Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

For me Baldur´s Gate 2 is the best story driven, party management, isometric RPG that I have ever played (Fallout 1 and 2, and Arcanum being other two worth mentioning).

I loved Divinity Original Sin I and II and Baldur´s Gate 3. Larian did an amazing job. But there was just something missing - every step of the way I felt I could conquer everything with ease as an experienced RPG player. No anxiety, no excitement, no fear of the unknown.

But not in this game. That fear of the unknown, of being underpowered, of: "oh no, there is another set of stairs going down, and my characters are broken, beat, and scarred already...should I turn back?". That is what for me makes an RPG of this type truly great. The feeling of being lost, overpowered, looking for strategic solutions, some crazy tactic to win, and all that on the seventh underground floor of some random dungeon, on some random island, where initially you just went to collect some free water and food. It makes it so much more rewarding and enjoyable once you win, and once you become a bully.

This game combines the best from BG 2 and Arcanum. It reminds me of both. It is not as flashy as Larian games, but boy in my opinion it is much more fun and exciting to play. The lore, the atmosphere, the setting, just perfect.

For the first time in 15-20 years I have that feeling of excitement and anxiety at the same time when playing an RPG of this time (I exclude Dark Souls, Morrowind and Gothic from this talk, because they are not RPGs of the same type).

10/10.

okay...
This game.. just so fking amazing... maybe my favorite crpg of all time, just behind wrath of the righteous...
I really miss this obsidian man.. they turn the amazing first game into this masterpiece sequel.. Everything here done really really well..
First, the gameplay... gameplay maybe one of my main issue in the first game, and this game just did really amazing job to make me fall in love in rtwp style again.. idk how they do it but the rtwp in here feels like "not slow", while also feels smooth and not feels chaos at all... Out of all crpg that use rtwp, this maybe the best..
There's also option for turnbase but i havent tried lol
And also the rpg mechanic in this game are pretty easy but not like "skyrim-esque" rpgs.. i mean its easy to learn but it still give you some thinking.. Like compare to, for example wrath of the righteous lol, that game its not easy or newbie friendly at all lol..
There's also multiclassing that really amazing to try and also easy to learn (atleast fo me).. while the single class also still amazing!!
Ofc pillars have a lot races and background that impacting, not only the dialogue choices, but also how you play in term of gameplay..
And then also the weapon.. they are amazing and significantly better than the first, especially the firearm.. the arquebus feels more "sniper" than before so making the build really interesting.. also dual pistol, i have fun with those thing... Well maybe for wizard grimore kinda downside.. since unlike the first game when you can learn alll spell in all grimore and copy them into a grimore you like, this new system just lock spell in a grimore, so you need like change it depending your situations.. Its certainly interesting system, but i just dont like it..
The story.. the main story, atleast for me, actually more interesting than the first one.. it feels more "big" and "confuse" and make me ask "why he do that" or "what if we're wrong" and obv with help of FULLY VA!! its make the story really engaging.. but yeah it also feels rushed.. especially in act 3 until the end.. Also the ending really unique... bit spoiler, so the ending just bunch of dialogue between you, your companions and the main villain and maybe for some people its bit boring or something but for me, the conversation really great!!
And also how the faction integrated to the main story reallly really good..
In first pillars, the faction also good.. but its just small sample sizes (in defiance bay) and when we go to twin elms, it feels underwhelming... But here, its just feel like new vegas all over again lol.. Every single faction here have point and can change the deadfire for better or worst and it also affecting you main story, side quest, or even companion which is one of the best thing in here!!
The companion in here just amazing... well i will miss durance, but you still get eder and aloth who both still amazing, and also new added companion like maia (love her :3), xoti, tekehu, and serafen also really amazing and interesting.. There's also pallegina who.. idk some people said like her better in her but idk about that lol i dont like her here.. there also sidekick that new can recruit who also had good insight and va and personalities.. Also there's romance lol.. well not as good as bioware or owlcat games but still good aditions imo..
And then there's something called reputation and relationship... in the first game there's reputations for each faction and city/village and this game also have that, and maybe expanded that.. so something it locked you out from some questline.. make the replay value much higher.. And there's relationship system, with your beloved companion ofc.. between you and them OR between their each other.. make more immersion and feels like they are just real person..
And then about the faction and companions.. some faction can lock you out from certain companions.. or can make your companion left the crew completly which pretty good for me.. since it adding replay value and also immersion.. i remember in my campaign, maia leave me (man..) bcs i choose some factions
And for dlc.. its not that "mandatory" like white marchs in first pillars but they are still amazing tho.. It also make your sidekick who in main campaign just like regular mercenary now feels like full companions or more alive since each dlc adding new story for them.. and yeah one of the dlc also adding new sidekick
Also the dlc adding new lore for deadfire itself or the world, especially the god and goddess... it also give us some challenge, since it adding new monster and mini boss that pretty difficult to handle..
So yeah overall its amazing game and worth to try!!
Anyway am i yapping too much lol xD

"That's got to be the best pirate, er, Watcher I've ever seen."

It's kind of hard to start talking about Pillars 2 without acknowledging the very stark contrast in the setting compared to the first game. It's abandoned the banal familiarity of Dyrwood, the evergreen rolling hills and dank forests surrounding a bustling capital, with its surrounding regions. It's all trampled, quite literally thanks to Eothas, so you set set sail upon the high seas to stalk his inscrutable green toes. The Deadfire is a great setting, it's vibrant and lush, big and dense - just like Eder. Wonderful to explore, easy on the eyes and surprisingly adept at dodging monotony.

By the time Pillars 2 has eased you into the Deadfire Archipelago through its short prologue, you've reunited with old comrades, met new ones, gotten your divine charge to chase down and trip a god, gotten a feeling for the way of these shores and the three major factions that occupy it. This game is something of an extramarital child of AC: Black Flag and Fallout: New Vegas. It takes a sequel in a surprising new direction and location, but expands upon the core ethos of the series, works off the framework of a much simpler and rougher game, moulding it into something much more sophisticated, nuanced and...is remarkably similarly structured given you have three factions you can ally with or go at it by your lonesome for the big finale.

It's hard to concisely convey just how much of Pillars 1's core has been improved here. To cutting down some of the purple prose, to the better paced story and quests, the remarkable betterment of combat, balancing and itemisation. The way it all comes together, and how all of it plays off the rest of the game's systems, which never exist in vacuum here - it's just a vastly better game, in almost every imaginable way. Neketaka sits comfortably atop the list of my favourite RPG cities so far. Perfectly measuring just how much tutorialisation, lore and gameplay to season in, without over or underwhelming the player. Also, it's just really cool with some excellent presentation - visual and narrative both.

The pantheon of Eora is greatly expanded upon: paying more attention to the Gods as we know them, and their aspects which were largely only hinted at in the first game - now take central stage at various points through the journey. It fleshes them out more, gives them greater weigh and in doing so characterises the peoples of the Deadfire who find their entire existence and future dependent on them.

The only upsetting thing about this game is that it has no sequel of its own. Deadfire is a remarkable improvement on the first game: making away with all that didn't work, greatly improving all that did and carrying it forward, while still adding more that defines the game for the better. The one thing this game falters in, is the conclusion. Because, well, there isn't really one. This isn't the end of the road for Eora, or the Watcher. You can shape the Deadfire, shape its present and its future fate, but you can't see it through to a close. Neither it, Eora, your Watcher or their comrades. You wrap up this chapter of their existence, just as Pillars 2 does this chapter of the greater Pillars of Eternity setting, and you get some nice and meaningful resolutions for the short-term. But, playing through this game for the first time 8 years after its release, with no true sequel in sight (Sorry Avowed, you're not on this council) makes me worry. This is the Mass Effect 2 of the Mass Effect trilogy, but nearly a decade after its release we are left without a finale. So, I'll close the review off here. Give me a Pillars of Eternity 3, Obsidian, and my life is yours!

9/10, with some caveats. This is a long but pretty exhaustive review.
Let me start by saying that I really love this game - I think it is great - but, it has these really pressing, head-scratching flaws that make it frustrating for me to recommend out the gate. I love this game in spite of its issues - that being said, the 9 here is the score even with mods, so there are def some meaningful ear flicks.
I played Deadfire with several mods aimed at trying to get to the core of the experience - I'd already played through the first act of the game on turn based mode several years ago, so I was familiar with the base systems and knew what I wanted. There are a few Community Patch mods that are used for serious bugfixing and power balancing on the game which I installed, plus a few others - the ability to fully respec/customize my companions' classes and stats (ala BG3), a mod that slowed down my experience gain substantially to stop me from hitting max level halfway through the campaign, and Unity Console which enabled me to debug and manually override some issues that arose from previous mods (as well as at least two gamebreaking bugs I ran into that aren't fixed by the Community Patches). All in all this was in service of me wanting to deeply engage with the game as much as possible, not sand away its edges. I played in real-time-with-pause mode now, which is substantially better than Turn Based, and on PotD difficulty.
I'll start with the good - I really love the Pillars RPG system and feel like Deadfire expanded and improved upon it in such a meaningful, valuable way. The classes all feel incredibly differentiated with their primary and subclass options, multiclassing offers so much exciting build variety, and the progression of powers + talents throughout the experience just makes for an incredibly deeply satisfying journey through building up your character.
Deadfire also corrects on a ton of Pillars 1's problems - they improved up on the original's mechanics really meaningfully, and I already enjoyed the original! The base systems, items, mechanics of this game are just really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good.
Narratively, I find the setup of Deadfire to be actually really great, and I love the entire story of the game. The factions are nuanced and interesting, without any clear true "bad guys" - don't get me wrong, Rauataians are ruthless colonialists, but when you talk to them, they have clear, pressing reasons for why they feel a burden of responsibility for securing the archipelago for their people (I was pretty staunchly anti-Rauatai regardless, but the narrative not painting any one faction out to be mustache-twirling villains is really refreshing. People are people at the end of the day.) Eothas is a fantastic antagonist, the expansion of worldbuilding between Pillars 1 and Deadfire is super exciting, I love interacting with the Gods more and more existential questions of the world - in my opinion it's all pretty good stuff. But -
It's not all good though. To start, the game has some meaningful bug and balance issues without the Community patches, which is honestly a bit surprising to me given how long it's been out. They're not subtle things either, like some abilities just straight up don't scale when they're supposed to, or scale off the wrong weapon. It's... weird to me that Obsidian hasn't gone in and fixed these things after so many years.
Narratively, while I find the worldbuilding and the conceit setup of the game to be super compelling and well done - like, greatly well done - I find the writing of individual characters to have taken a big step back between Pillars 1 and Deadfire. To the point where I wonder if they split up the narrative oversight of these departments? Pillars 1 had a score of interesting characters - there were some misses, at least for me, but I found most of them to be super interesting and well written characters in their own ways. By comparison, Deadfire's character writing feels distractingly uninspired and bland. Reading feedback online, I see a lot of people complaining that Pillars 1 was too wordy, too confusing, too serious, and that they wanted more light hearted romps from Deadfire and - god, I couldn't agree less. Pillars 1 was this flash of light of a genuinely compelling, meaningful, heartfelt narrative in a fantasy world that felt real because the people and the world felt real and that means that things are messy and uncomfortable and complicated and I loved that. Deadfire seems to have taken that feedback in stride and it is worse for it. Their characters feel more like caricatures of people, existing as billboards for their represented faction and objects for the Watcher to romance (another feature that was added in Deadfire that didn't exist in Pillars 1). Even returning characters are victim to this.
Mechanically, companions also have some frustrating stuff going on. Deadfire by default hard locks their stats - cannot modify - and gives you three options for classes - a solo class or two multiclass options. I can understand this on paper but I find it to be incredibly short-sighted, because it locks SO MUCH OF THE GAMEPLAY to only the Watcher. Deadfire has 60 subclasses total that the Watcher MC has access to - before multiclassing. But then your Companions are incredibly gated - very few of them even have multiclasses, and those that do are often weird and clunky. Serafen's Wild Mind Cipher is extremely swingy RNG that can win or lose you fights. Pallegina's Paladin subclass is just straight-up really bad and reworks a base ability to make it a good bit worse, while also being bugged and not scaling her defenses with her beliefs like other Paladins do. Tekehu's Druid subclass is very strong - but he has 10 base Perception, making his accuracy with the storm attacks he gains frustratingly low.
Deadfire gets in its own way here - you want to bring Companions along for their narrative potential and integration. But, if you want to engage in the glory that is Deadfire's class design, you need to make custom Hirelings that have no narrative interaction whatsoever. And even if you do bring Companions with their own subclasses - many of their stat layouts don't make sense for the subclasses. This is why I downloaded the respec mods - so I could customize the stats and class/subclass of all of my companions, functionally giving me Hireling gameplay but with Companion narrative. I don't understand why they'd invest so much in having 60 subclasses but only give you access to them on one character unless you hire NPCs or do multiple playthroughs.
Progression, while mechanically satisfying, is also super poorly paced in Deadfire. I installed a mod to help with this, slowing down my exp gain, but I still hit max level well before I was done with any of the three DLCs, let alone the entire campaign story. This is... weird, to say the least. I did basically 100% the game - aside from one bounty that was bugged so I couldn't complete it - so I'm not surprised I was overleveled. But I was probably sitting at max level for about 15, maybe 20% of my Deadfire playtime which just feels very wrong to me.
And finally, on the bugs, I ran into a few I could not fix without Unity Console interventions. I ran into technical problems throughout Deadfire that are disappointingly serious and I'm thankful I installed mods to be able to force-redirect around them.
However, in spite of all of this - the flattened, goofy character writing, the progression pacing issues, the bugs, the friction between gameplay and narrative when considering companions - I love Deadfire's combat, itemization, classes, and worldbuilding so much that this is still EASILY one of my favorite games I played in 2025.
I love this game. I desperately hope they make a Pillars 3 and improve on the foundation they had here. If you do play it, I highly recommend at least the Community Patch + Extra mods, if not a few others for progression and respecc'ing.

It's a very good game with probably the best subclass mechanic in all video games.
I'm writing this review because i want a PoE3 one day. It's nice to see Obsidian at a fallout game again but, i still have hope for a third installment that is not Avowed!

One of the best isometric story-driven party-based RPGs to come out in the last 20 years. I've played every single one of them. Load times are pretty fast on modern PCs. Lots of build options and party tactics and gameplay features including 1-save only, turn based or real time, pause feature. Lots of character options and dual classes, scaling or non-scaling combat. Difficulty modes. Expert mode.

If you like D&D games lake Baldeur's Gate, Divine Divinity, Fallout 2, and some of the other greats you should also like this. One downside is no split screen or multiplayer. Lots of stealth and stealing options. Lots of dialogue options with real consequences. Non-linear game-play with lots of side-quests and a core story with multiple endings. Boat combat. Tons of spell and ability combinations, passive abilities, items that grant abilities, cheese-mode builds.

Really fun game. Reminds me of the good old days when Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 were released. It's fun building a character blindly, with no hints online, and seeing how it all plays out. I'd love to see a Pillars of Eternity 3.