Pillars of Eternity
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Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Pillars of Eternity
A deep, rich, and wonderfully written RPG that lives up to the towering legacy of the games that inspired it.
In keeping so close to the Baldur's Gate/Infinity Engine template, Pillars of Eternity can't help but inherit a few old flaws, and it would have been nice to see a bit more personality of its own shine through its carefully traditional design and shell. That said, what most stands out is just how well it manages to modernise the experience of playing those games and stand apart from them as an epic adventure in its own right. It's an RPG with design firmly rooted in nostalgia, but one that absolutely doesn't rely on it to be enjoyable today. Instead, it's both a great reminder of why those games worked so well, and a brand new adventure well worth the hours upon hours (upon hours upon hours) that it takes to pick away at its secrets and its world.
Obsidian (and its Kickstarter backers) have done it: Pillars of Eternity is one of the best RPGs since Baldur's Gate.
It's almost entirely backwards-looking, and the characterisation is disappointingly dry, but for fans of Baldur's Gate and its era this will have you partying like it's 1998.
A fantastic tactical RPG for players looking for a deeper and more complex story and gameplay experience
Pillars of Eternity is a lengthy and enjoyable role-playing game that springs from a time-honored tradition.
Pillars of Eternity is more than an appeal to nostalgia; it's a rich RPG in its own right, boasting enjoyable combat, a strong story, and masterfully paced quests. What flaws it has — poor pathfinding A.I. and a Stronghold that feels somewhat derserted — are comparatively minor in the grand scheme of things. Right now, its biggest problem is a surfeit of bugs, which seem endemic to Obsidian's RPGs. Ignoring all that, though, Pillars of Eternity is enormously entertaining, and may end up making a strong claim to being one of the best RPGs of the year.
