Pathfinder: Kingmaker — Enhanced Plus Edition

I'm a big RPG fan, but CRPGs tend to be hit or miss for me. Luckily I've played a lot of Pathfinder 1e and enjoyed playing this game in Turn Based Mode. Do yourself a favor and turn the difficulty way down, otherwise it feels like your playing with a spiteful and cruel DM.

There's a lot I do like about this game. It's a great implementation of Pathfinder mechanics, the writing is done well, there's a lot of fun moments... but there's 2 reasons I just can't recommend it.

First, the Kingdom management mode. As much as I loved Crusade mode in WOTR, that's how much I hate kingdom management. I was happy to see an auto option, so I turned that on. Only for that to be the WORST idea, because it failed a ton of side quests for me. Basically, the side quest would require a build or some sort, and the only way to do that would be to skip time in the throne room. But you can't control how much time to skip, so it often way overdoes it and fails the sidequest because you run out of time. Close to the end, it actually moved me so close on the timer to the final dungeon that I had to abandon all my side quests to not fail the main quest.

Second... not going to spoil who it is, but (SPOILERS AHEAD) a major companion dies during the finale dungeon and there's no way to avoid it. And I built my whole combat strategy around that companion. So at that point I just gave up, 70 hours into the campaign and almost at the end, because that's just not ok to do to your players.

Go play WOTR. It's much better. Clearly, they learned from the mistakes in this game.

Oh, also: don't play this game if you have misophonia. SO. MUCH. SWALLOWING.

There is no justification for a singleplayer game to be anywhere near EULAs and other license agreements that include sharing usage data with Amazon and other giant companies.

The game isn't bad, but there's honestly so much better to be had in the CRPG space and many of those have much less bad EULAs and no data sharing from singleplayer experiences. Really disappointing.

I loved this game EVENTUALLY (as much emphasis on eventually as is possible). I think it's important to caveat my positive reaction because it comes after what amounted to basically a 3 year degrees worth of research to understand how to actually play it. When I very first played Kingmaker I went in blind and, as a result, it absolutely kicked my head in and I had absolutely no idea why or how things were happening. I dropped the game hard, but after a lot of pre-work which was about as exciting as it sounds, I decided to give it another go. My experience could not have been more different. With a decent understanding of what was going on I started to enjoy the game and even enjoy the parts where I got my head kicked in (probably says something about me) because it became like a puzzle to solve.

Rather than do some lengthy review saying how I liked the story (I do), that the characters were great (they are) and how the combat if fun (it is), I wanted to suggest that if you are new to CRPGs or Pathfinder, do a bit of prep first. At least then you can judge the game fairly instead of doing what I did first time around and just give up. The game is complicated and there are times where you die just because you didn't know what was going to happen. If you are happy to roll with that and re-load, I really recommend it.

I played Baldurs Gate before, so I guess this technically isn't my first CRPG, but it's the first one I actually tried to understand. I can feel the urge to go again now, build a new character, try out different classes, different conversation choices and story moments. Which for a 100hr + game, I think says a lot.

I had a fun time trying to deal with running a kingdom along side dealing with the main plot. The kingdom management could be a bit of a hassle at times but I suppose that is the point. I did have occasional glitches like a party member going through a wall and falling off the screen, dead enemy bodies flopping all over the room, and other similar issues but nothing game breaking.

Kingdom management is over-hated and party combat has a lot of depth. Story is pretty good too, but the system is kind of hard to learn compared to a DnD 5e game like BG3 or Solasta, but that's just the nature of pathfinder.

It's fun with good mechanics and a nice story for the casual player like me. 45 hours in and I have no idea when I will reach the end, but I'll likely play through again as a difference class/alignment as there are a lot of options in dialogue, etc.

I will sound pretty bad right now, but to be honest, I bought the game on sale not really digging too much about it, as it just looked okey-ish. But the fact is this is extremely well made crpg with kingdom management elements. I don't share opinion that it is super hard to get into - if you played crpg before a lot is the same, some things you do have to focus more but if such ignorant as I got it, probably anyone can. Visuals are very nice. Good game, engaging from the start.

This game is a lot of fun and can go on for what seems forever. Different stages in the game give it depth and a long lasting playability. The graphics are great and the story line has lots of variables in it to keep you guessing.

Basically a traditional RPG in the style of Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, etc. Excellent game.

game has been stolen from owlcat but VK/my.games, Please don't buy this, buy rogue trader or Wrath of the righteous. Down with thieves!!!

A potentially great game ruined by inept game design featuring a range of "gotchas". Highlights include:
- Being punished in the kingdom management for choosing any alignment other than lawful good. You now have a 10% penalty to all die rolls. There will be hundreds or thousands over the course of the game
- Insane difficulty even at normal level, featuring enemies that you can't hit and tips online to suggest you can kill them with spell X. Don't have spell X or the right companion in your party? You are probably SOL.
- Unhelpful quest info and timers that can lock you out of companions at the end game. Have fun replaying those 150 hours hahahahaha
- Multiple one-shot encounters in the opening chapter. Picked the wrong class for your main character? Have fun playing the reload game and hoping for the RNG gods to favour you. Things to get better when you have picked up a few companions. But of course, some of them are locked behind timers and depend on you going to a random location to get them. More stupid game design.
- "Choices" that tend to be "party is wiped out" vs "you progress the game"

There are also multiple bugs still in the game. That could be forgiven if the game design wasn't the abysmal mess it is.

Yes, I have 200+ hours, but the last few chapters have been an exasperating and frustrating mess of dealing with the poor game design.

The developers need to get some experienced game designers on board, and also ask themselves the question "Will this be fun?" when making design choices. If they answer is "no" (and quite a few design choices in this game have that answer), they need to bin the idea. If you read the forums, you'll notice that a lot of people who are struggling are being met by derisive "I can't believe you didn't use party member X for this encounter/I can't believe you don't have feat Y/I can't believe you didn't choose obscure spell Z" because it's so obvious that you will need it for some random encounter down the line.

Furthermore, the designers need to understand the meaning of "normal" and write *adequate* descriptions for the difficulty levels. Normal assumes that:
- You know the Pathfinder ruleset inside out
- You know how to build the optimum character and can mitigate the poor character building of your companions
- You have already played the game to the end at least once
- You enjoy savescumming

A well-designed game is challenging, to be sure, but doesn't feel unfair. And a well designed CRPG doesn't punish your for role-playing, making choices accordingly and not completing quests that appear optional until it transpires otherwise.

If you are a seasoned Pathfinder pro, enjoy saving every 10 seconds and reloading en mass, you'll get some mileage out of this game. If not, don't bother. It's an exercise in frustration. The developers rolled a 1 on their game design check and still haven't fixed the ensuing mess.

I love this game and would wholehearted recommend it under normal circumstances. However Owlcat (the developers of Kingmaker) no longer own the game, and it is instead owned by my.games. my.games has added a EULA agreement that you must agree too before playing. As a part of launching the game you agree to:

"COMPANY has right to automatically collect, store, process, submit to third party for achieving such purpose areas of User Device RAM used by the User simultaneously with the launch and/or operation of the Game as well as the following data:

(a) software information installed in personal computer of the User including operating system, drivers, dxdiag; (b) full-size screenshots showing the Client part of the Game running, (c) the User’s device information, its basic characteristics and parameters and (d) dll list connected to the process of the Game functioning on User’s device, its versions and checksums."

This data can then be sold on to a list provided by my.games which includes Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google. If you already own the game you can get around this by launching from the .exe directly, however new buyers will need to agree.

As of October 2024 the EULA contains vague and predatory language. I cannot in good conscience recommend this game. It was quite fun, but no game is worth selling private data (inclding IP address?!) to third parties. I adamantly refuse to accept these ridiculous terms and will therefore not be continuing to use this product which I ostensibly own. If this change is reverted I would be comfortable returning as a player myself, but this company has lost any good graces. I will be actively discouraging people from playing this or any game owned or published by MY.GAMES B.V. they are attempting to enforce draconian nonsense on a game they haven't updated (even with a bugfix) for literal years. Do better.

OWLCAT IS NOT THE OWNER OF KINGMAKER FOR A LONG WHILE NOW!

If you purchase the game now you will have to agree to a new EULA which gives the owning company MY.GAMES the right to harvest your data and sell it to 3rd parties.

It's unfortunate but STAY AWAY FROM THIS GAME!

this is very much like a tableltop campaign, except, the dungeon master isn't there to adapt the game to the players, so there are opportunities where you can become soft or hard locked in the game due to either your build, your party or your equipment.

that can certainly be frustrating in a game that can easily draw a 200 hour playthrough.

however, if you don't have that happen, the 200 hours are very well designed and worth it.

The game is ok in terms of exploration and general combat. Not notable for dialogue or storylines. Ordinarily I wouldn't comment, except I just got hit with approving their new T&C's. I'm part way through the first of more than a half dozen T&C's, which isn't really even about the game, it's on cookie policies and trackers - oh so many trackers. When I want to play a game, I'm not expecting to wade through hours of administrative crap. If you blindly click yes on any policy, maybe this game is for you. This approach of drowning the user in a huge volume of legal garbage is a blight upon informed consent, by making it so onerous. Hence, I recommend you spend your time elsewhere.

They released a new eula for a game that hasn't been updated or had any bug fixes in years. Now I can't access the DLCs. The newer Owlcat stuff is good, but the rights holder of this game is a scumbag

The game was recently bought out by my.games. Now we have a launcher that sells our data we are forced to either agree to it or delete. We bought this game under the pretense that it did not have a launcher that stores our data. Well my.games i will now avoid anything you own or will own. Good job /golfclap/

This game, from what I’ve heard, is a good adaptation of the Pathfinder RPG system. As a game tho, I find it to be quite poor. I managed to resist quitting until Act III, but no longer. I’m terribly bored and disappointed with the combat, story pacing, and companion interactions. I’ve heard good things about WoTR, so I’ll be switching to that.

First of all, the game is really, really slow, and there’s no good reason for it to be.

- The story is slow-paced.
I’ve realistically played about 60 hours, but it could easily be condensed into 10-15. After a relatively short Act I, it gets slower. Then you have to wait for the story to progress, which means you spend a lot of time exploring, but…

- Exploration is quite bad.
Locations are reused and often feel empty. As a veteran RPG player, I found the game fairly easy, so I was able to explore quickly—but I was penalized for that. If you finish certain areas faster than expected, you can miss out on potential companions! And these events are not marked on map - so you will miss them :)

- Combat is mid
Most of the time, you’re fighting monsters that feel like placeholders—easy to beat and not at all challenging. Playing in turn-based mode is frustrating because you have to switch modes frequently. Some fights are challenging, while others are bullshit-level hard. On lvl 5 you can meet lvl 16(?) Owlbears in some location for example.

- Lack of interaction
Companions rarely comment on anything and don’t have much to say beyond serving as your advisors. You find and defeat a dragon (Crag Linnorm) in some random location and there is not a single comment from anyone. Damn, even I was spooked by him!

- Poor UI
Interface is not designed well. Figuring out how things work (like using supplies when resting) switching between map and kingdom views (and dealing with loading screens), managing your kingdom and cities, and understanding how quests are triggered - is all poorly designed.

I feel like a bit of a hater, but this is the first RPG I’ve ever dropped. And I even finished Divinity: Original Sin, where at the beginning, you don’t even know what to do next. Maybe I’ll come back to it later, but for now... just no.

New company has purchased the license and is requiring all original owners to agree to their own new data policies that allow for micro transactions.

I would no longer recommend buying this game.

perfect roleplayer picks up right where fallout left off in terms of gameplay of a top down point and click

I bought this game on a set of conditions. Now these conditions change so more of my gaming data is shared with third parties... I never agreed to this, but now I'm stuck in "accept" or "delete the game without getting refund". That's not a cool tendency.

The game has improved a lot since it's release but the gameplay is old school. The story is incredible, really intrigues you. The character creation is very deep (in terms of character powers, not appearance) The game does has a steep learning curve, meant for experienced pathfinder/RPG players.

This game is great. But I have played DnD my whole life and the pathfinder ruleset is not that different. I play turned based combat btw. I must say though that owlcats implementation of TBC is not as good as the old mod for turn based combat, but it does suffice. Unity mod manger is also easy enough to use just drag and drop.

Now as a table top gamer I love all the information presented. I am retired so I have all day to read all the info provided. I can spend 15 minutes just mousing over all the info on the character sheet on one character.

As a RTwP action game, well I don't know because I HATE that system. In my opinion BG 1 and 2 and both Icewind Dales would have been better served with TBC and maybe a butto to go RTwP like this game presents. For the easy combats.

If you have never played a table top RPG pen and paper game I would say this game will overwhelm you. But if you are a vet there is much to enjoy.

Who may like it: Old grognards who enjoy the reading of everything. you know who you are, having bought the old DnD players manual, DM guide, all the monster manuals, deities and demi-gods etc. We like reading.

Who may not like this: people who hate or can't read, younger instant gratification players. Even perhaps ARPG players who don't enjoy soaking up every detail of the world.

Truly fantastic role-playing game; a real gem of the genre! Pathfinder: Kingmaker managed to scratch a rare an exotic itch of mine - a RPG that let's you grow and develop your own kingdom, truly tying you to the lands of your adventures.

Games I've played like the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim rarely make you ever feel attached to the land you're exploring; you're a wanderer, and sure, you might own a few homes, but they exist as little more than storage depots without heavily modding them. Kingmaker succeeds in making you feel attached to your lands, watching them rise from untamed wilderness to a bastion of civilization, all while fighting the scourge of an ever growing existential threat that seeks to undermine you.

The story was highly enjoyable, as were the companions. It was a fine introduction to the world of Pathfinder, and managed to engage me with the lore of a setting I was only previously vaguely aware of. The flexibility of the class system allows for endless combinations of unique play styles, masterfully adapting the tabletop setting. My only regret is that wizards as not as flexible as their tabletop alternatives.

Fantastic game; try it if you like RPGs and want to feel like an important figure to the world, not just a wanderer but someone who truly puts down roots.

A lovingly crafted masterpiece.

It took me 138 hours to finish this game and all of it felt meaningful. No filler quests or fluff or padding, just engaging content.

Likes
- Lovable characters (they'd better be, considering how much time you spend with them)
- Entertaining and engaging story arcs/writing
- Fun Gameplay
- The journey of establishing, securing, and eventually ruling your kingdom is so satisfying
- They manage to make ruling your kingdom especially engaging. You have more tasks to complete than you have time or advisors for, meaning that you have to weigh your options regarding what is the best use of your limited resources. For example, there are both opportunities and problems, left ignored, problems will hurt your kingdom. So do you risk hurting your kingdom in order to have a chance at gaining a boon through an opportunity? Or do you opt to keep your kingdom stable and forgo the opportunity? You always feel like there is something going on in your kingdom that needs taking care of, which really helps with immersing yourself as a ruler of a kingdom.
- TL;DR they manage to make the minutiae of the day to day running of a kingdom engaging and interesting
- If you are new to the pathfinder game system there are a plethora of difficulty sliders you can use to adjust your gameplay to find the right level of challenge

Dislikes
- Enemies that don't deal damage but instead damage your characters' attributes. Some dungeons have quite a few of these enemies and it can be annoying as you have to rest to get rid of the debuffs and that slows down the pacing

Tips
- It goes without saying to Save your game before entering any dungeon. Some dungeons can be exited (meaning you can leave to replenish health/supplies or just rest in safety). However, some dungeons lock the door behind you, meaning if you didn't bring sufficient rations you may run out of resources (potions, spell slots, etc) and be unable to finish the dungeon
- Don't be afraid to adjust the difficulty, the Pathfinder system can be overwhelming (especially to new players like myself). I tried to play on Normal difficulty but there were some occasions where it turned out I did not build my character(s) optimally for a particular encounter. Don't let people give you grief for having to play on easier settings, do what is fun for you.

It's just a bad game. The Pathfinder System does not make for a good video game experience, the characters are bland, the combat is frustrating and boring, and there are points that if you click on the wrong thing at the wrong level with no warning you get into a combat you actually can't win. Never even got to the "kingdom building" portions, though I hear they're equally poorly designed. Avoid avoid avoid.

Honestly, I would pass on this game. Out of all the cRPGs I have played (BG1, 2 and 3, Icewind Dale, Tyranny, Pillars 1, Solasta, the majority of the new Shadowrun turn-based games, Divinity 2, Disco Elysium, etc. etc.) Pathfinder: Kingmaker is the most unbalanced game I have ever played.

At level 4, with a +11 to hit, the game regularly misses targets that have a 15-19 AC, meaning that the RNG is weighed against the player for a coin-flip of a percentage.You are fighting enemies in the story that you are expected to kill to progress the main quest in an orderly fashion, but the enemies have several levels and more hit-dice than you at all times, seemingly endless potion amounts, do not take damage from their own bombs (tanglefoot, alchemist's fire, etc.). It is insane the amount of buffs and ridiculous scaling the game takes against you.

Not to mention the vast bugs that occur when you use turn-based mode, such as losing an attack, not being able to throw potions in an area where you want (they must be direct target) losing your movement because the game defaults you to a 5ft. movement instead of your normal movement after an attack, the list goes on.

I really wanted to like this game. I've played Pathfinder PnP, as well as several other TTRPGs like D&D 2e-3.5-5e, Deadlands, Delta Green, and more. I am no stranger to RPGs. This game lacks in almost every regard, from writing (I'm looking at you David Nettle you P.O.S. waste of a questline, and cardboard female characters), to the bugs, to the sheer mountain of challenge that you have to climb at the beginning of the game.

If this game had good Q.A., they would have thrown this in the bin and rebalanced the whole thing, given the U.I. a new coat of QOA, and made the first act an enjoyable experience, with characters that held a semblance of life.

I will say, if you enjoy a masochistic level of challenge, or like to just lower the difficulty to the lowest level and cruise, this game could be enjoyable. I would buy it on a sale, but ONLY on a sale.

Honestly this is a really enjoyable game. Closest thing to a real D&D adventure game that I've played.

This game allows you to take your creativity and use it to how you want, just like how you can in Pathfinder or D&D tabletops. I love it and hope that more games just like this come out

This game is incredibly frustrating, I will come back another time to play through more but i honestly need a break from this.

Good turn based RPG. You can also do pause style combat. Seems very similar to the old baldur's gate. Make your character start questing, build your party, and level up. Only 17 hours into the game but so far really good.

While graphically not on par with BG3 this still boasts an amazing story.

I am currently running the tabletop version of this campaign with some friends. It's only since I started running it that I was truly able to appreciate what Owlcat Games achieved with this game and it's successor. They've managed to take an experience for a group around a table and turned it into an experience for an individual on a computer. The conversion is so seamless. The changes that were made to the original story perfectly capture the feeling of the original story whilst making the experience work for a single player.

Great game. Combat isn't too difficult but is challenging enough to be engaging (Can also be adjusted with difficulty settings). Very faithful to the source material so far. It's quite fun exploring the map to see what you might encounter next. I bought this on sale but would recommend it even at full price.

Points in favour of playing the game:
- Highly customizable character and companion options. You never need to use the companions from the story if you don't want to, but you absolutely can.
- So much gear to find that you can truly build your team however you want
- Great skill and spell progression
- Wide array of classes, sub classes, and multi-classes means that your play-through will always feel unique
- Story fosters a sense of urgency to keep you on track towards the main quest.

Points against playing the game:
- This is an incredibly long game, with many people needing around 200 hours to complete it. If extremely long games are what you're into, consider this a point in favour of playing the game.
- The aforementioned sense of urgency and consequences for not progressing the main quest mean you will likely not be able to explore as much as you want to, progress companion quests as much as you want to, or manage your kingdom as much as you want to. It will get frustrating, and you may lose in-game days or weeks loading old saves if you make big mistakes.
- Some of the companions are extremely annoying and, unlike Baldur's Gate, you can't just cast a Flesh to Stone spell on them and leave them behind.
- Just to keep the story moving along, especially in the late game, you will probably lower the difficulty so you don't have to continually rest to recover spells, hit points, and stat points. Many late-game enemies drain your stats, so you will run out of the spells and materials to recover your stats rapidly and require rest and restocking. The effect of lowering the difficulty made the combat less repetitive for me to beat the game, but also felt demoralizing as I had put in over 150 hours without any adjustment to the difficulty until I felt compelled to reduce it just to keep the story progressing.
- The final dungeon, the House at the End of Time, is an absolute slog. You'll put in 150+ hours to get there, then be extremely frustrated by the mechanic needed to complete the dungeon. You get a lantern that phase shifts you between dimensions which look identical. I had to go through the entire 3-floor dungeon 6+ times with the lantern management required to get through. I rage-quit and left the dungeon alone for a while so many times due to the frustration of the game forcing you to complete the dungeon with the lamp on in certain parts, off in certain parts, activated before entering certain rooms, and de-activated before entering some others. That was alongside needing to rest the party constantly as all enemies have stat-draining attacks which stack up and eventually immobilize party members.

Overall it was an OK game. The final dungeon was a hugely frustrating letdown. Gameplay had both high and low points, character gear and customization was excellent, but I couldn't recommend this to anyone but an RPG masochist.

The bottom line up front is that the combat in this game is almost unplayable. It's not difficult, it's just so poorly designed, so clunky, and so unresponsive that I can barely make sense of what's happening half the time. Most of the time, it feels like the characters are running through molasses (even if unencumbered), and I suspect this may be done to make up for the fact that the maps are all tiny, so they prolong everything to put some space between the numerous loading screens.

The progression is nonsensical. At some points, the narrative SEEMS to be that bad things happen if you dawdle. On the other hand, if you don't do anything on the side, you're too weak to get anything done. Maybe that's not considered dawdling to the game, but the point is that you have NO idea when dawdling rules apply and when they don't.

Most importantly, as far as characters and story are concerned, I'm disappointed. The characters follow the Good-Neutral-Evil, Lawful-Neutral-Chaotic scheme. You'd think that'd make your actions nuanced, but they're incredibly shallow. Too many times, I found myself thinking "these two actions/choices don't have to be mutually exclusive, they could be in the same sentence" or "one follows the other" or "I want to say/do both of these things".

This will be subjective, but I didn't like any of the characters. I don't know what else to say. They don't strike me as compelling or immersive, and some of them are simple caricatures of whatever archetype they were going for. "Me barbarian, me smash, yell loud, get mad, YOU ANNOYED?!" or "I'm evil, I do evil things, you annoy me when you're not evil, and you would never, ever trust me." It's like they want you to be forced to put up with annoying characters because they know you need them. I expect that, if I had played longer, I would be expected to think 'wooooow, you're not so bad after allllllll', but I will never know.

Even the imperfections had their own charm. The flaws and shortcomings added to the experience, giving everything a unique feel. I genuinely enjoyed this game.

If you enjoy isometric 3D CRPG games, this could be right up your ally.

For a die-hard CRPG gamer such as me, this is amazing! High-end graphics, "tactical" battle or turn-based combat, open-world adventuring, the opportunity to build a dynasty from the bottom up. This game has just about everything I enjoy in gaming.

If you are wanting a new FPS, pass on this game please.

Przed dzisiejszym postem przydałby się pewien disclaimer. To nie do końca recenzja, bardziej rant. Jestem w pełni świadomy, że czas jaki spędziłem przy dzisiejszej produkcji nie umożliwił mi zobaczenia wszystkiego co gra ma do zaoferowania. Pokazano mi natomiast masę upierdliwego badziewia i po konsultacji ze znajomymi którzy grali dalej uznaję, ze mam dość. Może to kwestia mojego słabego samopoczucia, ale nie będę się samobiczował grą.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker ściera się z jednym dość oczywistym problemem. Tak, przypięcie marki Pathfindera do gry daje jej nieco dodatkowego rozgłosu, ale też zmusza do korzystania z systemu zaprojektowanego pod tabletop rozgrywkę. Nie muszę chyba tłumaczyć, że gry wideo to zupełnie inne medium. Oczywiście da się z tego wybrnąć, a nawet dobrze to wykorzystać (choć nie jestem pewien czy Lariani nie zrobili by lepszej roboty sami zamiast trzymać się DnD, ale kontrakt z Wizardami wymagał).
Co więc wynika z tej rpgowośći. Np mechanika odpoczynku, która jest dość rozbudowana. Do restu wystawiamy więc jedną z postaci na wartę jedną do polowania itp. Bardzo klimatyczna mechanika dla tych co grali w klasyczne rpg, jednak tu niestety zaczynają się schody. Po pierwsze podczas restu mogą napaść gracza potwory. Nie jest to jednak napaść rozpoczynająca jakiegoś questa, albo coś ciekawego. ot dzikie zwierzęta co samo w sobie nudzi. Moment, kiedy jednak zostałem podczas jednego odpoczynku zaatakowany 3 razy był już przegięciem. Czy naprawdę nie byłoby lepiej jakoś tego ograniczyć np że jeden rest to maks 1 napaść, było to bardzo nurzące i to właśnie zdecydowało o opuszczeniu Pathfindera.
Gra z resztą wymusza odpoczynek bardzo często. W innych rpgach traktowałem to zawsze jak odnowienie życia i spelli, ewentualnie coś co ma miejsce automatycznie podczas podróży. Tu trzeba tego samemu pilnować i występuje zawsze, bo postacie się męczą. Realistyczne? Może. Bardzo upierdliwe? Jak najbardziej. Dodatkowo zdarzają się momenty, gdzie nasza postać ma fabularne koszmary i wtedy randomowo nie wypoczywa. I co zrobić? Kolejny rest? Witamy w krainie durnych random encounterów. Nie wyobrażam sobie balansować tego wszystkiego jeszcze z dbaniem o królestwo w późniejszych etapach rozgrywki.
Nudne walki to z resztą nie tylko random encountery. W każdym queście jaki napotkałem był dorzucony kilkupiętrowy dungeon pełen walk z jakimiś losowymi przeciwnikami które nic nie wnoszą. Kolejna strata czasu i rujnowanie pacingu questów. Szkoda, bo jeden z nich nawet mnie zainteresował.
Z drugiej strony "pierwszy quest poboczny" jest skopany do granic możliwości. Alchemik w obozie zleca nam znalezienie jagód w jaskini pająków, daje nam przy tym fiolki ognia alchemicznego do walki z owymi pająkami. W jaskini dowiadujemy się, że te ognie są bardzo potrzebne, bo chmary pająków są odporne prawie na wszystkie obrażenia i moje party nie mogło im nic zrobić poza biciem pochodniami za 1 damage. To zresztą przewijający się motyw, ze przeciwnicy są z dupy odporni na obrażenia. Pomóc ma w tym mechanika inspectowania, pokazująca na co wrogowie są wrażliwi. Gra jednak nigdy jej nie uczy, a nawet jakby to robiła to tutoriale są w formie nudnych statycznych plansz tekstu. Ale dobrze przebiłem się jakoś przez pająki, zbieram jagódki, restuję wracam do typa. Dowiaduję się, że jagódki skwaśniały, bo sobie zrestowałem. Musiałem więc lecieć znów do jaskini i je ponownie zbierać. Nie wiązało się to z żadnym dodatkowym wyzwaniem, ot taka sobie strata czasu.
W kontekście systemu walki mamy tu kolejny problem. walka w czasie rzeczywistym z aktywną pauzą nie trafia do mnie odkąd grałem w dobre gry turowe. Pathfinder daje nam więc opcję trybu turowego, tu jednak zaczynają się schody. Walka turowa zajmuje kupę czasu, a przy tym jak wiele jest combatu z randomowymi grupami zwierząt, bardzo często trzeba wybierać między nieoptymalną walką, a zanudzeniem się na śmierć.
Z rozmowy z kolega dowiedziałem się dodatkowo, że management królestwem czyni rozgrywkę jeszcze bardziej upierdliwą oraz że i tak miałem wyłączone wiele męczących mechanik w opcjach poziomu trudności. Powiedział mi też, że największy bullshit dopiero przede mną. To wszystko jeszcze mając na uwadze, że miałem haka na nieskończony ekwipunek, brrr.
Jak się zapewne domyślacie wzbudziło to wszystko we mnie ogromne emocje. Pathfinderowi dam jeszcze szansę w postaci Wrath of the Rigtheous, ponoć tam studio zrobiło wiele rzeczy lepiej. Kingmaker to ich pierwsza gra, a rpg trudno się robi więc jestem w stanie to wybaczyć. Nie zmienia to faktu, że kingmakera właśnie oceniam negatywnie i polecam go raczej tylko rpgowym masochistom.

Huge value. I've played over 90 hours despite what my steam time says (steam deck and loads of offline play) and i'm still just working through act 2. I don't want to put it down.

Don't be afraid of the kingdom management, it's truly not that difficult or as daunting as it may seem at first. Just focus on nailing the problems, then the opportunities as a backup - e.g. triage it, a simple common sense approach.

This isn't the typical isometric crpg. You're running a kingdom first, adventuring second. Adventures are fun, but this game is about becoming a great ruler - not a great adventurer only. The clock / time based events put a lot of people off. It's very generous and you don't have to miss anything.

Steam deck did require a single tweak to get working. You have to manually select the proton version (any recent one works.) Once you set it you can completely forget it and it works perfectly. No performance issues.

Noticed a lot of great games getting review bombed while on rails soul slop is elevated. This game is excellent. It is a true Baldur's Gate vibe but with far more depth, less slapstick and more intense feel. If you like Isometric RPG games Owl Cat makes in my opinion the best. I even prefer these over the newer Baldur's Gate which is more of a one and done cinematic vibe that is good but in a different way.

Either way not sure why after all this time this game is being attacked like so many other great games. So added my own review to raise up an excellent game especially on sale right now. It's a steal but be prepared as these are long games. You will easily spend a hundred hours in a game like this.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an exceptional RPG that truly captures the essence of classic tabletop gaming. The story is rich and immersive, drawing you into a world filled with intriguing characters and epic quests. While the game is challenging from the start, it becomes incredibly rewarding once you get the hang of it. The difficulty curve ensures that every victory feels earned, making the gameplay experience deeply satisfying.

One of the standout features is the ability to switch between turn-based combat and real-time combat mid-game. This flexibility allows you to tailor the gameplay to your preferences, whether you enjoy the strategic depth of turn-based battles or the fast-paced action of real-time combat. This feature adds a layer of versatility that enhances the overall experience.

Overall, Kingmaker is a must-play for any RPG enthusiast. Its compelling story, challenging gameplay, and innovative combat system make it a standout title in the genre. Highly recommended!

If you like D&D, you may really enjoy this. Me, not so much.

I enjoyed the character creation page and reading about the classes but I wasn't a fan of the character voices, not because the voice talents aren't good but because they were oddly cheesy and annoying to me. It felt almost childish, yet contained the theme of murder so it wasn't immersive.

Also not a fan of the combat because it wasn't intuitive and didn't flow well. It feels like it's turn-based yet it's not really.

I can see people loving this, but again, not me.

Great CRPG, interesting kingdom management system that expands upon the usual "have your own base/castle/home" feature in many RPGs. It's still a bit scripted but adds a new flavour to the formula.

Lots of character class customization that you'd expect to find in a DnD/Pathfinder style game. It's great for those that like to min/max but also approachable enough on most difficulty levels to play whatever style character you prefer.

Story is mediocre, it's linked to kingdom development, which sometimes feels slow paced, but gives you plenty of time to explore AND build up your villages/towns. Your companion quests are slowly unlocked as you progress, but you have plenty of companions, so their quests pop up frequently enough to keep you engaged.

8/10 Gameplay
7/10 Story

cool, a bit expensive, the travelling and resting mechanics are the same throught the full game so it feels like you dont get better and just feel boring, like, how's a king traveling the same way as a random adventurer?

this game is a correct RPG, and a correct kingdom managment game. and the problem uis you can't do both. if you follow the story, you cant manage your kingdom and it will fall appart and you'll loose. if you manage your kingdom, the story event will take place without you and you'll loose. i tried as hard as i could, but i reached the point where i couldn(t finish the story nor save my kingdom.
very frustrative. too much frustrative

For me as a fan of RPGS the pathfinder games and rogue trader (this one also cause is 40k) are the best ones storywise (dialogues and more) that i have played, including baldurs gate (all 3), divinitys,etc.

Its a lot more combat focused than the other ones, but thats just how the pathfinder TRPG goes.

I highly recommend this.

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Review KM

Graphics

Gameplay

Audio

Audience

PC Requirements

Difficulty

Grind

Story

Game Time

Price

Bugs

Pros

Cons

Conclusion