Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. PlaySense
    Mar 2, 2020
    70
    The story's definitely worth experiencing, as is the unique artistic vision conveyed within the game. However, glitches, framedrops and an overabundance of loading screens unfortunately kill the joy a bit.
  2. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Feb 9, 2020
    70
    Yes, it’s clunky at times, but get past that and you’ll find a deep, beautifully written RPG set in a massive world heaving with treasure, monsters, and moral dilemmas. [Issue#172, p.83]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. PlayStation Country
    Feb 2, 2020
    70
    There is no doubt Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a fantastic game, unfortunately the PS4 version is not the best way to play it. The load times along with other technical issues make it difficult to get into at times. It's not broken so you will get enjoyment out of the masses of content, but you'll have to have plenty of patience.
  5. Push Square
    Jan 28, 2020
    70
    Pillars of Eternity II is a 9/10 RPG tragically trapped inside a 7/10 game. The quality of the writing and the world-building is second to none, and the tried and tested combat mechanics are meticulously tuned, but the outrageous loading times and other technical issues are too upsetting to ignore. It's like sitting in a fine Italian restaurant, sipping a glass of wine and nibbling on breadsticks, enjoying your date, and then the waiter comes over and drops a dead dog on the table. Wrong table, mate. I ordered the carbonara. Now get that dead dog out of my sight.
  6. DarkStation
    Mar 17, 2020
    50
    Porting a game made for PC to consoles can be an iffy situation. It’s absolutely something that should happen when possible, as I am all for everyone being to play everything if they are able, but some just flat out work better then others. It’s a shame that the largest and unavoidable knock against Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is something as silly as load times, but it is what it is. If you have a chance to play this game on PC, you should without question. If this is your only way to play this, just make sure you have something to do while you’re waiting.
  7. Cubed3
    Mar 10, 2020
    50
    It is mired by a litany of hurdles, that perhaps a more patient player can deal with, but many will really wrestle with this - for them it is advised to seek out PoEII on a platform that it's design is more inherent. At very least, wait until a patch can fix some glitches, and the egregious loading times, in particular. Someone that can get beyond those inconveniences will discover there is a deep novel-esque adventure to be had. This adventure is full of loot, bounties, ship battles, and engaging fetch quests; all of the usual RPG fare that would keep aficionados happy. The island setting is memorable and full of lyrical, witty writing to be discovered which is great. When it works, it can be immersive and no doubt extensively replayable. It's just a shame that it didn't quite nail the port execution.

Awards & Rankings

77
#77 Best PS4 Game of 2020
60
#60 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2020
8
#8 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2020

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 128 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 128
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 128
  3. Negative: 62 out of 128
  1. MarcoCol
    Feb 6, 2020
    0
    Game is unplayable in PS4. Need a patch ASAP. Loading times of 2 minutes in some areas. Its a shame cause its a very great game. I will waitGame is unplayable in PS4. Need a patch ASAP. Loading times of 2 minutes in some areas. Its a shame cause its a very great game. I will wait for a patch and i will give it another try.… Full Review »
  2. AaronF
    Feb 3, 2020
    0
    This game has been out for months and is still un-f*****g-playable and what's worse is that every so called patch introduces even more bugs.This game has been out for months and is still un-f*****g-playable and what's worse is that every so called patch introduces even more bugs. The game is great when it works but unfortunately Versus Evil can't be trusted to put out a quality game

    An edit several months later. The game is still broken and Versus Evil seems to have no interest in communicating with the player base anymore. Do not buy this under any circumstances    … Full Review »
  3. fced
    Mar 10, 2020
    0
    In its actual state, the game is completely broken on PS4, it crashe frequently (PS4 blue screen) or worst it completely freeze the PS4 (hadIn its actual state, the game is completely broken on PS4, it crashe frequently (PS4 blue screen) or worst it completely freeze the PS4 (had to remove the power cable, nothing else is possible), there is frequent lag in the inventory or in the game...
    In two words don't buy it until they fix this mess, we (PS4 players) posted messages on Obsidian forum, but nobody answered us, i feel they will never fix it...
    So don't buy it unless you are prepared for hours of frustration.
    I enjoyed Pillars of Eternity (even if it had a lot of bugs) so i waited for Deadfire and got it Day 0, but now i am very frustrated, the game could be so good if only they fixed it, and if they speak to us about their future patch..
    No Don't buy it in the actual state, wait for a patch ...
    If one want to have an idea about the problems we have on the game, feel free to have a look on the forum : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113890-deadfire-ps4-bugs-and-known-problems-list-feel-free-to-add-yours/

    I had great expectations about the patch 1.04, but it only fixed unique weapons enchantment, the game is no more crashing when we try to upgrade unique weapons, but sadly nothing of the major bugs have been fixed, the patch even brought new bugs. Game is still mostly not playable, 30% of the playing time is rebooting the game because it crashed, this game could be so good, concept is good, gameplay would be very good if not broken. 30 sec ago i was in a fight, and i went in the spells menu (options->spells) to check something (yes you can't see your spells information in fight in the spell bar, info are not complete) so i went in the spell menu, and then impossible to continue the fight, instead of attacking all my companion and my character gone on the other end of the map because the interact was still active instead of the attack mode... i tried to load a save and Deadfire crashed (PS4 blue screen). Some areas of the game freeze completely the console if you go in inventory (the area where my character is now - Poko Kohara).    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »