Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Imperial Edition Bundle

The game was released in an unacceptable state - not an exaggeration. Quick succession of followup hotfixes tried to address the issues often not succeeding and occasionally introducing new issues. As of patch 1.1 the game could be considered in beta. While the developer tried to adress the bugs, etc. I don't appreciate nor tolerate being treated as an unpaid playtester. I haven't paid for the 'privilege' of testing your game. I have to emphasize this isn't nitpicking but 2k characters are not enough to delve into it deeper. The selling points of this game for me were the story & its personalization and the game delivered on those points. The story (arguably linear) was quite good compared to game standard & the personalization allowed me to address every situation in adherence to pc's personality (within reason) there were only 2 points where there weren't appropriate choices (pretty minor & part of side quests) -> the only reasons for the rating, I simply want to play more games with a proper story. There hasn't been one since DAO except for Witcher which is a different experience - there isn't any competition. Sounds were quite alright but very limited in variety. Graphics were alright but could've been improved by far - the screen is very often a complete mess and I would struggle to recognize any character just by visuals. The character personalization in terms of aesthetics was incredibly limited this might change with dlcs. Gameplay - implementation of PFrules so alright, level/encounter design - complete nonsense. The difficulty can be adjusted easily and you're given an option to do so. Use it. The game heavily relies on dice rolling (to be expected) but in an excessive way (was done well in many previous crpgs). The difficulty feels nonexistent as even with an optimal approach to an encounter you wil fail repeatedly due to a poor dice rool which isn't really your fault. You won't progress without extensive save scumming. Poorly optimised performance.

and the most underestimated one in my opinion. This game isn't just big, it is ginormous and for the price they've put up - you're ripping the devs off. And if you are unfamiliar with pathfinder dnd setiing and rules it will soak up a lot of your time just to get into it. The writing is on point and does not distract from the situation (it is funny when it needs to be, creepy when it needs to be and etc.). While some choices in the story might feel forced they are the limitations of 3.5 dnd pathfinder ruleset, NOT of script writers. Unity engine is... Well, it's unity engine. It's a solid engine with solid bugs and technical difficulties. cRPGs with BG style are put into a lot of limitations of their own just not to look too dissimilar - thus a lot of them are hard to differentiate. It can cause players and fans of the specific genre to become frustrated with all the same mechanics, gameplay, design but sometimes people ask too much from a small studio with a limited budget. Learn to love and appreciate what you've got - especially if it's a banger of a game which is criminally undersold.

(owned outside of GOG) Occasionally rough around the edges and a hostage to the Unity engine, but all in all a game I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone with an itch for a DnD experience in a videogame. The Pathfinder ruleset is brutally complicated and usually not as plainly explained as it could be, but after some learning and/or consulting some online tutorials, you get the hang of it. The mechanics of Pathfinder are realized well within the game - it actually feels like playing solo DnD in a way. Kingdom management ranges from slightly annoying to sufficiently engaging. The whole system was not necessary, but an interesting addition. If you find yourself getting bothered by it too much, you can set it to Auto, no problem. Don't get intimidated by people complaining about timed quests. It's not that bad when you apply some common sense. For me it actually did what it was supposed to do: it created a sense of urgency for certain events and the need for careful kingdom planning. Just think of it as another element from irl DnD: if your DM is invested in a living, breathing world without things only happening with and for the players, you will be used to missing out on stuff or getting a worse outcome than you could have with some well timed intervention. If you stress too much about the hidden timers, you can always look the specific quests up on the P:K Wiki. Lots of love and ambition went into this game and it shows. The recently added turn-based mode for combat saved the game for me. 8/10

I owe this game a very good review. I have a rule: when I see I passed 70+ hours on a game, than it's one of the best games I ever played (for me, obviously). No bugs, no problems whatsoever, a nice story but a very enjoyable gameplay, especially when you like D'n'D CRPG's. Frankly if you thirst for a game like Baldur's Gate (I & II), Neverwinter Nights (I & II), thanyou're good with this one. Irecommend to play it in Turn Based, it's way more tactical and enjoyable that way.

This game assumes everywhere that anyone playing it is already well-versed in D&D's rules, so it doesn't bother explaining any of it. New to D&D or only have only a very vague idea of some general rules? Too effing bad, you'll either have to go on a rampage on Google Search or just suck it up and fail in the game! The UI is just bad and you often have to go and search in multiple places to find the thing you want, if it's available anywhere at all. Even inventory-management is terrible: the game pushes a metric ton of stuff on you at all times, but there's no search, whatsoever, for e.g. the one scroll you want. If you don't already know/remember what icon the scroll has, you'll have to just go through them all until you find the correct one! Oh, and the game totally does not value players' time, constantly doing its best to try and waste as much of their time as possible and making everything clunky and time-consuming.