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In what was thought to be an extinct genre, Obsidian Entertainment has successfully resurrected the CRPG corpse in the form of the fantastic Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition, and I am very happy to report it feels great to be back. Obsidian has channeled the nostalgia and feel of games such as Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale, and successfully modernizes the classical formula to be just as intriguing and intuitive today as it was in the past. While there are some elements that still remain dated, the transition to consoles in a genre that was predominantly confined to PC is surprisingly smooth. There are some mainstays of the genre here in full force (tactical gameplay or large text to read, to name a few) which may act as a deterrent to some players that would prefer a modern RPG experience at a quicker pace, but there is plenty in Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition for those who accept the quirks and limitations of the genre.
While your character’s story is in its beginning stages, the fact that Obsidian allows the player to choose their backstory solidifies their position in Eora’s overall lore, and helps you to know where your character stands in the grand scheme of the game’s current events.
Pillars of Eternity starts you off in character creation, where you are given some choices as to your profession, skill set, race, and physical appearance. It truly tries to give the player the sense of being part of an already extremely elaborate world. For example, when choosing your race, the player also chooses their backstory pertaining to the selected race. While your character’s story is in its beginning stages, the fact that Obsidian allows the player to choose their backstory solidifies their position in Eora’s overall lore, and helps you to know where your character stands in the grand scheme of the game’s current events. Once your character is created, you are dropped into Dyrwood as a foreigner who is part of a travelling caravan. Most of your group is killed, and you’re forced to take refuge in a nearby cave for safety. Upon exiting the other side of the cave, your character witnesses a mysterious ritual which utilizes a machine that appears to have the ability to strip people’s bodies of their souls. As a result of being a witness, your character gains the ability of a Watcher – someone who can see and read souls. Not only does your character gain this power, but they also become Awakened, which allows them access to memories of past lives – this causes waking visions and chronic insomnia, and will terminally end in madness, unless the cultists that caused this are found and their magic is reversed.
There are multiple characters that can accompany you on the journey, and it is completely up to you whether or not they join you on your quest. What is so well done here is how each character is written – some of them have motivations of their own, and it’s truly hard to tell for certain whether or not they have sinister intent. During events in the game, characters will offer their own unique thoughts based on what’s occurring in that moment, which showcases their distinct personalities and compliments them wonderfully. Similar to Mass Effect, side characters also have unique (and sometimes quite expansive) dialogue options that can keep you busy for minutes on end, and open the door to unique questlines for that character.
While this is essentially a two-dimensional game, some of the set pieces are utterly gorgeous and are excellent at giving the impression that the current area you’re exploring is much larger than it actually is.
Having never played Pillars of Eternity on the PC, or Baldur’s Gate for that matter, one of the biggest concerns I had before playing this game was its transition from classic mouse and keyboard gameplay to the console controller. Luckily the transition has been completed expertly, and I felt completely at home with console controls and had no issues navigating the menus and accessing what I wanted. Holding the controller triggers bring up a menu wheel for either your character’s abilities, or shortcuts to your character status, inventory, and more. The left and right directional buttons allow you to speed up the game’s pace to shorten walking distances or slow it down, and the up and down directional buttons allow you to zoom in or out of the scene to give you a more detailed view or broader look at the surrounding area.
While this is essentially a two-dimensional game, some of the set pieces are utterly gorgeous and are excellent at giving the impression that the current area you’re exploring is much larger than it actually is. While exploring some ruins towards the beginning of the game, there are some visual clues that hint the area being explored was either built over or integrated with this massive subterranean statue, evident by the fact at one point your party is literally standing in an open palm. Further exploration reveals a gargantuan head even deeper within the ruins, solidifying that connection. The environments, while being static, also have minor graphical effects to add more realism, like leaves falling off of trees or butterflies flapping about. For a game that lacks full three-dimensional environments, this is an impressive feat.
During your character’s journey, many crossroads will be encountered where your character is forced to make choices in the form of action or dialogue options to forward the story or steer interactions with NPCs. I was overjoyed to find that there never seems to be a clear right or wrong answer – I find video games that present situations that aren’t so black and white often allow the player to feel that their choices define their character, as well as their role in the game’s world and in their individual story being crafted as they progress. And it’s a fantastic feeling.
As mentioned previously, playing Pillars of Eternity goes hand-in-hand with hours of reading text in the form of dialogue and lore. I sit about a meter away from my TV, and while I don’t have prescription glasses, I had absolutely no issues with being able to read the smaller text at a distance. The text is also very well-written, with atmosphere and character depth saturating each sentence. Some of the text includes voiceovers, but the majority of it does not, forcing the player to spend the time to actually read. This may dissuade some people that are on the fence about purchasing Pillars of Eternity, but being an aspiring novelist and lover of books, I immersed myself in it.
While most of the experience was very enjoyable, there were a few minor gripes that must be mentioned, and I feel that this is not at fault of the developers or from a lack of polish, but they are more of a result of problems with the type of game itself. The size of your main party can sometimes feel rather large, and when there are multiple enemies on screen in addition to your party, it can be hard to have certain party members target desired enemies. Also, due to a larger party size, there are bottlenecks in the environment where your offensive melee-based characters can get stuck behind other characters and become blocked from doing damage. An option exists where you are able to change your party’s formation, but in certain areas this wasn’t very helpful. Finally, there’s text to read – and lots of it! I didn’t mind this too much personally, but I feel that this will ultimately deter some people from experiencing the game.
Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is like stepping into a time machine that brings fans of its resurrected genre to a wonderful place of nostalgia, while offering an incredibly well-written story and excellent strategic gameplay. While the CRPG genre appears to have withstood the test of time, there are some minor hiccups that pertain to the genre itself being explored in today’s modern videogame landscape, but fans most likely will know and accept these blemishes in stride. Gamers looking for a trip down classic RPG memory lane, look no further – Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is the perfect excuse.
FINAL REVIEW: 8/10
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