Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – Enhanced Edition

I wish Steam reviews could be more nuanced, because this game is somehow one of the best games I've ever played while also being a slog that almost gave me burnout at 3 different points. Other reviews have already more aptly summarized the negative aspects (like prebuffing, difficulty spikes etc.), so This review will not be concise, but rather address fantasy fans who are not diehard isometric RPG fans and are wondering if they'd like to sit through 70-130hrs of this.
(For an instant disclaimer, this game is as huge, grandiose and amazing as it is advertised. But you need to be the target audience, or you will get fatigued by the time the unpopular and semi-unskippable Crusade Mode rolls along in Act 3.)
Who is this game for?
Tabletop RPG fans, bookworms or buildcrafting minmaxers. This is an important measure of enjoyment. This game is intentionally designed to sometimes play like a boardgame experience rather than a 3D game about exploration, looting and epic fights. You get this too, but in a more bookish than cinematic way. Much like Pillars of Eternity, this game is for people who like lore and letting their imagination flesh out scenarios, less so gladiator types who like e.g. Skyrim.
The dialectical breakdown
We probably all love fantasy anyway, so it will come down to small gameplay mechanics, technical aspects and downsides to decide if ~100hrs of this game can be for you. Below are the things I liked about WOTR, listed in tête á tête to their counterpoints.
Perfection in adherence to the original Pen-and-Paper system - to a fault
WOTR implements the Pathfinder PnP system impressively and is the closest thing to actually playing a tabletop without the tabletop... or friends. I know comparatively little about DnD or Pathfinder and was mindblown by how intricately it can be realized in a video game. Pathfinder easily has the most subclasses in any game ever. However, the Pen-and-Paper was poorly streamlined into a videogaming experience - every difficulty beyond story mode requires repetitive pre-buffing, laborious minmaxing/micromanagement and a learning curve that is not everyone's playstyle (refer to Quantic Foundry's gamer profiling if interested). It's very hard towards newbies, or anyone coming from more intuitive combat systems like Divinity. The game tries to teach players, but there is still tons that is explained inadequately or not at all. Having to alt-tab constantly to google how every single debuff can be removed all the time is bad. In TTRPGs, it is normal to leaf in rulebooks while playing. But for a videogame (unless it ships a cool physical tome), that is bad. The problem is not even that the game is difficult (it can be easy, eventually!), the problem is that it requires more learning than the game provides, and that combat is rigged for quantity over quality.
Excellent writing - but too much of it
Right off the bat, I love reading. I love the Fighting Fantasy book series. Hell, if you don't like reading, literally cRPGs are not for you. However, WOTR is the kind of game in which important plot hooks are sometimes played out as choose-your-adventure text sequences instead of cinematics or even just animations. Whether this is anticlimactic or not is hugely dependant on your personal preference. From an editorial standpoint, the dialogue is not broken down well even though it deserved peak presentation. Classic RPGs of the 90's and 2000's had text walls that were accommodated for in bigger text boxes, but Pathfinder: WOTR uses Visual Novel-sized dialogue slabs that necessitate ugly scrollbars unless you manually decrease font size. (For reference, Pillars of Eternity or Divinity did the portioning better.) Important text is indistinguishable from less important text, with the result being reading fatigue and accidental skipping of interesting lines. All of this is unfortunate, because the writing truly is excellent imo.
Loading screens and lack of optimization
Every single location regardless of map size requires new loading, and game mechanics unfortunately facilitate savescumming, which results in even more loading. I'm currently clocking in 122hrs, but I bet 22 of those were spent on loading screens.
Something that is common for Unity engine games is also that this will *cook* your CPU temps. Setting the graphics to low settings (which has very little impact) and enforcing hard FPS caps in your GPU driver settings mitigates this greatly, but it's sad this has to be done in the first place.
Can be amazing - But with 3rd party mods
There is indeed such a thing as ethical cheating, and I'm so grateful to the community for their work. If I had left WOTR unmodded, I would have dropped it from burnout in Act 3. Unfortunately ToyBox became not just a QoL improvement, but a necessity for fixing minor bugs and frustrating quest oversights that are not necessarily the player's fault, and which would've required reloading saves from tens of hours ago in order to fix organically. (E.g.: Bismuth got randomly deleted out of existence and I had to "cheat" her back into the inventory. She's still bugged because of this.) Using ToyBox elevates the game closer to what it deserves to be. Also, automount my love.
I like XYZ, will I like Pathfinder?
◆Divinity: Original Sin: Very close in terms of partybuilding and visual design. Pathfinder has a lot less streamlined, accessible combat. If you prefer to "just play", it will be more frustrating, however it is perhaps still the closest thing to D:OS that exists.
◆Baldur's Gate 1/2: Despite the source material being more closely related, WOTR feels closer to Divinity or Shadowrun than BG. Systems are comparable in their complexity and will feel pleasantly familiar. Pillars of Eternity is closer to BG in terms of design.
◆Pillars of Eternity: Similarly interesting companions, story and map size. Pathfinder is the more modernized game and feels more like a beautiful 3D tabletop game than a classic, retrochic mouseclick cRPG like PoE. Similar build complexity possible.
◆Dragon Age: Unless you play on Story Mode, Pathfinder's pre-combat management might drive you crazy. Chances are good you'll like the WOTR characters if you thought DA1 was the worst DA. Neverwinter Nights is the better Bioware point of reference overall.
◆Skyrim: ...is Counter Strike in comparison. Chances are good you'll like Pathfinder if you liked Morrowind, though.
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The End:
Last but not least, I must stress again that I am listing all these gripes because it is a fantastic game of epic scale and immense replayability, and it deserves to be perfect but sadly isn't. Constructive criticism and openness in addressing real issues can hopefully help in bringing its successors closer to the perfection they deserve.

I want to start off by saying that I don't think I'm the target audience for this game, which I suspected going in. The story of WotR is thoroughly fleshed out and the characters are engaging, with hundreds of story-influencing choices to be made throughout the game. On a very basic level, this is a solid fantasy RPG.

Here is where I think some people (including myself) will be put off. I'm still recommending that other people play this game because I think there is a very large subset of people out there who will genuinely LOVE it (as evidenced by the ratings and the fact that people are still recommending it today). However, be warned. This game is COMPLEX.

If you're unfamiliar with Pathfinder, it's a tabletop RPG that expands upon DnD 3E. And I do mean "expands." I am not a fan of converting tabletop games into video games because I don't think the elements translate well, and that was my biggest issue with WotR. Absolutely EVERYTHING has an associated mechanic, something to keep track of, interactions with other mechanics, etc. It's intense. It's detailed. And it's overwhelming if you're not already familiar with Pathfinder. I think Baldur's Gate 3 did a much better job at translating ttrpg into video game format, mostly by putting a lot of the little tasks behind the scenes. WotR lets you control everything, and it might be a bit too much control for some players. Tasks that are charming in a ttrpg setting quickly become tedious, monotonous, and draining in a video game setting. I played on the easiest difficulty with as many mechanics automated as I possibly could, and I STILL found it tedious. At times, this game felt like several games mashed together wearing a trench coat, like an unholy offspring of Fire Emblem's army management, BG3's character creation, and Divinity OS's combat hopped up on sugar and speed.

Like I said, not the target audience here.

All in all, I don't regret playing this game. I did have a lot of fun, when I wasn't being overwhelmed by technicalities. If you're looking for a straightforward fantasy RPG, skip this. For the love of all that is good in this world, SKIP. THIS. GAME.

BUT. If you want something rich in lore, challenging, customizable, and very true to the spirit of ttrpgs, then this game is a must play.

I'm new to the entire cRPG category.
I've played this, BG3 and DOS2 only, loved all three games.
This game is considered finished by the developers, and no new DLCs are coming out, only patches.
Latest pack was the Season 2 pack which includes the last 3 DLCs.

Combat/Build
From the three, this is definitely the one with deepest combat / build system. Near infinite possibilities and build combinations, multi-classing is available from level 2 onwards and all units can be retraining as early as after the prologue.

Narrative and Replay value
Replay value is enormous due to the Mythic paths one might choose, and writing is superb, leaving room for multiple runs taking different choices. I'd say the writing is overall better than in BG3 and DOS2: narrative is richer, there's lots of text to read to deepen the lore and many NPCs have long conversations with interesting backgrounds.

Game length
I had a run with 96 hours and wasn't nearly close to finishing it, then after a long break started a new one and am now at around 127 hours and still far from done.

Production
This game is very beautiful, don't misunderstand me, but compared to BG3 and DOS2 I'd say this is more focused in gameplay mechanics and story than in other production elements such as cutscenes, graphics and voice acting. As in a TT RPG, many scenes have actually no render at all and are written (mostly visions the player character has) and player has to read and use their imagination, which I'm actually quite fond of. There's VA for the most important story elements and party banters only. Cutscenes and animations outside combat are very simple, retaining the isometric view with top down distance from the actors so no individualized dialogue view as in BG3 or facial expressions for the 3D characters.
Character creation is, apart from the class and build, very limited in regards to its visuals: haircut, face type, skin tone and clothing dyes are basically the entirety of options when it comes to appearance customization. This is not really a problem for me since the game highly compensates this aspect by giving you full control over the agenda of your character when it comes to dialogue options (you can really roleplay here).

I might change and or update my review as I delve deeper into the game and discover new things. So far I'm having a blast!

What's up with the Owlcat Pathfinder games being absolutely amazing in the beginning, and then after about 40 hours, turn into an insufferable slog? "Wrath of the Righteous" suffers a similar fate to "Kingmaker", it lures you in with PHENOMENAL gameplay early on. All the things I love about the classics like Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Neverwinter Nights, and Pillars of Eternity are here, like robust (more like overwhelming) character creation, exploration, and challenging battles. The best part of all is the ability to customize the difficulty...it's the 21st century, there's no need to punish players into a roadblock if they didn't create the perfect character to get through difficult situations. I played the first 50 or so hours on normal difficulty, until I entered the abyss....and started to lose interest after one slogfest battle after another. After the 70 hour mark and having an absolutely miserable time in the Abyss (especially having to rotate the camera constantly to explore further in the city; it gets my vertigo raging) I permanently bumped the difficulty down to casual, as I still want to see the game to the end but refuse to constantly reload failed batttles. I learned from Kingmaker not to even bother with the crusade mode...I'm not sure how much longer this would add to gameplay, but I still have a way to go and I've already put in 84 hours as of this writing. I don't think I could stand another 20-30 hours of filler. It still gets my thumbs up, as I have enjoyed my time more than I have disliked it. I'm just hoping any future Owlcat games trim the fat and stick to the best parts of these games, rather than create tedium just to elongate playtime.

Compared to its predecessor, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, this game demonstrates remarkable progress, showing significant improvements in nearly every aspect. The visuals are more polished, the mechanics are refined, and the storytelling is deeper and more engaging. The game skillfully intertwines a complex narrative with intricate character development, keeping players invested in its world and rich lore. That said, there are still some drawbacks. The game's sheer scope and complexity may feel overwhelming to newcomers, and occasional technical hiccups could detract from the experience. However, these issues are minor when compared to the grandeur it delivers.
For those seeking an epic adventure filled with challenging combat, moral dilemmas, and a sprawling narrative where choices truly matter, this game is an unmissable must-play.

I hated this game, when I first started. Then I tried again, and hated it. Then I tried again and now I'm hooked. Honestly I read online the game was designed for real time pause, and I tried to play that way. Once I bit the bullet and just played on turn based the game got so so much more enjoyable. I use real time to set up charges and nuke the first enemy in combat but other than that - switching over to turn based made this game actually fun.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is a CRPG where you don't just fight evil; you become a mythic force against it. Forget slaying a dragon; you're talking about becoming an angel, a demon, or something even weirder. It's based on the Pathfinder tabletop game, so be prepared for rules. So many rules.

Let's start with the good stuff. The tactical combat is glorious. It's like a symphony of destruction, where you're the conductor, orchestrating spells, sword swings, and sneak attacks with balletic precision (or sometimes you're just mashing buttons and hoping for the best). Positioning matters, party composition matters, and knowing your buffs from your debuffs is crucial. It's deeply satisfying when a plan comes together, and you obliterate a horde of demons without breaking a sweat.

The game's faithfulness to the Pathfinder rulebook is, again, almost scary. It's like they downloaded the collective consciousness of every Pathfinder player and turned it into a video game. Every feat, every spell, every obscure rule about grappling is here, lovingly rendered in excruciating detail. This is a game for the rules-obsessed, the kind of player who knows their character sheet better than their own face.

The writing is also excellent. The characters are compelling, the dialogue is sharp, and the story is an epic tale of good versus evil, with plenty of moral ambiguity and surprising twists. You'll actually care about the fate of the world (and your companions), even when you're busy juggling a million different quests and trying to figure out how to manage your mythic powers.

Now, let's talk about the improvements over Kingmaker, its predecessor. Wrath of the Righteous is bigger, bolder, and more ambitious in every way. The mythic paths add a whole new layer of character customization and story branching, allowing you to become something truly extraordinary. It's like they took Kingmaker, gave it steroids, and sent it to a cosmic gym.

The class system is... complex. It's a beautiful, intricate, overwhelming mess of options. You've got dozens of classes, each with multiple subclasses and prestige classes, and the possibilities for character builds are practically endless. This is a game where you can spend hours just theory-crafting, and you still won't have seen everything.

And be warned, this game is long. We're talking dozens, maybe hundreds of hours. It's an epic journey, but by the end, you might start seeing demons in your sleep and speaking in Abyssal.

Of course, no game is perfect. Wrath of the Righteous, like its predecessor, can be buggy. You might encounter glitches, crashes, or moments where the game seems to be actively conspiring against you. Also, the sheer complexity can be overwhelming for newcomers. It's a game that demands your time, your patience, and possibly a degree in advanced mathematics.

In conclusion, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is a magnificent, maddening, and ultimately rewarding CRPG. It's a game for those who love deep tactical combat, rich storytelling, and character customization options that will make your head spin. Just be prepared for a long haul, a steep learning curve, and the occasional bug that will make you question the nature of reality.