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. AkumaJack
    May 5, 2017
    9
    This game is amazing for like 95% of the time.
    The graphics are astonishing, the combat system is both challenging and fun when you get used to it and the world design is really good. Every place seems alive with lore on inns, whores and sidequests that are more that simple sidequest most of the time.
    Plus there is the option to focus just on combat with the bounties or the optional mega    This game is amazing for like 95% of the time.
    The graphics are astonishing, the combat system is both challenging and fun when you get used to it and the world design is really good. Every place seems alive with lore on inns, whores and sidequests that are more that simple sidequest most of the time.
    Plus there is the option to focus just on combat with the bounties or the optional mega dungeon if you are tired of reading. Because you will read A LOT playing this game.

    The bad part is the ending boss which is for a level capped party quite too easy imo and some quests that are uninspired. (But thats not a problem because there are a **** of quests and most of them are really good.)

    But this is just a little fraction. Most of the game is enjoyable.    … Expand
  2. ThatUDLegacy
    Apr 27, 2017
    10
    Let's start with, should you buy this game? Yes, it is well worth the price.

    Pros: Dragons Interesting characters, Interesting Stories, Extensive spells(so many that i didn't use all of them), Fort Building, Fun Combat, Friendly Banter, Lot's of Bounties, Lot's of choices, Imprisoning people, Companion Stories & quest lines, An in Depth biography/journal that writes of your    Let's start with, should you buy this game? Yes, it is well worth the price.

    Pros:
    Dragons
    Interesting characters,
    Interesting Stories,
    Extensive spells(so many that i didn't use all of them),
    Fort Building,
    Fun Combat,
    Friendly Banter,
    Lot's of Bounties,
    Lot's of choices,
    Imprisoning people,
    Companion Stories & quest lines,
    An in Depth biography/journal that writes of your deeds,
    Dragons.

    A Few Cons:
    After the Boss fight the game just ends (apparently it autosaves just before you jump)
    Can't change decisions once they are made, for example, you can destroy and object or stop it, yet if you stop it, you cant come back and destroy it later, because.... reasons?
    Need's More Dragons,
    Banter it seems is only limited to 3 lines, maybe rarely 4,
    You can ask your jailor to whip your prisoners but not treat them well? :L & prisoners barely say anything! a person who asked to be put in jail asked to be released, after 1 day!!!
    I feel that companions don't talk enough?
    Important vistors personalies, are often Non- exxistant in your Fort,
    I couldn't find anything to make my screen follow my character, having to constantly click ahead, maybe i missed it.

    It is said people complain more about things they love.    … Expand
  3. TimW001
    Apr 10, 2017
    7
    It's pretty good. It has some really cool stuff about it, great graphics and great ability of story telling. But at the same time it's very much how you expect it to play. If you've played any of the original Fallout games or Baldur's Gate or even shades of Diablo II.
    So it is a good game, but that's all I would say on it, that's it's good. Worth a purchase in a sale.
  4. lagrie
    Mar 4, 2017
    9
    Obsidian has done a great job of returning the Crpg genre. And have created a beauty of a game.
    I'm glad that obisidian is bringing back the beauty that is Crpg's.
  5. DreamEaglr
    Mar 1, 2017
    8
    Люди хотели классическую RPG наподобие Fallout и Baldur's Gate. Они ее получили, но только лишь от части. Что сразу бросается в глаза, дак это великолепный арт-дизайн, 2д задники с персонажами, сделанными в 3д - идеальное решение для изометрических игр. И в первые 10-15 часов действительно может сложиться впечатление, что это наследник тех самых RPG 90х годов, но чем дольше играешь, темЛюди хотели классическую RPG наподобие Fallout и Baldur's Gate. Они ее получили, но только лишь от части. Что сразу бросается в глаза, дак это великолепный арт-дизайн, 2д задники с персонажами, сделанными в 3д - идеальное решение для изометрических игр. И в первые 10-15 часов действительно может сложиться впечатление, что это наследник тех самых RPG 90х годов, но чем дольше играешь, тем больше понимаешь, что: в игре ужасный баланс, на 3 уровне сложности довольно просто играть, боевка начинает очень быстро надоедать, слишком много текста и диалогов, если в той же Planescape Torment ты на этом не заостряешь внимания, ибо там практически все диалоги были написаны отлично и их было интересно читать, то тут с этом большие проблемы. Короткий сюжет и типичные для Обсидианов баги.
    Много раздражающих моментов компенсируются ощущением, что это та самая игра из 90х со своими недостатками и достоинствами.    … Expand
  6. Mike_M
    Feb 15, 2017
    6
    This game is now much--improved by patching. Normally I'd give this a 9, but I have to downgrade it to a 6 because of the condition in which it was released: completely unfinished.
  7. gloriouspotato
    Feb 13, 2017
    8
    PROS:
    + Good storytelling and writing, with well developed companions and quests.
    + Nice exploration of certain themes such as the role of gods in society, the burden of memory, and of conflicts (both real and personal) arising from faith. + Some nice orchestral soundtracks. + Attributes and skill choices play a significant role, not only in combat, but also in what choices are    PROS:
    + Good storytelling and writing, with well developed companions and quests.
    + Nice exploration of certain themes such as the role of gods in society, the burden of memory, and of conflicts (both real and personal) arising from faith.
    + Some nice orchestral soundtracks.
    + Attributes and skill choices play a significant role, not only in combat, but also in what choices are available to you within dialogues, giving a plethora of role-playing options.
    + Overall, the combat offers a fun and challenging tactical experience that requires synergy between abilities and appropriate positioning in battle.

    CONS:
    - Some combat encounters have lots of visual clutter and obstruction, making it hard to see what's happening on screen.
    - Mediocre framerates in certain areas, even on specs well exceeding the recommended spec.
    - Frequent and relatively long loading screens.
    - XP distribution is a bit skewed, making it very easy to reach the level cap.    … Expand
  8. destinyfan1
    Jan 28, 2017
    9
    maby one of the best rpg's ever , good story,combat , environments it has it all well done
    o and did i already say the caracter customanisation ,well its also awesome
    why aren't you buying it already????
  9. Alaska_Wolf
    Jan 26, 2017
    8
    Pillars of Eternity is a solid, well crafted game. I really enjoyed it tremendously on my first play-through which I played on Path of the Damned. The storyline was fairly good, albeit not extremely well written. The White Marches DLC was also pretty good, but actually take place PRIOR to the endgame and can't be completed after the endgame without reloading a prior endgame save orPillars of Eternity is a solid, well crafted game. I really enjoyed it tremendously on my first play-through which I played on Path of the Damned. The storyline was fairly good, albeit not extremely well written. The White Marches DLC was also pretty good, but actually take place PRIOR to the endgame and can't be completed after the endgame without reloading a prior endgame save or restarting. The inclusion of the DLC into the middle of the game honestly didn't make a lot of sense to me. While some of the Companion quests were a bit hard to trigger or resolve, they were decent enough.

    Overall its a very good and faithful representation of a dying genre that I loved during their heyday. But perhaps my biggest criticism of the game is that I found it to have little replay value. My second playthrough feels rather dull and lackluster, and truthfully I'm having trouble finishing it. This time I'm playing with Custom NPCs that are far stronger the the weak game Companions, but the NPC interactions and storylines just aren't there for me. I have say Grieving Mother and Eder "Can I pet that?" were absolutely my favorite Companions; most of the others just didn't do much for me.

    If you're looking for another Witcher 3, this is not it. It is however a very good game in the classic style and I'm very definitely looking forward to the just announced Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire!    … Expand
  10. floredon
    Jan 24, 2017
    10
    I created a Metacritic account in order to write this review. If you are a fan of RPGs that were made in the late 1990s and early 2000s and are interested in playing a game that is a modern adaptation of that experience, you owe it to yourself to play Pillars of Eternity and The White March expansions. This is a game that you need to immerse yourself in to get the most out of, althoughI created a Metacritic account in order to write this review. If you are a fan of RPGs that were made in the late 1990s and early 2000s and are interested in playing a game that is a modern adaptation of that experience, you owe it to yourself to play Pillars of Eternity and The White March expansions. This is a game that you need to immerse yourself in to get the most out of, although there is an alternative way to play that focuses more on the combat gameplay (triple crown solo, no companions, no deaths, hardest difficulty). The lore is inspired by history and it shows. Reading the Cyclopedia and the quests reveals a detailed history that rivals the Elder Scrolls in scope and depth. There is a sequel in development, and since Obsidian owns this IP, expect more content in this series (I'm hoping for a trilogy). I've gone back and played Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate and while I enjoy those games, Pillars of Eternity has spoiled me to the point where if I am craving a CRPG experience, I come back to this game. I would say that this is my favorite fantasy CRPG. The expansions further enhance the experience, and do not feel like the typical filler DLC that you see in AAA titles these days. The high quality of the game reflects the high quality of the team, and solidifies Obsidian as the master of the CRPG.… Expand
  11. Soupgoblin
    Dec 6, 2016
    2
    Not sure if anyone that has reviewed here actually played Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale and the other CRPGs...

    At best this game is lackluster, sure it has good graphics, and the dialog between the companions is great but IMHO as an old time P&P D&D player, Obsidian has failed by not using any recognizable CRPG game mechanics, and instead dumbing the game down for the    Not sure if anyone that has reviewed here actually played Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale and the other CRPGs...

    At best this game is lackluster, sure it has good graphics, and the dialog between the companions is great but IMHO as an old time P&P D&D player, Obsidian has failed by not using any recognizable CRPG game mechanics, and instead dumbing the game down for the LCD's... Using endurance and heal mechanics, but failing to include a way to actually heal... The lack of really interesting armor stats or gear stats (all armor is pretty much the same. dr and recovery). The abilities and talents choices are horrid, basicly just forcing you to chose the ones that suck the least... They know the genre, yet they decided to make the game player feel as though they have been given a blue ribbon for participation. I'm just glad that a friend loaned me his copy so I didn't have to pay for the game to find out that Obsidian, a company I trusted, would vomit this perversion of a crpg out...

    I say this after re-playing Baldur's Gate 2 last month, this game is a mere shadow of what they did with the D&D mechanics, Obsidian can do better, they have done better, and anyone who gave this game a better score than 5 should feel ashamed that they went fanboi instead of actually telling the truth.    … Expand
  12. ExpertPL
    Nov 12, 2016
    9
    The lore of this game is incredible. The characters in this game are incredible. Everything in this game is incredible. Then why I won't give a 10? Well, it doesn't have that something special, that would make it one of the kind.

    This game is a great return to Baldur's Gate kind of RPGs, must-have for every RPG fan.
  13. SuperGlare
    Oct 31, 2016
    10
    Body and mind cant handle the amazingness of this game.
    At last obsidian created a true rpg in this dark era of gaming which everything is simplified ****
    The art is spectacular and graphics feels like magic.To hell with 3d nothing can match the 2d art design for enviroments. Music and sound is oldschool and amazing and the voice overs when casting a spell are just superb. There is so    Body and mind cant handle the amazingness of this game.
    At last obsidian created a true rpg in this dark era of gaming which everything is simplified ****
    The art is spectacular and graphics feels like magic.To hell with 3d nothing can match the 2d art design for enviroments.
    Music and sound is oldschool and amazing and the voice overs when casting a spell are just superb.
    There is so much stuff and so many thing to mix and match that you will explode from happiness.
    From an Icewind dale fan this game is superb.It combines baldurs gate and Icewind dale together and its amazing.Not only has the story character that you can hire but you can hire mercenaries as well that you create.I mean how awesome is that.Dont you like the characters that the game gives you?Go make your own party.
    10/10 True oldschool RPG waiting for tyranny and Pillars of eternity 2
    Screw bioware and their simplified piece of trash rpgs    … Expand
  14. Mandulum
    Oct 13, 2016
    7
    Five Word Review: Modern RPG, classic look/feel.
    Favorite Thing: An epic adventure with plenty to see and do.
    Least Favorite Thing: Really dislike the progression system. Levels are few and far apart and you don't feel much more powerful with each advancement.

    Playtime: 80h (includes White March I & II)
    Enjoyment: 7/10
    Recommendation: Yeah, if you have copious amounts of time to spare.
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. T4l0n
    Sep 13, 2016
    5
    I really wanted to like this game, sadly it has too many issues.
    The game presents itself with a really good dark theme and with the complicity of the visuals and musics it really delivers a great atmosphere. Sadly the first think you discover has many problems is the combat: it has the typical crpg style of combat but there's no mana only a limited amount of usages for any spell, the    I really wanted to like this game, sadly it has too many issues.
    The game presents itself with a really good dark theme and with the complicity of the visuals and musics it really delivers a great atmosphere. Sadly the first think you discover has many problems is the combat: it has the typical crpg style of combat but there's no mana only a limited amount of usages for any spell, the interface doesn't let you properly understand enemies hp/weakness or your chars positions and there's a really weird gear system: the better the armor the slower you attack (yes, for real), so the optimal way to play at higher difficulties is to have a big tank in the front and all the other characters naked in the back casting spells or throwing arrows ...
    The leveling system disencourages combats and exploration, everything is quest related, after you killed a certain type of enemies a couple of times you won't get any more exp from killing them, it's a really weird system that seems stupid and dumb to implement in a high-fantasy "classic" crpg, maybe it will work better on their next game "Tyranny" but in this game is a disaster. You will end up getting 99% of your experience just by completing quests and the loot you find in dungeons is mostly trash, now join this to the combat system and it ends up it's not only worthless but a bad idea to explore dungeons after you complete the quest.
    Also this game railroads you into making certain choices just because you're not powerful enough to do what you want, it's not that it's hard, it's plain out impossible, for example you have a choice "with me" or "against me" if you choose to go against the enemy he double shots your team, can i go back later ? yes, but why all the dungeon is easy and only the final boss is impossible ? This doesn't make any sense ...
    There's a lot of bad optimization, even on high end pcs everytime you open the map or inventory the framerate drops and the game itself is filled of long loading screens everywhere (and i have a ssd, i can only image how long they are on magnetic disks).
    The world is filled with stupid backers nps : there are tons of npcs that will "tell" you a vision about themselves, all these visions are stories made by the backers and they are so long and extremely boring, completely trowing you out from the immersion of the game.
    I literally had to stop playing because of a bugged quest, i killed a character i had to talk to because it bumped into me earlier and triggered a fight, when i talk to her "side" i can only fight both the sides together all against me, i have no chance of surviving this, and yes, it's a main quest ...    … Expand
  18. TemplarGR
    Sep 9, 2016
    5
    Let me tell you kids, as a gamer who "was there" when Baldur's gate launched: This is nothing like it. Terribly overrated for no reason, this is a mediocre Baldur's gate clone that has no place in the modern era. I suppose it was cheap to make, and people are starved for meaningful RPGs, so they take what they can get, hence the overinflated scores, but still...

    The original Baldur's    Let me tell you kids, as a gamer who "was there" when Baldur's gate launched: This is nothing like it. Terribly overrated for no reason, this is a mediocre Baldur's gate clone that has no place in the modern era. I suppose it was cheap to make, and people are starved for meaningful RPGs, so they take what they can get, hence the overinflated scores, but still...

    The original Baldur's gate had a much better story and richer world, a far better rpg system (obviously due to D&D second edition), great graphics for its time, and better designed gameplay. This is just a horrible immitation. For its budget, not bad, but we as gamers don't judge budgets, we judge the experience, and in 2015 this won't cut it.

    If you exclude the graphics, if this was released side by side with Baldur's gate, it would have flopped. No reason to play it, unless you really want an old school RPG and you have already played BG to death.    … Expand
  19. Arroyo_man
    Sep 7, 2016
    8
    i've change my mind after some time, thinking this game is better, gave a credit for another go and enjoyed more this time, 8/10 far superior rpg than witcher 3 for example.
  20. 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
  21. Magnethead
    Aug 22, 2016
    8
    Pillars of Eternity helps bring back the group-based, tactical RPG as we knew it in the glory days of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and similar games. It does so unapologetically and accurately while also bringing enough new ideas to the table to make the game more than pure nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. The underlying story and fantasy world are meticulously crafted, innovative andPillars of Eternity helps bring back the group-based, tactical RPG as we knew it in the glory days of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and similar games. It does so unapologetically and accurately while also bringing enough new ideas to the table to make the game more than pure nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. The underlying story and fantasy world are meticulously crafted, innovative and well written. Overall, the game is hugely successful though there still are minor issues that could be improved.

    PoE doesn't rely on the old D&D rules, they have their own, new RPG rule set that does use classes, spells, resting and the typical party roles we're used to (tank, healer, crowd control, damage) but otherwise has its own ideas of stat-interaction and a few new class ideas. The overall concepts will be recognizable to seasoned RPG veterans while still presenting new challenges to adapt to.

    The story is a major selling point of PoE. The writing is solid, the story deep and the character (especially the eight NPCs) are very well crafted. There's a great deal of freedom in regards to how you approach different quests and even characters in the game, you have almost unconstrained freedom to murder and pillage almost any character in the game, if you so choose, for example. A criticism here could be that perhaps the story doesn't escalate tension particularly well so that when the game ends, it doesn't feel so much like a strong climax as simply a steady unraveling of an intricate plot. The game behaves mostly like the final fight is a formality and the actually interesting question isn't if you win, but what you do after you win. This can make the game seem slightly less memorable than perhaps it should be.

    Arguably, there are some issues with balance that should be addressed too. Between DPS and non-DPS classes, the game becomes very fixed in its roles. Tanks find it hard dealing meaningful damage but retain the ability to tie down enemies through the game's 'engagement' system. This system simply means that if you run away from a character engaging you, that character damages you for free - however since tanks don't do meaningful damage, the AI could actually just run right past them with great advantage. It doesn't do that, luckily, but this lopsidedness arguably makes the game system feel a bit artificial at times. The spell system could also use a bit of rebalancing, certain spells serve no clear purpose in the game as you don't really have the time or the situations where they need to be cast. In most situations, dealing damage outweighs more complicated options. This said, the system actually works really well, it has genuinely intuitive ideas and I hope they continue to work on it.

    All in all, PoE is a successful RPG game and follows Divinity Original Sin in reviving this wonderful genre. The crowd-funding concept definitely worked in this instance. I hope Obsidian stick to this project and release a sequel soon, they needs only address a few issues that exist still in PoE and build on the promising world behind the game.    … Expand
  22. MarcMrine
    Aug 15, 2016
    10
    This review is a continuation of my Baldur’s Gate review, because this is the real Baldur’s Gate 3, sharing its combat system, character development, handmade backgrounds, environment, sound, dialogues and most important, the same developers... proving that “evolution” is not a 1st person adventure, evolution is more of the same wisely improved.
  23. 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
  24. akshaysk
    Aug 10, 2016
    8
    This game is a great callback to the old Infinity Engine RPGs. The powerful factions, each tinged with grey; the stories of betrayal and greed and the dynamic party, filled with personalities that react to everything around them. The game does have flaws (such as pathfinding issues and slightly tedious inventory system) , but overall it is a wonderful throwback and I enjoyed each minute ofThis game is a great callback to the old Infinity Engine RPGs. The powerful factions, each tinged with grey; the stories of betrayal and greed and the dynamic party, filled with personalities that react to everything around them. The game does have flaws (such as pathfinding issues and slightly tedious inventory system) , but overall it is a wonderful throwback and I enjoyed each minute of the 73 hours I spent with the game. When I revisit it (hopefully with all the expansions), I think I will feel as delighted as I did the first time.

    Because, PoE has an enduring quality. I could come back to it (and indeed, I did) after a few days of not thinking about it at all and find myself as immersed as I was when I left. Few other games (I would dare to say any work of fiction) have this quality. Brilliant job overall. Obsidian, my hat's off.    … Expand
  25. Harpasa
    Jul 19, 2016
    9
    If you enjoyed Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale etc. , you dont want to miss this game.Only problem i had with the game is npc dialogues can get a little boring from time to time. Still one of the best RPGs i played in years and a must-play game.
  26. roachtbp
    Jul 15, 2016
    10
    Feels like you are playing an old school, classic RPG like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, minus the D&D rules, plus modern conveniences and better graphics. Great party-based, tactical combat reminiscent of Baldur's Gate, with characters and a story that also is pretty good and well-written. I welcome an RPG such as this that harkens back to the masterpieces of old. I love this game inFeels like you are playing an old school, classic RPG like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, minus the D&D rules, plus modern conveniences and better graphics. Great party-based, tactical combat reminiscent of Baldur's Gate, with characters and a story that also is pretty good and well-written. I welcome an RPG such as this that harkens back to the masterpieces of old. I love this game in every way.… Expand
  27. Robobob
    Jul 7, 2016
    10
    It's like the developers took everything that fans loved about old school RPG like Balder's Gate and Icewind Dale and actually made it BETTER! The combat system is much more intuitive than the old silly 2nd edition rules that those older games used. They slimmed down and trimmed the fat off the skill system. Added many cool feats and abilities, some you can use every fight (encounter)It's like the developers took everything that fans loved about old school RPG like Balder's Gate and Icewind Dale and actually made it BETTER! The combat system is much more intuitive than the old silly 2nd edition rules that those older games used. They slimmed down and trimmed the fat off the skill system. Added many cool feats and abilities, some you can use every fight (encounter) and some every day (rest). This is nice as some spellcasters don't necessarily become useless the second they run out of spells. Everything is so similar to D&D, yet tweaked and renamed to make it something original. Deflection instead of Armor Class. Accuracy instead of Attack, etc. There are some cool new classes like Chanter and Cipher that play different than any other class you've seen. Then there are genius additions to the game like you can create your own hirelings for your party if you aren't satisfied with the companion characters. And building your own stronghold is fun. I've been playing on average difficulty and while few of the fights are too easy, the boss fight are just the right perfect challenge.. you have to use a full party's potential to win,as it should be. I could ramble on forever about all the cool changes to the old formula and I literally have nothing negative to say about this game 40hrs in. Perfect. 10/10… Expand
  28. PowerGamer
    Jul 3, 2016
    7
    At first I really liked the game. A lot of variety in character choices, etc.
    At lot of fun at first but frankly the game just gets monotonous.
    The game doesn't scale well, and you will hit the level cap before the end of the 2nd act (out of three). The whole thing get monotonous. It's the same thing over and over, and over again. I would play the game for a while and fall asleep.    At first I really liked the game. A lot of variety in character choices, etc.
    At lot of fun at first but frankly the game just gets monotonous.

    The game doesn't scale well, and you will hit the level cap before the end of the 2nd act (out of three).
    The whole thing get monotonous. It's the same thing over and over, and over again.
    I would play the game for a while and fall asleep.

    I feel now it was a mistake to get the expansion. If it were not for the expansion I probably would have made it to the 3rd act.

    For some reason most game developers, who's ever in charge, seem to think well if I don't put 100+ hours of play in a game people will complain that it's too short.
    It's as if every new movie had to be six hours long. Most people couldn't sit through it and with this game like most it's just too drawn out.

    I even used Cheat Engine hacks to supercharge my characters to roll through the battles thinking I would make it through the 3rd to finish the game.
    To boring, couldn't do it even then.

    The game is fun for a while, but take my advise and don't bother getting the expansion unless you finished the game and really want to add many hours of the same thing..    … Expand
  29. night4
    Jul 2, 2016
    9
    Wow.

    If you liked Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II and you cried when it was announced that there would never be a Baldur's Gate III, then this game is for you. It's got EVERYTHING going for it with a couple minor cons that keep it from being a 10. Pros: Music, graphics, original story, combat. I want to emphasize how rare it is to see a game with a good, original story these    Wow.

    If you liked Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II and you cried when it was announced that there would never be a Baldur's Gate III, then this game is for you.

    It's got EVERYTHING going for it with a couple minor cons that keep it from being a 10.

    Pros: Music, graphics, original story, combat. I want to emphasize how rare it is to see a game with a good, original story these days.

    Cons: Generated characters have experience penalty, wildly changing classes each time they patch (especially chiphers), and retarded AI. These things are fairly minor overall.    … Expand
  30. BSim500
    May 20, 2016
    5
    If the intention is an "old school nostalgia" BG clone, then it sort of succeeds. But it's not without annoyances:-

    Engine - The game engine is horrible. They used Unity and it's clearly more suited to FPS / horror games than isometric RPG's. Large chunks of the game has severe slowdowns (down to 18fps) in major city areas caused by the way Unity Engine layers assets when rendering    If the intention is an "old school nostalgia" BG clone, then it sort of succeeds. But it's not without annoyances:-

    Engine - The game engine is horrible. They used Unity and it's clearly more suited to FPS / horror games than isometric RPG's. Large chunks of the game has severe slowdowns (down to 18fps) in major city areas caused by the way Unity Engine layers assets when rendering groups of people. This isn't due to lack of horsepower as both CPU & GPU usage are only 30% loaded (and VRAM a mere 600MB) when the slowdowns occur. I've seen this before on other Unity games where fps drops into single digits despite the CPU & GPU being not even half loaded. In contrast, post-IE RPG's like NWN, Dragon Age Origins, or Divinity Original Sin, with RPG-specific engines are all proper 3D and run a solid 60fps on hardware half as powerful. On top of that, 15s load times (even on SSD's) on every minor area transition get very old, very quickly. At least 4-5hrs will be spent staring at loading screens. These problems can't be fixed as they're internal to the Unity Engine and walking through areas like Copperlane or backtracking through several zones is not enjoyable.

    Combat - It's just "OK". In theory it's tactical. In practise, you'll be repeating the same "put 2x tanks in a choke-point then get the other 4x party members to spam blunderbuss ranged attacks" MMO style weak-tank / healer / DPS setup over & over. Most trash-mobs are the same. Spells are too weak. Fighters have weak attacks since heavy armor virtually halves attack speed. Sneaking & backstabbing in combat were clumsy. Traps are weak. No pickpocketing. Can't buff outside of combat (there goes half the tactics in countering certain types of mobs). It didn't actually feel that D&D-ish to be honest. I also found the game doesn't convey what's going on in combat visually too well when too many very tiny people all look the same even wearing different armors.

    Bugs - Broken journal entries, damage penalty bugs, quest bugs. I got stuck in combat mode more than once (which prevents you from travelling or saving). Sound randomly cuts out when speeding up game in a crowded place (needed a lot due to not being able to run - you will walk everywhere at a snails pace). Bug in White March where chars slide forwards slowly instead of walking. Dexterity checks not properly applied in scripted events, etc. Lots of minor things.

    Poor design decisions - The devs seem to blindly copy everything with BG without thinking why some stuff has evolved since. One major gripe I have (with both BG & PoE) is the abnormally small "fog of war" where your 6 world saviours cannot see a large 50ft high windmill from across the street. The only reason this was in BG was because those games were written in the late 90's when everyone had 4:3 1024x768 / 1280x1024 monitors and the short view distance sort of naturally fit the low res screens of the day. On modern 1080p and higher resolutions, the 1/4 screen vision bubble looks ridiculous. Even by 2002 (NWN1), D&D style RPG's had the "fog" made far larger, more realistic and widescreen friendly and eliminated the "blind as a bat" claustrophobia and "narrow strip lawnmower pattern" 'exploration' irritations, (as has virtually every other high rated popular modern "old school" RPG, eg, Dragon Age Origins, Divinity Original Sin, etc). Baldur's Gate 1-2 were great games, but their UI wasn't infallibly perfect and is one of the first things someone playing it for the first time today with no "nostalgia anchor" picks up on.

    The writing is OK but only 2 chars out of the game ever seemed to be personally affected by "Hollowborn" reducing the sense of urgency. Very little humor. "Banter" felt weak & forced. Pacing of lore feels off (too much too early, then goes flat mid-game). The game caps your level halfway through rending the DLC and late sidequests reward-less. The stronghold and its constant attention seeking timed quests that pop up when you've just started something elsewhere was more annoying that immersive. I wouldn't have missed it if they had scrapped it completely. Crafting was mostly pointless (I didn't use it once) as were 90% of Stronghold upgrades. And whilst I understand the need to reward Kickstarters, many in-game comments / tombstone memorials were flat out distracting / childish. Instead of putting in a loading screen warning of how "4th wall breaking" immersion-shattering they are, the Devs could have "curated" a lot or gave better submission guidelines that required they actually fit the game rather than end up resembling your average Youtube comments section. All Kickstarters are mentioned in the credits anyway.

    In short, the game isn't bad but they picked the wrong engine to use, and I think there was too much obsession with "over-trying" to be Baldur's Gate 3 that caused some questionable design decisions. I really wanted to like this, but I simply didn't enjoy this anywhere near as much as I originally expected.    … Expand
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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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