Overall Impression
Pathfinder Kingmaker is a CRPG with an incredibly deep and satisfying turn based combat experience. It is based on the tabletop RPG system of the same name. With an average playthrough of around 80+ hours, there’s quite a lot of content to unpack. It’s an expansive journey with a narrative focus and plenty of combat encounters along the way. To date it’s one of my favourite classic style CRPG experiences due to its deep customization and character/team building options.
Target Audience
The core target audience are the classic CRPG fans that enjoy deep strategic turn based combat, and an expansive adventure with a narrative focus. If you’re interested in a long adventure with plenty to explore and you enjoy the journey as much as the destination, this may be a title to put on your wish list. It’s expansive nature and deep combat system won’t be for everyone; nevertheless, for those that do connect with it, they will be pulled into this world and taken on an incredible journey.
Gameplay
The core combat experience is quite satisfying. The gameplay loop revolves around the narrative that pushes you to explore new areas and experience various encounters. Combat can be active real time or completely turn based. This feature can make a dramatic difference to the overall pace/progress and strategy. If you prefer quicker encounters you can select active real time combat and for those more strategic and challenging encounters you can switch to turned based combat. The flexibility allows you to adjust to your preferences and is a nice feature to have in place.
Several elements make the combat strategic and satisfying. First there are an array of class types each with numerous ways to customize their build and kit. The amount of options is vast and can be a bit intimidating for those new to the Pathfinder ruleset. Those that are familiar with the D&D rules should be able to learn fairly quickly. Players will also encounter various NPCs that can be recruited to their party. Furthermore, there are several hundred skills/spells allowing for a large variety of options allowing creativity in adapting to varying playstyles or strategies. The various roles/classes and skill/spell combinations become a creative tool kit allowing the player to select and customize their team as they see it. Altogether the combat system is deep making encounters challenging with room for numerous approaches and strategies to be applied.
Much of the exploration has a very traditional tabletop feel. As you move around the map you do so with a miniature on a hand drawn style map. There are numerous regions to explore with plenty of enemy encounters, dungeons, bosses and storybook events.
Narrative
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a grand high fantasy adventure that follows your story as an adventurer as you navigate through conflict, political rivalries and the realm of the fey. Story cutscenes playout in beautifully rendered illustrations that feel like a classic storybook and through the in-game engine with a mix of voice acting and text. The expansive story feels like what you would expect in a classic CRPG adventure. Like any CRPG you are allowed dialogue options to make choices as you see fit. The story focuses on the main conflict, but also contain deep backstories from your fellow party members. Other party members and NPCs are quite well developed with various personalities that can clash with or support your various choices in the game. Furthermore, your moral choices in the game will impact those around you with long term consequences, romantic arcs and unexpected twists along the way. Your choices also affect the outcome of the story. Overall, the narrative is a slow burn taking time to setup the narrative and world; however, those that do connect with the style of storytelling in CRPGs and enjoy the characters are in for an interesting story with plenty of intrigue.
Art & Design
The visual design channels the essence of classic CRPGs but infuses it with a modern aesthetic. The illustrated cutscenes, portraits and painterly aesthetic of the in-game world are all beautifully rendered. Skill effects and animations are bright and capture the essence of powerful skills and abilities giving a visceral and brutal feel to combat. The stylized visuals give the game a very magical storybook type feel that really makes it standout amongst classic style CRPGs. The lighting and colour palette gives the game a warm tone. Altogether the art and design is a defining feature of the game that really makes it stand out.
Challenges
If you’re new to CRPGs there can be a lot to learn. The initial learning curve can be immense from the class systems and skills/spells and how to create a balanced team. On top of that the adventure can feel very long if you want to play through it completely turned based. An alternative is to switch between active combat for more routine battles making them much faster and using turned based combat during key fights that are significant to the story. This can dramatically change your experience and playthrough. This is just one example of how understanding who you are as a player and what you enjoy can help you make choices that improve your gameplay experience.
Another often discussed element of the game is the kingdom management system. The intent is to make it feel like you are developing an actual nation making key decisions that allow it to prosper or face consequences. However; in practice it can take away from the momentum in the game making it feel more like a chore or homework you need to do instead of an activity that really adds to the experience. The good thing is that you can place the management system on autopilot and ignore most of it if it’s not something you are interested in.
The combat system is strategic and deep. This means that it isn’t necessarily for everyone. Those looking for a simpler system may not exactly understand how to make the most of it. At the heart, this game is a strategic adventure for those that enjoy theory crafting and putting together builds and teams that synergize well. This level of strategy and depth may not be for everyone. However, those that do vibe with it will find a very satisfying toolbox to create teams that match your playstyle.
Closing Thoughts
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an expansive high fantasy CRPG adventure with a deep combat system and narrative focus. The combat system and visual designs are standout features of the franchise. This may not be an adventure for everyone due to its long running journey. However, those that enjoy the slow burn of a deep CRPG may want to check this out.
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GAME DETAILS
PLATFORMS: PC, macOS, PS4, Xbox One
RELEASE: 2018
DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: Owlcat Game / Deep Silver
GENRE/TAGS: CRPG, Isometric, Narrative Driven, RPG, Turn Based Combat
TARGET AUDIENCE: Fans of classic CRPGs that enjoy an expansive adventure with a narrative focus and a deep turn based combat system.
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