Pillars of Eternity Review: A Nostalgic Masterpiece

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Pillars of Eternity’s combat, meanwhile, is easy to learn, but complex and difficult to master, and if you don’t make liberal use of the pause button early on, you’ll die very quickly. This is a game that rewards highly tactical play, and while you can hack and slash away at enemies mindlessly, it’s probably going to get you killed unless you spend your first round maximizing all your tactical advantages and then just letting the fight run on autopilot. However, the game never forces you into combat, not even passively by giving you experience for fights. Resolving conflict through words or guile can get you just as far as fighting, and can often be quicker, even if the fights aren’t always avoidable. The way in which the game sometimes forces you to fight can feel like railroading, granted, but no more so than the railroading the Dungeon Master at your average D&D game will often perform. If I did have to name one complaint, however, it would be that sometimes targeting can feel slippery, and the usage of particular spells sometimes feels confusing.

And speaking of a D&D game, like any campaign worth its salt, this game is not just good; it’s also going to last you a long time. I’d compare it to Skyrim in scope, but that doesn’t quite do it justice. When getting between cities can take upwards of 30 hours, we’re talking about a game that’s more comparable to Daggerfall, which hosted a game world the size of real-world Great Britain. It’s not just that the world is big, either, but that there’s so much to do in it. In fact, even staying at home is a rewarding game in itself, since you get awarded lands and titles early on in the game — a mechanic I haven’t seen since that aforementioned Elder Scrolls title.

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In fact, even staying at home is a rewarding game in itself, since you get awarded lands and titles early on in the game — a mechanic I haven’t seen since Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (another of my favorite retro RPG’s), and I never thought I’d say this, but Pillars of Eternity does it better, by mixing elements of real time strategy and city building along the lines of ActRaiser. You will feel like the true lord of a manor, in that you’ll feel like you have actual responsibilities rather than just a cool castle to come home to. And of course, there’s always the massive dungeon under your manor to explore if you want to do some good, old-fashioned dungeon crawling and don’t mind getting slaughtered the first few times you try it.

I could opine on the story, but honestly, this is a game I just don’t want to spoil for anyone. It’s that good.

Verdict

For anyone who knows the previous work of Obsidian Entertainment, the company behind Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout New Vegas, Knights of the Old Republic II, and South Park: Stick of Truth, the quality of Pillars of Eternity might not come as a surprise. But what has to be said is that Obsidian seems to have thrown all the best elements of these previous games into a machine, added their own world building for flavor, and hit puree. You can even see elements of the Dungeon Siege franchise (of which Obsidian made the third installment) making an appearance in the aforementioned land management section. To call this game an achievement is an understatement. To call it a masterwork is not inaccurate. It deserves to be played by generations of gamers, and studied by generations of developers. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my heavy metal album cover of a character needs to go suck some souls.

A copy of this game was provided to GameSided for the purpose of this review. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.

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