Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth

I reviewed this for Two Credits. You can find the full review, the score I gave Book 1, and some cool screenshots from our time playing here: http://twocredits.co/review/ken-folletts-pillars-earth/ Note: This review will be updated once Books 2 and 3 are are made available. Summary (Book 1): Common complaints aside, I am a huge fan of Telltale’s recent games, with The Wolf Among Us ranking particularly highly with me. Until Life Is Strange was released, I had thought that Telltale had reached the pinnacle of its craft, but I was proven wrong. Until I played The Pillars of the Earth, I had thought that DONTNOD had reached the pinnacle of this particular subgenre of adventure game and, once again, I was proven wrong. The Pillars of the Earth is, without a doubt, one of the best adventure games that I have ever played, offering a beautiful, treacherous world full of political intrigue and turmoil. It is gripping from start to finish, constantly forcing you to make tough decisions and live with the consequences of those decisions. Unafraid to make you stare into the abyss, it will tug on your heartstrings until they are frayed. By some manner of miracle, it has achieved all of this in the span of one-third of the complete product. I am both excited and terrified to see where the story goes from here, but, in the meantime, I cannot recommend the first book highly enough.

This game has beautiul graphics. The gameplay however, is too slow paced, all those moments spent waiting for a dialog/fade in or out etc to finish is just te-di-ous. I am old, but not that old to start having fun watching the paint dry - if ever. The game takes the original story and strips away anywhing actual emotionally important bits and pieces the book has to make this game a basic Hollywood like standard story for the small minds of the scared people of the United States of Slaves(tm). Handling things like rape, religious oppression etc seems still to be a tough case to crack and instead you are offered whitewashed, smoothed over, nicer things. Just read the book - and spend your gaming money on something more worthy.

Don't get me wrong the game is beautiful and how could the story not being good based on that novel. But if you expect a classic point and click adventure you will be disappointed because it is not. There are quite no puzzles at all. You can choose some stuff. If you know Loom that's a good comparison its a beautiful story telling and the level of the puzzles are quite the same. I bought it for the reduced price and for that it is a no brainier. The scenery and drawings are good. But I would not recommend it for the full price tag.

I have heard about this game before and I also heard it was based on a famous book. I didn't have much expectations from it but oh boy, I had no idea it was going to be this good. As far as story goes, it is really something else. You control three characters throughout many years in a medieval time, when life was very hard and religion had a very important say in many matters. I could probably say much more here to make it more interested but in all honesty, I think going blind is the best advice I can give. I will however say that during the story you will feel probably all range of emotions, love, hate, sorrow, happiness, awe, etc. There really is something for everyone here and it is all beautifully put together. As far as game goes, it is a mix of your typical adventure game with a telltale game. It's not as easy as a telltale game but far from being convoluted and hard to figure out how to do stuff, like in a typical adventure game, which I have to say was the perfect middle ground for me. You can make many options that change little things in the story but not major events, and honestly I think it is for the better as the story truly is something else. Overall, if you want an adventure game with great plot but easier on the puzzle solving, this is it!

I went into ‘Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth’ without having heard of the books, of which the game is an adaptation, or the TV miniseries of the same name. Because I had no pre-conceived notions about the material, my opinion about this game may differ greatly from those who were familiar with Follett’s work. I really enjoyed ‘Pillars’. It’s a narrative-centric adventure game, telling an epic tale of ambition, vengeance, loss, perseverance, redemption and faith. While I can’t comment on its faithfulness to the source material, I do find the game’s story to be engaging. It’s slow to start, but I soon found myself emotionally invested in the three playable main characters. Although the first two chapters are quite solemn, the overall story has a nice balance of hope and despair. The choices that you’re asked to make are also tests of your ambition, perseverance, and faith. With that, it’s no wonder I found that ‘Pillars’ so engrossing. Of course, with this game being an adaptation, there’s bound to be details and nuances missing. Although the major characters are well fleshed out over the 21 chapters, the supporting characters end up being one-dimensional, with one really got shortchanged in the end. With ‘Pillars’ focusing on story, there’re no traditional puzzles solve like in classic Sierra and LucasArts games. You simply make choices in conversation and actions, with your decisions affecting how certain parts of the story unfold to some degree down the road. The game wastes no time in setting its portentous mood. Its opening sequence is one of the best designed in recent memory, and conveys a sense of grandeur that the game manages to live up to. It’s a lengthy journey that may be slow to start, but delivers excitement and strong emotions soon after. By the end I wished there would be more, but I was very satisfied by the narrative I just experienced. Because of that, I highly recommend ‘Pillars’ to anyone who love great stories in their games.