited the times you can camp to reset spells and if you make a caster you will be running back to the Inn wasting 5 minutes after every battle. The game is just BAD.

    Issues with the game:

    #1. Aggro. The tanks don't have a way to hold aggro so the mobs go wherever they want and one shot down your casters.

    #2. Resting. The developers decided to require you to bring camping materials (max of 2) to camp in a dungeon. If you use your skills, you have to camp to reset them. You basically are forced into playing a game with auto attacks. Loads O Fun there, might as well watch paint fly.

    #3. Forced to use Auto-Attack. Due to the limits on resting to reset skills you are stuck using auto attack. You basically end up needing to make a tank party to progress.

    All in all the art is beautiful but the game developers made some of the worst decisions I've seen in a very long time. Kudos to them, burn in hell.    … Expand
  14. ZippyZippy
    Aug 5, 2017
    3
    Honestly, this is a inconceivably overrated and generic game. The ancient mechanics receive no modernisation. The game is a sort of methodical map-clearing game, the like of which I thought I'd never have to trudge through again.

    But for me the worst thing is the writing. In a game where little else seems to spark interest, the writing is just so awfully flowery and poorly edited. As    Honestly, this is a inconceivably overrated and generic game. The ancient mechanics receive no modernisation. The game is a sort of methodical map-clearing game, the like of which I thought I'd never have to trudge through again.

    But for me the worst thing is the writing. In a game where little else seems to spark interest, the writing is just so awfully flowery and poorly edited. As someone else comments, every NPC seems to be a historian, which would be fine if the world had a credible past.

    Just awful.    … Expand
  15. monkeyking95
    Oct 11, 2016
    3
    I think there's a reason games like this aren't made anymore. It honestly didn't engage me, I never felt connected to the world or the characters. The gameplay felt stale and bland and I have no nostalgic bias towards isometric RPGs. I think those who have their nostalgic blinders on will enjoy this but if your taste in gameplay, game design and player engagement has evolved and 'moved on'I think there's a reason games like this aren't made anymore. It honestly didn't engage me, I never felt connected to the world or the characters. The gameplay felt stale and bland and I have no nostalgic bias towards isometric RPGs. I think those who have their nostalgic blinders on will enjoy this but if your taste in gameplay, game design and player engagement has evolved and 'moved on' then you won't find much here that will delight you. Pillars Of Eternity is a wilfully average game.… Expand
  16. ace99
    Mar 27, 2015
    3
    The game has very good writing, something that Obsdian always excels at, but the gameplay is extremely dull and shallow. The graphics are also somewhat bland (although the backdrops look very good) and the animations are amateurish at best. Obsidian copied the look and feel Baldur's pretty well, but they completely botched the gameplay and combat.

    This is not the Baldur's Gate 3 we were    The game has very good writing, something that Obsdian always excels at, but the gameplay is extremely dull and shallow. The graphics are also somewhat bland (although the backdrops look very good) and the animations are amateurish at best. Obsidian copied the look and feel Baldur's pretty well, but they completely botched the gameplay and combat.

    This is not the Baldur's Gate 3 we were promised and have all been waiting for. Pillars of Eternity has about as much in common with Baldur's Gate as Dragon Age: Origins does, at the core BG and PoE are radically different games.

    If I had to sum up this game in one sentence: Pillars of Eternity is a completely dumbed down Baldur's Gate 1.5. It is a huge disappointment.    … Expand
  17. Buzzerker
    May 30, 2015
    3
    Pillars of Boredom , that is what they should have called this merry go round , old retro game. Because that is what this overpriced copy of Baldur's Gate 2 updated game is. It's a pitiful game. Really I felt so stupid paying all that money for it. Since I got the Witcher 3 the Wild Hunt , I deleted Pillars of Eternity and I probably won't ever play it again for Eternity.
  18. Paulystan
    Apr 6, 2015
    3
    I think I understand why this game has scored so highly but I am still sad that it has as it was reviews on metacritic that firmed me up to buy it. It has all the elements of a good RPG in the style of Baldur's Gate but lacks a sense of... good.

    The characters are only interesting for a short while if at all. The combat is not really very good in my opinion, the music somewhat drab and    I think I understand why this game has scored so highly but I am still sad that it has as it was reviews on metacritic that firmed me up to buy it. It has all the elements of a good RPG in the style of Baldur's Gate but lacks a sense of... good.

    The characters are only interesting for a short while if at all. The combat is not really very good in my opinion, the music somewhat drab and the general feel of the game isn't deep, involving or balanced.

    It is also yet another game that has been assaulted by PC and liberal socio-political dogma which for me takes some energy out of playing it.

    It's games like this, that have so much to offer but for many reasons don't quite make it, that takes me one step closer to giving up on computer games once and for all.    … Expand
  19. BoredGamer42
    Mar 29, 2015
    3
    The story is cookie cutter and trite. A son of the Lord of Murder you are not.

    Your main character's a Watcher. You have no strong feelings about this. Your companions are dull, and generally unlikable. The effects of your choices are as profound as the Mass Effect 3 endings. The music sucks (not completely awful, but not stirring in any way). The predominant social model    The story is cookie cutter and trite. A son of the Lord of Murder you are not.

    Your main character's a Watcher. You have no strong feelings about this.

    Your companions are dull, and generally unlikable.

    The effects of your choices are as profound as the Mass Effect 3 endings.

    The music sucks (not completely awful, but not stirring in any way).

    The predominant social model in evidence is amazon lesbian (which could be so, so sexy, but plays out as women having facial hair and deep voices).

    They included a knockoff miniature giant space hamster, but not the lunatic who made it interesting.

    Screw this game.    … Expand
  20. ShawnD
    Jul 22, 2018
    3
    Very boring.

    There's just nothing to pull me into the game. Steam says I have played this game for 8 hours, but I still couldn't tell you what the game is about. It might have been stated in one of the thousands of pages of boring text, or maybe it wasn't. What is my character's motivation? Where was I going and what was I doing before any of this started? Why should I keep playing the    Very boring.

    There's just nothing to pull me into the game. Steam says I have played this game for 8 hours, but I still couldn't tell you what the game is about. It might have been stated in one of the thousands of pages of boring text, or maybe it wasn't. What is my character's motivation? Where was I going and what was I doing before any of this started? Why should I keep playing the game?

    Another weird problem is that maybe 10% of the dialog is voiced. I can understand not every character having voice actors, but the voice acting isn't even consistent with the same character. You'll be talking to someone where there is voice acting for 3 screens of them talking, and then there's no voice acting for the 5 screens after that.    … Expand
  21. Munkamunku
    Mar 28, 2015
    3
    I've played Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale etc and enjoyed them very much. It's a style of game that doesn't get enough attention these days and I was hoping that Pillars of Eternity would reignite the genre. I have to say that I think it misses the mark. Graphically Pillars is fine and I have no major issues with the gameplay. It seems to have all the elements I would want.

    The problem is    I've played Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale etc and enjoyed them very much. It's a style of game that doesn't get enough attention these days and I was hoping that Pillars of Eternity would reignite the genre. I have to say that I think it misses the mark. Graphically Pillars is fine and I have no major issues with the gameplay. It seems to have all the elements I would want.

    The problem is that the voice acting lets it down badly. I don't think that modern American accents work at all well in a fantasy / medieval setting. They're fine for sci-fi or superhero settings but sound jarring in this type of game.

    I had the same issue with Guild Wars 2 which was also an otherwise good game. I think European accents give these settings an air of authenticity which American one don't. And there are plenty of good American voice actors who can carry it off too. It's a shame, really, as I think this could have been something special.    … Expand
  22. genukz
    Apr 3, 2015
    3
    I feel like this game makes more disconcerting then fun generally, thus to me it became rly bo-o-ring in first 2 hours of play, however I've been fascinated with nostalgic impulses at first. Foes are stupid, combat is poorly controlled due to micro-management inside party, there is no real leveling but the player is compulsory has to run through the errands even if they aren't thatI feel like this game makes more disconcerting then fun generally, thus to me it became rly bo-o-ring in first 2 hours of play, however I've been fascinated with nostalgic impulses at first. Foes are stupid, combat is poorly controlled due to micro-management inside party, there is no real leveling but the player is compulsory has to run through the errands even if they aren't that generic... It lack a very Spirit that Baldur's Gate still has. How on the earth You could be able to break into the hireling creation? If this is ever possible to predict everything from totally strange person you just met at some forsaken tavern?… Expand
  23. Cathinon
    Apr 4, 2015
    3
    I really wanted to like this game. The IE games are the reason I'm a gamer, I've replayed the BG series more times than I can count and I still consider BG2 the best example of the genre. So I'm 100% the target demographic. Unlike a lot of that demographic, I didn't contribute to the kickstarter, as I'm wary of the concept, so I think I'm a little less biased than a lot of reviewers. II really wanted to like this game. The IE games are the reason I'm a gamer, I've replayed the BG series more times than I can count and I still consider BG2 the best example of the genre. So I'm 100% the target demographic. Unlike a lot of that demographic, I didn't contribute to the kickstarter, as I'm wary of the concept, so I think I'm a little less biased than a lot of reviewers. I bought the game based on the 9.2/10 it had at the time, and it falls dismally short of that number.

    It does have some things going for it. The character creation is fun/flexible, an interesting and diverse mix of races/classes/backgrounds and stat/spell/skill choices that will have IE players both right at home while feeling fresher than the straight D&D conversion of IE. The background environments are excellently drawn, and they've obviously put a lot of work into building the new setting from scratch - although it sadly still comes off as fairly generic medieval fantasy.

    Unlike the IE games, it's adopted the darker aesthetic which has taken over the genre since Game of Thrones became big, and so there's a lot of gratuitous swearing, contrived gore (the centrepiece of the first town is a tree hung with 18 rotten corpses) and the like that devs seem to feel is necessary lately.

    The IE games had dark plots and themes, but generally bright and inviting settings. Even PS:T, the darkest of the lot, was dark when it had reason to be, to drive the story, not just gratuitously to create a certain aesthetic which I personally don't feel matches with the "6 adventurers off on an quest" style. Whether you like this or not is personal taste, but as I bought the game to relive my BG experiences, I found it turned me off somewhat.

    Down to the specific issues. The first is relatively minor. The combat is somewhat clunky, enough to detract from the experience. Characters make stupid pathing decisions, sit there for a second or two before executing the commands you just gave them, spells/skills don't go off instantly after you finish casting them, and the transition in and out of combat (which controls which skills you can use) is awkward.

    The second is serious - it's riddled with bugs. A lot of people have had save games ruined completely by this - I wasn't so unlucky, but I encountered enough that they disrupted the game significantly. When a recommendation to play a game is accompanied by a list of dozens of bugs you should memorize to prevent destroying your save, you know something is wrong.

    The third is somewhat mixed. They've made some major gameplay alterations from the IE games beyond the move away from the D&D stat system (which is mostly positive). Some of them are well thought out and add to the game significantly - the ability to stealth as a group, or the ability to speed up or slow down the gameplay, so you can slow down to execute tactics in combat, then speed up to run back across another zone to town.

    Which brings me to some of the bad alterations. The first really detracted from the game for me. They've limited the number of times you can rest, depending on difficulty, 2/Hard, 4/Normal, 8/Easy. After this you have to find more of the (rare) "camping supplies" or go back to an inn to rest and restock them (for a high price). This leaves you stuck with three bad choices - utilizing your per-rest spells to their full potential and constantly running back to town and spending a lot of gold, using the minimum number of per-rest spells you can get away with each fight and leaving the classes which focus around these to spend most of their time autoattacking, or making a party around maxing per-encounter skills despite what you want to play.

    They've also (seemingly at random) made certain spells impossible to use outside combat, which is unrealistic, boring, and, combined with the clunkiness of the combat, frustrating.

    It's also very difficult to make a decent party from the NPC's, and those available (8, compared to 17 in BG2) don't have close to the inter-party dialogue and side quest content of BG2. You can create your own party members at inns for gold, but like the party members in IWD, they have no personality. You don't get your first permanent party member until an hour or so into the game, the second comes shortly after, but only if you pay attention or read a guide - if you run off to do the side quests, you'll miss him and be stuck with 2 characters until you continue the main quest.

    Lastly, the character models are plain and indistinguishable shapes in grey armor, the only way to distinguish one character from another is to mouse over them. The time spent on the different facial options was wasted, because character's faces are too small to see, and usually behind a helmet.

    In summary - it's a bad game which was released too soon, could become a decent game in 6 months with some patches and mods, but will never be the amazing game people are portraying it as. I can't in good conscience recommend it.    … Expand
  24. GreK4
    Jul 27, 2021
    3
    I so expect this game. I want play in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. But all the time just put out for my plan. And now I just take my balls in hand and buy this game. Ough.
    And... I disappointed. What is this game? I think this game only for geeks, who love played in Dungeon together with friends in a garage. So difficultly and not interested gameplay mechanics. And ok, if this one point,    I so expect this game. I want play in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. But all the time just put out for my plan. And now I just take my balls in hand and buy this game. Ough.
    And... I disappointed. What is this game? I think this game only for geeks, who love played in Dungeon together with friends in a garage. So difficultly and not interested gameplay mechanics. And ok, if this one point, that disappoint me, but not - in game bad a plot. The plot is boring and not interested me. Don't worry. I don't want get your angry and disappoint you. I just write my emotions on a paper. Don't worry.
    Game is not cool ever.    … Expand
  25. Storyteller
    Aug 14, 2016
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Let me begin this by saying I really wanted to like this game. I desperately wanted to. I tried in as many different ways as I could to convince myself that I just wasn't seeing Pillars from the right angle, that if I tried one more time I could get into it, but in the end I had to admit the truth to myself. Pillars of Eternity is garbage. This game falls flat on its face when it comes to important elements that make a great role-playing game.

    The first is the terrible cast of characters. In a game that revolves around a party of companions, they design an extremely limited (what, six, maybe seven total?) and bland cast of joinable NPCs that would never, ever travel together if you were looking at this from a story perspective. That might be forgivable if they were interesting with their own romances and side quests and intricate backstories, but they're not. The game designers seem to attempt an apology for this by shoehorning in some mechanic to design your own party of characters from the tavern, but for me that's just as half-ass as apologizing for the terrible magic weapons they designed by letting you enchant your own gear.

    The second is clearly the combat. From the basic system to the character classes to the way enemies behaved and battles generally went, it's a big gigantic mess that is not intuitive or fun to play. The basic concept of Pillars combat mechanics are confusing and annoying. Items you find are woefully inferior to the bland generic items you can enchant, and the way stats interact with your class is unbalanced and at times extremely confusing (physical strength dictates the damage wizards do with their spells -- WHAT?). Many enemies are given stunlock abilities or endlessly heal each other (such as the Paladins in Raedrics Keep), and all are automatically designed to rush your weakest characters. There's no real way to stop this, short of sending your fragile characters away from the fight at maximum range, but as soon as they move in to do anything to help, they will get rushed and die. The worst part is that after you finish that tough-as-nails epic fight, you realize you're not a damn step closer to the next level for it because of a pretentious XP system that only rewards quest completion and not body count of defeated foes.

    Third is the lack of immersion or replayability. The game makes a big deal about character race, background, culture and all that, but ultimately those choices have no impact on the actual events of the story. The 'reputation' system they tried to implement is confusing and poorly designed, so that by the time you finish the game, you will have a car crash of many different reputation types. This is made even worse when certain classes (Priest and Paladin) have class abilities whose strength depend on this broken reputation system. Quest lines allow the illusion of choice at some points, but the result is the same regardless of what you do.

    Fourth, and finally, is the story. It's not interesting. The main character can talk to dead people, and some Big Bad Evil Guy in a mask is stealing souls for some unknown, shallow and ultimately pointless purpose. The hook for even placing you where the events of the game take place is immediately revoked a couple hours in after Raedric decides to yank his offer, leaving you as some wandering nobody with no purpose other than to chase down why you have funny voices in your head. Being a Watcher is supposed to be this super-rare unique Kewl D00d power, but the most reaction I ever got out of anyone amounted to: 'You're a Watcher? Huh. That's funny.' As plot devices go it's really weak and I found myself struggling to give a single damn about magic rocks coming out of the ground, hooded people performing nefarious rituals, or my character's involvement in the whole mess at all.

    The fact that this game has gorgeous aesthetic and production value makes all of this worse. With such crucial design flaws, this is literally the RPG equivalent of a hot girl that won't put out. She'll tease you, but in the end you'll walk away with nothing but blue balls, resorting to your only option of finding some relief by drunk dialing your ex.

    That's it. Pillars of Eternity is a hot girl that doesn't put out. End of review.    … Expand
  26. Gette
    Jun 2, 2019
    3
    Another game I backed for $100 and got massively disappointed.

    The game is supposed to be a spiritual successor of BG, Icewind dale, Planescape yet the game felt more like morrowind in ie. The characters have no emotions, but only serve as info dump. You got this A god and B god over that C and bicker for D but none of them matter in the game, you won't see them. The whole game feels    Another game I backed for $100 and got massively disappointed.

    The game is supposed to be a spiritual successor of BG, Icewind dale, Planescape yet the game felt more like morrowind in ie.

    The characters have no emotions, but only serve as info dump. You got this A god and B god over that C and bicker for D but none of them matter in the game, you won't see them. The whole game feels like you're reading a 40k supplement fluff books on computer screen.

    In torment you only got Morte first and later most companions are linked to the nameless one.
    In IW everyone is generated so you learn the world by interacting itself.
    In BG characters are kept simple and you experience the world most by the player, with a few extra info from your comrades.
    In POE the super convoluted lore comes from companion dialogues that don't really matter in the story, gameplay, nor the world.

    Combat is also boring with trash mobs blocking way all the time it eventually wears off any patience left.

    While some argue New Vegas is the same, I'd say it's totally different. In NV you start with being shot and woke up exploring the world.

    In the start of POE you already got thrown away characters that I cannot remember of, and ingame myth and lore and gods and occupations and curses and names I just don't care about.

    Not recommended. Reading newspaper is more fun than this game.    … Expand
  27. bobbymcd
    Mar 24, 2018
    3
    I don't get it. I've played tons of RPGs over the years and I don't understand why people like this one.

    - Very fiddly. Neither the flow of an action RPG, nor the strategy of a turn based RPG. It falls in the worst kind of middle. - I played about 10 hours and the weapons and equipment seem almost meaningless. I don't see very many interesting choices in this regard. - It seems    I don't get it. I've played tons of RPGs over the years and I don't understand why people like this one.

    - Very fiddly. Neither the flow of an action RPG, nor the strategy of a turn based RPG. It falls in the worst kind of middle.

    - I played about 10 hours and the weapons and equipment seem almost meaningless. I don't see very many interesting choices in this regard.

    - It seems like they allowed the writers to go write to their heart's content. Wayyyy more lore and story than is interesting or appealing.

    - Really odd and esoteric formulas for basic things like hitting an enemy. I had to spend 30 minutes online looking through combat system explanations just to understand how to play it at a very basic level. I don't mind complex systems in an RPG, but this one seems needlessly weird and overly complicated.

    The difference between this and Divinity Original Sin are like night and day. One is fun, relatively easy to pick up, but has incredible strategic depth and POE seemed like a drudge to even get through 10 hours. I didn't play Baldur's Gate, judging from the other reviews I wonder if that's a prereq for enjoying this game.    … Expand
  28. PenetratorGod
    Jan 16, 2023
    3
    It's a game for the tasteless and nostalgia obsessed. It's a terrible copy of Baldur's Gate.
  29. ShinsFortress
    Oct 12, 2016
    2
    The game itself was fine, and is the second best of it's ilk to come along since all those old Infinity Engine games. Visually I liked it, sound was fine and the party system was fine. Quests and story? Fine. What's wrong with it?

    Minus a few points for very poor encounter design & planning in certain locations. Minus a few points for overdoing it with the backer placement stuff.    The game itself was fine, and is the second best of it's ilk to come along since all those old Infinity Engine games. Visually I liked it, sound was fine and the party system was fine. Quests and story? Fine. What's wrong with it?

    Minus a few points for very poor encounter design & planning in certain locations.
    Minus a few points for overdoing it with the backer placement stuff.
    Minus a zillion points for there *still* being serious bugs (e.g. entire character inventory disappears).    … Expand
  30. steddye
    Apr 10, 2018
    2
    Lost opportunity, that's what comes in my mind playing pillars of eternity. The combat system is terrible. U never know if the action you have set for a character will be performed. When you use a spell you don't know if you're close enough to cast. Companions ai is inexistent.........chaotic unsympathetic and irritating. PLS gimme back dex wisdom strenght intelligence charisma and constitution !!
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Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Best PC Game of 2015
7
#7 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
25
#25 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 70 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 71
  3. Negative: 0 out of 71
  1. RPGamer
    Jul 7, 2015
    70
    Pillars is a title that should make old-schoolers happy while still offering a solid core game, story, and a rich setting for new-schoolers.
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  2. LevelUp
    May 25, 2015
    93
    Pillars of Eternity stands on its own merits without resorting to nostalgia too much. Truly a CRPG masterpiece, the game offers old school, real-time strategic combat, and a vivid world to explore. Not only do you get an overall well-made experience, but also a challenge you haven't seen since the 90's.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    May 24, 2015
    82
    A sprawling game in a familiar setting, and a clever tune-up for the cRPG. Just what the backers hoped for. [June 2015, p.74]
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