Pathfinder Kingmaker rekindled my love of the CRP genre. I've struggled to appreciate many games because the story wasn't compelling, or the character creation was bland, or the role play elements weren't on point. Kingmaker is exceptional at all of these things. I've play hundreds of hours, and loved every one. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is an improvement on Kingmaker, but both are excellent examples of the genre, and you should play Kingmaker first as it will introduce you to the character building options without the level of overwhelming options present in Wrath.
I LOVED kingmaker, and thought that any follow-up would be challenging, but they managed to outdo themselves with the sequel. Drastically improving on game mechanics, and even sharper writing. Some of the companions are incredibly evocative, and memorable. The crusade system which has many detractors adds some scale to the game that is fun, and appeals to me, even if the mechanics aren't as refined as they could be. The character building is amazing, giving you a hug variety of game-playing experiences and roleplaying options. It can be overwhelming at first, but as patches have arrived, they have helped mitigate this. The post release support has been great, and they have greatly refined the experience, and the UI is in a better place than ever. My main complaint about this game, is I just want to play it again and again, and now struggle to appreciate other CRPG's.
This game has many good ideas, and is amazing to look at. However, for me the combat drags. There are a number of reasons the combat system doesn't appeal to me, but probably most notably, it takes too long to resolve actions. The animations are nice, but they slow down the combat experience to a crawl. I finished the game, but the battle sequences in the last 10 hours of gameplay were more of a chore than enjoyable.
Preface: I'm very involved in the tabletop game this game take's it's IP from. In a Nutshell: This is a beautiful Panzer General clone in a Warhammer 40K universe. I picked up this game with low expectations, because it was a licensed game, and looked on the surface to put style over substance. But I think this is the favorite game I've played in the last year, and I've log 219 hours playing it at this point. The game mechanics are solid. Your unit selection is limited in such a way to strongly encourage you to run a diversified force, and the level up mechanic reinforces that somewhat. The Tactics are fairly good, with the exception of a few exploits. The AI is simplistic but very functional. The theme is on point. I know 40K well, and in many ways units have been captured in this game at least as they are in the current ruleset. Land Speeders, and Ork Bikers are 2 examples where the game feels like it nails the feel of the unit better than the tabletop game. The missions are fine, with the DLC's having more effort put into the missions than the core game. On the other hand, the maps can at sometimes be a tad frustrating. I'm thinking they are procedurally generated, and maybe 1 in 10 missions features a map that has really awkward placement of obstacles. This is overcome somewhat by all of the obstacles being destructible, so typically a bad map gen just means you have to spend a bit of time clearing a path through. The Good: Theme is on Point Force Composition is outstanding Leveling system works well It's really pretty The Bad: The optional tactical overlay is worthless. (Keep it off) Missions are frequently simplistic Map generation could use a bit of work. I'd Strongly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of games like Panzer General, Fantasy General, Battle for Wesnoth, or Warhammer 40k.
