Pathfinder: Kingmaker — Enhanced Plus Edition

400+ hours into the game - shame that there is only positive or negative options, but, all in all, i believe that negatives mayorly overshadow positives. The good: 1) Story. One of the most wonderful worlds and stories that I have had pleasure to explore in games. Companions. Main quest. Side quests. Aligment choices. It is all absolutely wonderful. The plot twists, belivable betrayals, unheard of aliances. It trully feals like my decisions shape the world I am interacing with. 2) Pathfinder system moved onto pc 'port' was done quite flawlessly. Bit simplified in several aspects, some content (classes/feats) removed, yes, but i believe it is for sake of simplicity - to not completely overwhelm new players with list of hundreds things to chose from And, this is, i am afraid, where good stuff ends Negatives: *deep breath* 1) entire exp system. There are 3 sources of exp - Quests, skill checks, and combat. Combat gives laughable ammount of exp! not funny joke! Killing weakest monster gives 9 exp. you need 2000 exp to level up from level 1 to 2. in total, you need 3 200 000 exp to hit max level. if you look at it from point of numbers, you are better avoiding combat all together. It wastes your resources for close to no benefit experience wise. 1.1) now, second part - skill checks. they can give massive loads of exp. problem is. they can be failed. This game pushes you into save scumming just to pass a skill check. now, normally, failed skill check can be a wonderful story progression tool. You failed to persuade leader to not wage war? congratulation! you need to look for another approach!... ...except. Look point 1) - it gives exp. If you fail skill check, you deny yourself massive exp boost. Fail enough skill checks, and you weaken yourself. the slower you level up, the slower you gain new skill points, that could be used to pass harder checks later in the game, which deny you even more exp in future. If you dont save scum skill checks in this game. you are shooting yourself in both knee. 1.1.1) - talking about skill checks, who ran it through!??! you are giving 21-23 dificult checks to level 4 characters?!?!? thats about 70-80% fail ratio! each and every roll in act 1 and 2 should be around 5 points lower, as it is nearly impossible for them to be passed by characters that have both proper stat, profiency and skill allocations to pass them! Dear havens! This is just a terrible design!!! 2) min maxing. if you want to play this game on level normal and (gods forbid) higher, forget about roleplay. Want to play joke character? jack of all trades? yaaa. forget about it. min max for the win. you want to experiment? check different feats? ye. no. dont. we dont do that here. you push for most broken build, forget about fun, you will get your serotonin from pushing one particular number as much as you can. ignore other. 3) companions terrible optimalization. It feels like developers forgot what game they made. first thing i want to do with 3/4 of characters i am given, is to completely respec them. gods who made those stat blocks. Look at point 2 - min max craze. whoever made valerie sheet - dear sir/madame, are you alergic to even numbers? you know, even - those that actually give bonuses? Dex - 13, Con - 19, INT- 9, Cha-15. I understand that lore wise high charisma makes sense. but you are just FORCING us to make her into dazling display build. what i would give to just remove those points from charisma... And, again, mid game - to avoid spoilers - losses part of her beauty due to character quest event. couldnt that be a good oportunity to, lets say, it left more more resiliant, and move a point from CHA to END? 4) talking about respecing... People, are you nuts?!?! why does it cost so much! and making new companion too!!! why is it so expensive?! the only way for you to make a custom character beside MC, is by doing so straight after prologue. The price keeps rocketing higher and higher, and becomes compeltely silly mid game. 5) game expects you to, in many cases, read the future. Entire kingdom management - you progress your cities, you 'level them up' from villege to cities to town, gaining more 'land' to build on as they grow and new buildings... except, when you start building, you dont know that. You dont know you need to leave for example 2 spots for mansion or magic tower. you dont know how buildings interact with one another before you see them. you need to plan city ahead, without knowing what strucutres would become aviaible later on, making only yours 2nd playthrough actually optimated 6) dear havens. Resting. And mages. In no other game have i felt so punished playing mages. They are wonderful. they are verstile. they are strong.... after level 8. level 1-5 are victim simulators. you are given spells or so, that you can fully waste in single encouter, problem is maps are bloated with enemies. In old sycamore lcoation alone (level 4 location) there are over 15 comabat encouters!!! some of them far from easy! All the time i am playing, i am scared to use spells. Ot, mage life. 7) rest mechanic. look 'up' at point stating, that you are out of spells all the time. There is rest mechanic, surely it is not punishing... except. it is. there are no many time events, timed quests, entire game is made around the premise that you should rest as little as possible. entire game is huge ticking bomb. 1) Defeat stag lord in 3 months. 2) troll troubles in X days 3) badland curse ever X-hundred days, if you dont react in time, you suffer massive penatly DAILY! 4) some artisan went into mountain, if you dont drop eveything and rush after her, congratz, you lose her. time time time. All the time. I started playing with mods speeding up travel speed just so i could stop playing with damn time-anxiety. Summarizing. I think about this game as toxic goth-ex. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, i know it will hurt. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, i know there are things that were just screwed over. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I know, i will come back to it again. Why do I have love-hate relationship with a damn game?! I made this review after i deleted the save of 70+ hours due to frustration. Anyway, off i am to start another character. Dear owlcat: screw you and i will see you tomorrow. and tomorrow. and tomorrow. Dear people considering if you want to play this game - you were warned. Its like drug. You know its bad for you, but you will be back for more.

I love Owlcat, and this game. Unfortunately, the game was rushed out due to the devs loosing rights to the game, meaning it has an insurmountable number of bugs. Frequently, quests stop progressing, enemies get stuck, and all sorts of other problems. Thousands of people encounter game breaking bugs that have no solution. Even modding the game to cheat doesn't always fix it. Its just unfortunate. The story is great, and the game had the chance to be so much better. The devs aren't even allowed to fix the bugs. That is the annoying part. ♥♥♥♥ you Paizo for taking away rights. Its bs

[h1] This is every Owlcat game in a nutshell (number of acts may differ but the structure is the same): [/h1] [b] Prologue [/b] – Introductory conversation with NPC: PC is established as well as the place of action. Then The Plot Twist happens which sets everything on its head. Very action packed, intensive and engaging sequence when you can feel what’s at stake and get immersed into the world. [b] First part [/b] – a small piece of open world, free to roam and explore. All or almost all of the mechanics present. You are able to learn more about the setting, the place of action, you can get lore exposition. Action is focused around the PC, their companions/friends, immediate surroundings. The pacing is good, everything you do is about the main story, your companions with several small breaks to introduce some interesting worldbuilding point. [b] Second part [/b] – like the first part, but you have whole, or almost whole, world to your disposal. The story is watered down by the tone of other stuff that needs to be done. Everything starts to fill like a checklist of chores to tackle rather than the comprehensive story. Most of the side content are just repetitive combat events that can be skipped, but you don’t want to, unless you miss some gear or crucial plot item that will affect some NPCs ending in one way of another. You have to get everything done or it will be lost by the end of the chapter. [b] Third part [/b] - The Great Change: PC gets abducted/teleported/sent into completely new and unique area, with its own story arc, that mainly focuses on getting back to the main world map. Story tends to be very impactful or traumatic for the PC and most of the companions, but everything is forgotten after two conversations since getting back from the area. The are never appears again after completing the chapter. [b] Fourth part [/b] – Getting back to the part 2. Most of the things to be done are a checklist of chores revolving around getting the world in order after other people made a mess during part 3. You tie up any lose ends, finish up companions quests, take care of every lingering matter. And oh, I guess, there is a main story. Yeah, you do it to in between the laundry list of miscellaneous content you have to do unless you want to miss the best ending and final character development for NPCs. [b] Fifth part [/b] – Road to the finale, because not the finale itself. There will be a plottwist, that you have seen from miles away, but the PC is to dumb to notice and fighting. Lots and lots of fighting. With enemies that you can one shot and just waste your time, or will one shot you and you will be forced to lower the difficulty settings. A part of the game that should be a focused streamline of events leading to the main antagonist is another watered down area/group of areas that we will want to do, because our monkey brain was hardwired by the whole game to look in every nook and cranny not to skip something important that can affect the ending. [b] The Finale [/b] – You win by the persuasion roll or after 2 rounds of combat. [h2] TLDR: To much focus on Doing Stuff rather than telling the story and building emotional relationship with the world and characters. Some people may like it, not my cup of tea. If you played one Owlcat game, you’d played them all. [/h2]

got 60+ hours into the game only to find out if i didnt finish the main quest in 4 days i would basically have to start the game entirely over. looked up everything i could using guides and chat gpt to find the fastest most efficient route to finish the quest in 4 days. got all the way to the gates of the valley of the dead with 6 hours remaining till fail. no way to make it to the tomb from there in 6 hours and game kingdom died. sorry but what a dumb thing to have in a game especially for new players. other than that i was kind of enjoying the game. classic crpg game which is my favorite genre. too bad its ruined by a crappy game mechanic.

Игра очень противоречивая. На каждый весомый плюс есть не менее весомый минус 1. Большая часть гемплея за боевые классы происходит в окне прокачки. В бою ими можно практически не управлять 2. Большая часть энкаунтеров – мусорные. Проходятся более-менее нормальной пати практически без участия игрока 3. ИИ врагов нулевой. Враги всегда атакуют первого противника, до которого могут дотянуться. В результате только во время засад и в помещениях кто-то кроме танка может оказаться в опасности. На открытой местности достаточно просто послать персонажа с самым высоким КБ вперед и всё. 4. Бой за магические классы в RTWP – боль. Из-за индивидуального таймера у каждого персонажа приходится постоянно спамить паузу, чтобы поймать окно, когда ты действительно можешь кастовать и враги находятся в зоне досягаемости. Либо вообще отключаешь ИИ кастерам чтобы они не тратили ход на бесполезные действия. А потом продолжаешь спамить паузу, чтобы не дать твоим милишникам войти в грязь и упасть туда лицом. 5. Прокачка искуственно усложнена неудобным интерфейсом и количеством слабых/ненужных фитов. Когда уже знаешь рабочие фиты, билдостроение становится намного более увлекательным. Игра просто не визуализирует адекватно недоступные фиты из-за чего надо буквально весь список из ~150 фитов прочитать, если хочешь играть без гайдов. При этом нет строки поиска. Даже когда знаешь нужный фит и не видишь его в списке доступных, приходится всё мотать, чтобы увидеть его и посмотреть, какое требование не выполнено. 6. То же самое с инвентарем. Нет строки поиска, но есть куча свитков, картинки на которых не всегда совпадают с картинками на спеллах. Ты можешь иметь нужный тебе прямо сейчас свиток, но тебе потребуется потратить с минуту чтобы его просто найти. Из-за пунктов 3, 4 большая часть боевого геймплея это у нас некий Raid Shadow Legends. Заранее прокачанные персонажи сами бегают и сами что-то лупят и побеждают, если прокачаны правильно и на них висят правильные баффы. В пошаговом режиме можно побеждать даже криво прокачанными персонажами, но количество энкаунтеров в игре не стоит того, чтобы все их проходить в таком виде. Игра реально задушит еще в первых актах. Так что у меня основная претензия как раз к количеству и качеству боев в игре. Им бы сократить энкаунтеры раз в пять, но подойти к их дизайну с другой стороны. В том же доме на краю времени встречаешь толпу призраков милишников, сзади которых призрак-маг пердит облаками на твою пати. И потом видишь точно такое же сочетание еще раз пять-шесть. Зачем? А кобольдов, наверное, вообще с полтыщи за всю игру убиваешь. Пример: на самом деле, черта даёт +2 к точности бомб - разница огромная. Если это так, то баг. Должно работать на спас бросок против бомб так, как написано. В основном полезно при использовании дебафающих бомб. Beneath The Stolen Lands, роглайк дополнение. Добавляет данж в мир игры и отдельный роглайк режим. Данж скучный, душный и убогий Сами этажи скучные, но вот боссов оттуда я помню лучше, чем боссов из основной игры. Они хотя бы создавали интересные ситуации. А отдельный рогалик режим ценен тем, что там очень быстрая прокачка. Из-за чего там можно поэкспериментировать с билдами и посмотреть, как они работают. Особенно если планируешь перепройти кампанию и не уверен в том, кем хочешь играть. - При создании персонажа игра вообще тебе ничего не объясняет. По типу "На 2 и каждом другом уровне ты получаешь алхимическое открыте". Всё. Что это, зачем, как работает, игра не удосуживается объяснить, видимо считая, что игрока это ♥♥♥♥♥ не должно. - Чисто механически танки в майке-алкашке сильно лучше, танка в тяжёлой броне. Такой уж dnd. Грубо говоря, в игре нет брони, есть шанс увернуться от атаки. Ловки персонажи без брони уворачиваются лучше. - Маги - говно. Точнее маги на урон. На контроль ещё жизнеспособны. - Механика DnD попячена и не работает нормально. Например, магия работает как в настолке, однако, статы и живучесть противников сильно накручена. И если условный фаербол в ванильных правилах выкашивает всё живое, то тут он слега царапает противника. Отчего маги на урон не играбельны на уровнях выше среднего. - Менеджмент отдыха тоже механически попячен. Если в настолке отдых можно делать довольно часто и механика на это рассчитана. Никто в здравом уме не будет по 8-10 часов реального времени устраивать только бой за боем. То в компьютерной игре тебя закидывают мясом, отчего все классы, у кого ограниченные ресурсы чувствуют себя плохо. А это зачастую маги. - Играть на сложности выше средней - это адский мазохизм, потому что игра крайне быстро скатывается в мин/макс и метовые билды. Ты играешь ими или тебя ♥♥♥♥ хардкорно во все щели. ОЧЕНЬ ХАРДКОРНО. Прям ОЧЕНЬ ОЧЕНЬ. Так как повышение сложности ещё сильнее ломает все принципы DnD. Чистые классы работают, особенно у кастеров, но если милишник, то у тебя зачастую будет 3-5 классов намешано, так как некоторые дипы дают очень сильные преимущества, а монокласс в развитии ничего не даёт. - Херовый баланс классов, сильно хуже, чем в продолжении. Куча классов полный мусор, а несколько лютое ОП (привет вивисектор).

Multiple playthroughs. I have ruled this kingdom more times than I can emotionally justify. I came here expecting “fantasy RPG.” I left as: a political leader a therapist for emotionally unstable companions a crisis manager and occasionally… a menace to society depending on my alignment 10/10 experience. 📖 Story: oh we’re doing THIS today??? You like: assassination attempts mystery political drama making decisions and immediately questioning your life choices GOOD. You’re in the right place. This game starts off manageable and then gradually goes “hey you’ve got this 😊” and before you know it it’s “this is your problem now. all of it.” And somehow it works. 👑 Kingdom Management: “just one more decision” at 3am I thought this would be a side feature. It was not. It became my entire personality. You’re: managing advisors dealing with events making choices that actually matter watching your kingdom reflect your alignment like “oh… this says a lot about me actually” Also politics. So much politics. Everyone has opinions. No one shuts up. You are tired but also thriving. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Companions: I would die for some of them (others… debatable) These are not cardboard cutouts. They have: trauma opinions personalities the AUDACITY And yes, you can romance them 👀 Which means you will: make questionable decisions justify those decisions and do it again next playthrough ⚔️ Combat: choose your chaos (strategically) This game supports both turn-based AND RTwP, which is honestly a huge win. After a couple playthroughs, I ended up doing a hybrid approach: Turn-based for boss fights (because I want control, strategy, and my brain functioning) RTwP for mob fights (because fighting 10–20 enemies in turn-based every time would have turned this into a 1000-hour commitment 😭) Honestly? This felt like the intended way to stay sane. ALSO—the difficulty settings are basically a buffet: You can: vibe on Story mode feel accomplished on Challenging suffer a little on Hard or enter Unfair mode where the game looks you in the eye and says “you wanted this.” I personally chose peace and story immersion 🫠 and I usually tweak them until I have what I personally feel is a good balance between good combat encounters but focused on story. 😬 Bugs (aka “WHY is this happening to me specifically”) Most bugs are minor now. BUT. Tristian’s romance is STILL bugged as of my March 2026 playthrough. Like: all romance counters stuck at 0 despite flirting despite having him in my party despite hitting all the right dialogue ✨ absolutely not ✨ I fixed it using the Bag of Tricks mod from Nexus Mods, which lets you manually adjust the romance flags. If you’re planning to romance him, I highly recommend looking up the fix here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/640820/discussions/0/2960544187653555511/ Was I annoyed? yes Did I keep playing anyway? also yes Did I replay the game multiple times? of course 🫠 🎲 Overall Vibe Before Baldur’s Gate 3, this was the closest I’ve gotten to: “I am not playing a game, I am living in a D&D campaign and making decisions that will emotionally haunt me later.” 💬 Final Verdict If you: love story-heavy RPGs want choices that actually matter enjoy managing chaos (kingdom, companions, your own decisions) and don’t mind losing hours of your life you will absolutely get sucked into this game. If you want fast, simple combat and zero stress? This is not that game. This game will give you responsibility. 👍 10/10 would Recommend

I grew up on Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Temple of Elemental Evil, and so forth. This game feels like a massive improvement to that formula. I'd recommend this to anyone that loves those type of RPGs.

Simulador de Planilha, Prefeitura e Desespero Matemático (242 horas de puro suco de masoquismo) Análise: A Grande Ilusão: Você olha as prints e pensa: "Oba, mais um RPG isométrico tático igual Divinity ou Baldur's Gate!". Achou errado. Enquanto nos outros jogos você resolve problemas jogando fogo no cenário, aqui você resolve problemas abrindo o Excel. Jogabilidade (O Ritual do Buff): O sistema de regras (Pathfinder 1e) é denso. Se otimizar uma ficha de Taumaturgo, Bruxo ou Pistoleiro já exige uma certa engenharia mental, aqui o buraco é bem mais embaixo. O combate funciona assim: você passa 15 minutos conjurando 40 magias de buff diferentes na sua party de forma metódica e organizada, abre a porta do boss, toma um acerto crítico logo no primeiro turno e morre. Carrega o save e faz tudo de novo. Tentar debugar algumas lutas desbalanceadas desse jogo exige a mesma paciência de consertar erro de banco de dados em Firebird. É frustrante, mas quando funciona, você se sente um deus da programação lógica. História e Mundo (A Vida de Síndico): A história é sensacional, mas o verdadeiro vilão não é o monstro ancestral... é a administração pública. Do nada, o jogo te transforma no prefeito de um reino feudal. Você tem que gerenciar conselheiros incompetentes, resolver crises políticas, construir vilas e tentar não falir. É um segundo emprego não remunerado que suga a sua alma, e eu amei cada segundo disso. Desempenho e Bugs: O jogo já foi um festival de bugs no lançamento, mas hoje em dia está domado. Só tome cuidado com o peso do seu save, porque depois de dezenas de horas governando seu reino, o jogo começa a pensar na vida antes de carregar uma tela. Veredito Geral (Rolagem de Iniciativa / 10): Se você quer um jogo tático amigável, fuja. Mas se você gosta de ler blocos de texto gigantes, ama calcular bônus numéricos empilhados e quer sentir a pressão de ser o único adulto responsável governando um bando de caóticos, compre agora. Sobrevivi a 242 horas e minha maior conquista não foi matar um dragão, foi equilibrar as contas da minha baronia.

[b]Pros:[/b] [list] [*] [b]World and Atmosphere:[/b] Pathfinder offers a deep universe that is, easy to get into. It can be both dark and lighthearted. Narrative doesn’t drown you in a million confusing terms from the very start. [*] [b]Vibrant Companions:[/b] The characters are memorable. Personally I would love even more dialogue and development for them as the story progresses, but even as they are, they above most modern CRPG characters. [*] [b]Roleplay Depth:[/b] This is where the game truly shines. It applies to both the dialogue—where your alignment actually impacts your choices—and the monstrously deep character progression. You can build literally anyone, from a classic paladin to a mad alchemist, and the game lets you feel that. [*] [b]Visuals:[/b] Despite its apparent simplicity, the game looks very neat. A special shoutout to the particle effects—spells and special abilities look punchy. [/list] [b]Cons:[/b] [list] [*] [b]The Difficulty Curve is a Rollercoaster:[/b] The "Normal" setting is a trap. One moment you’re clearing enemies by the dozen, and the next, you hit a wall against an opponent you have zero chance of beating. You’re lucky if it’s an optional and you can just bypass by reloading a save. [*] [b]Risk of a Softlock:[/b] If you don't keep at least 10 different save slots and aren't afraid to tweak the difficulty (unless you're a dedicated min-maxer), you can easily run your playthrough into a dead end with no way out. [*] [b]Pacing and Bloat:[/b] By the middle of the game, the constant "world-scale crises" hitting your barony one after another start to get tedious. Sometimes it feels like only masochists live in your lands: catastrophes happen more often than breakfast. It’s a mystery why the population hasn't fled yet. You just have to endure this "filler" part or find your own fun in it. [*] [b]Technical Hiccups:[/b] Optimization can be disappointing. In massive battles with many enemies, the FPS can tank significantly, even on a good rig, though the rest of the game runs smoothly. [/list] [hr][/hr] [quote] [b]Advice for Newcomers:[/b] Don’t try to be a hero, and ignore the "hardcore" crowd telling you how to play the game "correctly." If it feels too tedious—don't hesitate to dive into the settings and tweak the difficulty on the fly. [b]It’s not cheating[/b]; it’s the only way to fix what Owlcat devs made. [/quote] [b]Verdict:[/b] Even though the list of cons looks long, this is still a great RPG for those who ready to embrace its imperfections. It rewards your patience with deep mechanics and immersion into your character's story. [b]Is it worth playing?[/b] It’s definitely worth a try, especially on sale. Just keep one hand on the quicksave button and the other on the difficulty sliders.

I've never seen a CRPG start so good and then ruin itself so hard with some of the most asinine and useless mechanics that add nothing to the actual story and gameplay loop. At first I thought "ah, these people are probably tourists and never touched a CRPG in their lives, the Kingdom management system can't be THAT bad!"...good Lord they were so right. Seriously, I couldn't design a more tedious and cumbersome gameplay element even if I tried, talk about shooting yourself in the foot.