Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – Ultimate Edition Review | Xbox One

---

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire reached its crowd-funding goal within one day of the campaign's opening. Two years after a successful PC release, Pillars of Eternity II - Ultimate Edition has now landed on consoles, including three significant DLC expansions and a host of smaller additions.

---

by Chris Brand

@SuperCrisco

---

Developer: Obsidian
Entertainment
Publisher: Versus Evil
Platforms: Xbox One,
​PS4, PC 
Players: 1

You start (or continue, having played the original) your journey as a formless entity confined to a veil between life and death. Known as the In-Between, this area is crammed with forlorn ghosts of your past that echo all around. One of the Gods has gone rogue and the rest aren't thrilled about it; as a Watcher (someone that can communicate with the deceased) you have unique talents and are granted a second chance at life, provided that you play ball.

Deadfire’s intro recounts events from the first Pillars of Eternity game, but, crucially, leaves out many of the finer points. It's here you'll either import an existing character, decide your backstory from a handful of presets, or choose to delve a bit deeper. When opting for the latter there's little context to accompany each decision shaping your past, though it's clear which are benevolent and which are less so, allowing you to easily mould the protagonist’s reputation as you see fit.

Unlike fellow Obsidian RPG, The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity featured a class-based character system and its sequel permits multi-classing. Whilst this can be used to compensate for any weaknesses in your preferred choice of class – pairing a ranged wizard with a melee fighter, for example – it's not recommended for beginners, as stronger abilities will take longer to acquire and the most powerful skills will be locked out completely.

It's a rather slow burn at first, due to the plethora of game settings which can be tweaked and toggled to personalise your experience - and that’s before taking the general complexity of Deadfire’s combat system into account. Having a universe of lore to catch up on also delayed our progress through the opening hours considerably, if, admittedly, self-electively. PoE II contains an exhaustive codex bursting with information on people, places, stats and language that can be summoned with a click of the left stick whenever a highlighted word or icon appears.

World building is Obsidian's forte, after all. Pillars of Eternity is tied together with gorgeous visuals evocative of classic D&D, an emotive soundtrack that bounces between melancholy melodies and jovial jingles, and NPC dialogue which is fully voiced thanks to a partnership with Critical Role.

PoE II’s story can unfold in numerous ways depending on your decisions, with characters divulging more information if you pursue the right line of questioning or pass skill checks. Scripted Interactions (small text-based segments) play out similarly, awarding loot or opening up shortcuts to those who possess a high enough level in one or more relevant skills.

A new combat scheme was introduced to PC post-launch and is present on consoles from day one, offering players the option to either engage in standard real-time-with-pause encounters or alternate turn-based battles. The latter is much slower in pace, making gameplay more akin to something like Mutant Year Zero or Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. 

Pathing is an issue in smaller maps, however, which can make turn-based mode a chore. When faced with a choke point, characters may decide to take the long way around, attempting to circumnavigate the globe and attack enemies from behind, in the process wasting multiple turns and leaving the party exposed. This persistent niggle, along with the excruciatingly slow pace, caused us to abandon our first playthrough after around 20 hours and start again using real-time-with-pause. No, you can’t switch mid-playthrough.

This actually proved to be a blessing in disguise; literally, as each achievement earned will award a specific number of Blessings to be used for a head start in subsequent playthroughs. By leveraging windfalls like cash and increased stats, we managed to catch back up fairly quickly and the combat experience was a lot smoother.

You'll gain access to a ship fairly early on, which not only provides the means to travel throughout the eponymous Deadfire Archipelago, but also allows for ship-to-ship combat. Multiple vessels are available to purchase, each with differing stats, and can be upgraded to provide you with extra firepower, stronger sails and a more durable hull. Every victory on the high seas awards experience to you and your crew, increasing your captain level and your crew's abilities. It's a fun little addition that’s easy to get to grips with, though it can be bypassed entirely by boarding enemy ships and engaging in traditional combat instead.

Not everything is quite so plain sailing, though. Every now and then an exit would bug out, forcing us to reload a previous save. In addition to this, ability names aren't shown outside of the skill trees and you'll spend the majority of your time in a party of five. That accounts for a lot of available abilities at any one time and, as such, necessitates a particularly good memory unless you want to fall back on guesswork.

Issues aside, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire has a rich story with branching narratives, an incredibly in-depth party AI system and endless replayability thanks to its Blessings and multi-class mechanics. It’s a game that any self-respecting RPG fan will enjoy, regardless of whether or not they’re familiar with the original.

Pros

• A wide range of available classes and builds
• Exciting and tactical combat
• Story digs its claws in and urges you on

Cons

• Turn-based mode adds nothing but frustration
• Ability names should be visible in combat
• … Seriously, avoid turn-based mode

8/10