Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Review

Name: Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Developer: Owlcat
Publisher: Deep Silver
Released: 25.09.2018
Platforms: PC
Reviewed on: PC
Acquired: A copy of this game was provided by a publisher for review purpose

I’m a geek, and proud of it. I have spent countless of hours playing D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) with my friends in dark rooms, making tales as we went along. When new games based on the D&D System is released, it excited me quite a lot! It is one of the most solid RPG-systems ever made. Knowing the mechanics is just one part of the puzzle, though. The game has to be good as well.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker must not be confused with Pathfinder: Online. The system may be the same in the background, but it is developed by two completely different companies. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is based on a campaign in the original paperback Pathfinder-Game. I’ve never played the paperback version of this story, so the story is new to me.

Story

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is set in the Stolen Lands, a large region in the River Kingdoms. Heroes are gathered to help take down the bandit ruler currently holding the area, to bring peace and prosperity to the Stolen Lands. Your mission is to take over and build a Kingdom from scratch in this turbulent area.

As with most RPG’s, this is only the main mission and you will encounter several other quite large storylines along the way. All of your companions got their story as well, and will sometimes talk to your character about their wishes and needs.

It is hard to know whether to blame the somewhat “standard RPG storyline” on the original adventure for the paperback game, or if it is the development team in Pathfinder: Kingmaker that is to blame, but the constant feeling of “I have seen this before” is very much present in loads of the material. I can’t say that it is bad, it just lacks originality.
6/10

Graphics

The graphics of the game are quite decent, and in some ways almost retro-inspired, something that is quite suiting for a game like this. You have the proper “Fog of war” that allow you to only see details that are right around you, everything else is darkened. You have the decent spell-graphics and the loading arts that you will be allowed to inspect in great detail.

Basically, it’s a high-resolution version of the early 2000 RPG’s that were released, like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Night. Luckily, games like this don’t rely on impressive graphics, and it is still visually pleasing, although a bit boring and dull at times due to the lack of variation.
7/10

Gameplay

Where do I start here… We all know the mechanic behind this game (D&D) is sound enough and where many games try to spare the player of the complex rules, numbers and countless stats, Pathfinder: Kingmaker lets the player in on all the little secrets. Creating a character here can easily set you back an hour or two, if you wish to read the information about the stats, all the different feats, checking how the class you chose will evolve while leveling and so on.

While I personally appreciate a good number-crunching session, the amount of details in Pathfinder: Kingmaker was almost overwhelming. I can see how someone not familiar with games like this can be properly confused and unsettled in their choices.

There was a whole smorgasbord full of small errors in the game I had made detailed notes about, only to discover that the developers had patched them all away yesterday and today. The rudeness! (Joking, I always appreciate developers fixing things fast)

One thing that also has to be mentioned, because it turned out to be my biggest problem with the game, is the pace. Everything takes aaaaages. Well, not really, but compared to what we all have gotten used to, the loading is slow and the 3 seconds it takes to cast a spell feels like an eternity, the characters walk slow and not to mention the progress in the game is quite slow. I might be extremely impatient, but I stick with my judgment of it being… Slow.
5/10

Controls

The controls in the game feel quite okay, nothing spectacular. You use the mouse a lot, clicking both for attacking and moving and the keyboard can more or less be put aside if you choose.

The mouse can be a bit annoying at times, though. Especially managing to click on the camp you made for resting instead of selecting one of your comrades and looting can prove to be more of a challenge than you’d like. All in all, I know there are limits of ways to improve. The accuracy just has to go get a bit better.
7/10

Replay Value

This is probably one of the best parts of the game, because you can choose to follow different paths at different times and end up with a different outcome. You can play through the game as a completely different class, and get a whole new experience. And the chance of you actually managing to find everything or explore everything fully is quite small, and you will encounter new things on your playthroughs.

This gives the game a nice edge where this is concerned. I also know for a fact that there are a LOT more in the Pathfinder universe that has not even been mentioned in this game, and I am looking forward to seeing what will be added as DLC or in patches, and how much we have to pay to get our hands on it.
8/10

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