Mercifully, it is an actual map that you use to travel between locations rather than just a gigantic world to walk around, though you’re open to random encounters whilst travelling. The gameplay really opens after conquering the Stolen Lands, letting you roam the world map and even capture resources in your territories. This initially seems like the main story and it could be in another game, but in Pathfinder it turns out to be the very beginning of a much grander plot. Soon after you start playing, you’re booted off to the Stolen Lands on a quest to defeat its current ruler, bandit leader The Stag Lord, and then take over the region. Much like kingdom management, if you’re a bit overwhelmed by managing the stats and skills of your character and all your companions you can set them to automatically level up, which will do just fine for a playthrough on standard difficulty. Occasionally the game neglects to tell you certain things during creation, such as when I was making a cleric with a side of fighter to gain their armour proficiencies, only to learn that the archetype of cleric I’d chosen couldn’t wear any armour at all. Thankfully there is a respec option available, which now works after a game update.Ĭharacter creation is detailed and flexible, provided you know what you’re doing.
I settled on an Eldtrich Archer, who does the same with ranged touch spells like Ray of Frost and his bow, and proceeded to immediately make mistakes in designing my character. Each class then has four archetypes, so instead of a “standard” Rogue you can have a Eldritch Scoundrel, who can not only use a rogue’s finesse weaponry to score sneak attacks, but can actually channel touch spells like Shocking Touch through it as well. The more unusual of these are the Kineticist, who channels elemental energy, or an Alchemist who can throw area of effect explosives. Kingmaker comes with 16 classes that include all the usual suspects and then some. It’s worth giving it a try though, as it is very rewarding, both in regards to acquiring cash or loot and it gives you a unique perspective on how the overarching storylines are playing out compared to other games. Thankfully, its difficulty is customisable, so if you don’t want to spend time managing your kingdom you can make it easier so it doesn’t take up so much time, or just set it to automatic and focus on the combat. If you want to and you know what you’re doing, you can conquer and rule the whole continent. On top of the whole RPG thing, which some might say is plenty complex already, there’s the management of a kingdom to think about as well. That might give you an idea of just how big it is, but even outside of the actual size, the ambition behind the game is staggering. The world map is split up into 13 regions and I spent all of chapter one (which took me five days to finish) in just two of them. Make no mistake, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is gargantuan.
Originally releasing on PC almost two years ago now after being crowd funded in 2017, the Definitive Edition release for consoles comes with expansion packs and other DLC that was added after release, making it somehow even bigger. The game promises an epic story, dungeon crawling, loot, countless spells, even political intrigue! Anything that has both political intrigue and giant spiders is always worth a look, in my opinion. It’s based on the ruleset of the tabletop RPG Pathfinder, which I’ve never played, but the fact that I’ve never actually played Dungeons and Dragons hasn’t stopped me playing countless other CRPGs based on that ruleset either.
I was pretty excited to play Pathfinder: Kingmaker.