Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an experience clearly designed by dedicated tabletop RPG fans which more than rewards a thoughtful approach to the D&D 3.5/Pathfinder rules as your best means of overcoming the game's myriad challenges. It very much doesn't hold your hand, and it's all the better for it. Unlike certain RPGs where you (or your party) can traipse along the game world with only the sporadic risk of death, Pathfinder: Kingmaker does a superb job of dropping you in a setting where you're more than aware that you start out as a lowly band of adventurers in a world far greater than yourself. It feels very much like the sort of tabletop campaign where you learn the hard way that certain regions or encounters are far too dangerous for now. Even random encounters can be challenging if you're not careful. You'll have to think creatively about how to buff your characters, disable enemies, and maneuver your party formation during combat. Healing spells and potions are a limited yet invaluable resource you'll have to deploy strategically. You may well need to retry some of the game's harder encounters a good 4-5 times before you figure out exactly how to defeat the challenge at hand. So what makes it so fun? This is might be a bit too reductive, but the game produces a sort of "Baldurs Gate crossed with Dark Souls" kind of experience. Every area you clear, encounter you win, or quest you complete is that much more of a victory. It genuinely does feel like your party is tracing the risky, tough-yet-rewarding path of determined adventurers who become gradually more powerful with time. Certain previously impossible encounters become merely challenging when you retry them with better gear and a new level tacked on. If you're a fan of tabletop RPGs and classics like Baldur's gate, appreciate a rich game world, or enjoy CRPG's that don't shy away from a challenge, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an absolute gem.
