You are a survivor. Shipwrecked on a land where a mysterious Dream Scourge is running rampant, turning allies on eachother.

And it’s up to you to find the source of this plague and restore peace with your God working through you.

Avowed, an exclusive Xbox game, is an RPG that can be played in either first person or third person perspective within the world of Eora, where an epic adventure awaits for you and your envoy across the Living Lands.

You create your character from a number of presets then customize their look, voice and more.

Gameplay has the usual RPG elements of skills and item upgrades, quests, both major to the storyline and minor side gigs.

In-game onverstaions with NPCs will determine gameplay paths as you’re given a multi-choice of responses.

The Living Lands enviroments are beutifully detailed and of course as with any good RPG, exploration is a must. You will traverse acroos four differing areas of the Eora.

From deep caves, sprawling valleys and towns through to coastal and forest domains. The world of Avowed is vast, and I sense that this game could be the start of a series of titles.

I also felt a ‘Fable’ and ‘Dragon Age’ vibe to Avowed. This is a very good thing.

Combat has you either wielding magic, through to hand to hand and of course you have an inventory where you can equip items to either aide you or give defense in any tricky situation.

While the animation style of Avowed looks colourful annd there is a small amount of NPC humour thrown in to the dialogue, the narrative and tone is seriously dark.

You’ll become wise on the lore and history as you speak with other NPCs and find Journals thoughout your adventure.

An exquisetly detailed game from Obsidian Entertainment, where you go, how you play and the hero you are is determined by you.

This year’s most epic adventure is now before you with Avowed. Within a world of magic, mystery and monsters, only you can defeat the Dream Scourge.

The post Avowed (Xbox Series X|S) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

From developers Obsidian Entertainment comes a futuristic RPG set in a vibrant world worth visiting, or shall I say worlds – this is a story set in space after all.

Varying an average completion time of 20-30 hours, you are a character woken from a deep and icy cryogenic sleep. Things aren’t as peachy as you thought they’d be when you woke up though and you’re soon tasked with bringing an end to the corruption and solving the mystery of your fellow cryogenic citizens.

Before you think you’ve heard this ‘chosen one’ story-line before (trust me, I have to), The Outer Worlds cleverly has it’s own take on the storytelling trope, allowing the player to almost forget that they’re the ‘chosen one’ but rather someone who’s simply in a position to get the job done.

The band of brothers, or shall we say companions, is made up of six characters that join you on your newly acquired spaceship the ‘Unreliable’. Some characters are easy to take to instantly, whilst others became more likable as we got to know them. Their integrated roles in your RPG world didn’t feel as paramount in the overall story but simply became someone to help fight alongside you.

Combat and leveling in The Outer Worlds featured an incredibly detailed character leveling system where you could truly create a unique personality and combat style for your game. Leveling for the companions was a lot more simplified, but things would easily have become too much if the player had to do the same intricate character leveling for everyone.

Most likely inspired by Fallout’s VAT system and granting players the ability to pause time and focus their shots was fun, but lacked some of the fine tuning I found in the Fallout games. This wasn’t a huge deal though and I soon diminished these comparisons.

The Outer Worlds is certainly an aesthetically pleasing game, providing new surprises in world design and gorgeous landscapes at every turn. It wasn’t hard to feel like a lot of thought had gone into the game, trying to answer player questions before they’d been asked and provide a seamless gaming experience. It ran smoothly on my PC with no hiccups throughout the game and I think those common AI moves of blocking the doorway need to be ruled out as game-play issues because I’m sure it’s become somewhat of a norm to shout at our companions to get out of the doorway whilst we play our video games.

The RPG gamer will love spending time in this rich, space sci-fi world, paving their way and telling a story they’ll no doubt enjoy for however long they’d like to play it.

The post The Outer Worlds (PlayStation 4) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Pillars of Eternity was one of those Kickstarter love stories.

In 2012 it was an early success story when it raised over four million, the game was successfully made and released, rewarding its funders by being an awesome game that exceeded everyone’s expectations. Not being a CRPG fan I approached it with caution on Steam, and found myself absolutely adoring this gem, so given the opportunity to check it out on Switch, I was extremely excited.

Pillars of Eternity optimizes the CRPG genre, with the classic isometric view as you move your characters around exploring and fighting. As you explore the maps you remove the fog of war uncovering enemies, treasures, and lore alike in the best possible ways. Combat is exactly what you’re picturing, as you move your party around with a selection of character classes you use their attacks from an attack wheel. One thing that isn’t new but I’m glad to see is the use of pauses during battle.

The battles can get out of hand quickly, but these pauses are what makes it your strategic choice that alerts you succeed or fail.

One thing I hated about the game was the camera and character movement being totally independent. On a PC this doesn’t feel so bad as you have mouse and keyboard at your disposal, but even then, I used some trickery to map the buttons for both to the same keys.

I couldn’t find any way to do this in the Switch port and found it drove me insane constantly moving the camera away from my characters. This is something that absolutely should have been optimized for console, and after many hours of annoyance I decided to stop playing on Switch as I would rather remember the game for the amazing time, I had on PC years ago.

What Pillars of Eternity does best is writing.

You create your own character for the protagonist and choose things like their race which has an impact on their perks, but also how NPCs react to you in the world. The story kicks off with your character travelling via caravan to the village in Dyrwood when the travelers caravan gets hit by a storm. Alone your character is witness to souls being stripped from bodies giving them the ability to read souls and see visions of past lives.

The plot goes bonkers as she discovers that a cult is stealing souls causing people to be born without them causing them to be in a vegetative state. Your protagonist investigates to find a whole mess with gods and the like. The story is decent but what is extraordinary is how much time and effort has been put into crafting the world. NPCs with short to little stories all feel like they are the kind that would warrant them being a major character. In most games, when you get a lot of story for a character the presumption is that they will be important to the plot, but some you find dead later, never to be mentioned again. Added to player choices having significant impacts on the story, I can’t even comprehend how much work the team put into writing the game let alone somehow turning that into a game afterwards.

Fortunately, one thing that more games are doing well, is the game itself runs well on the Switch’s hardware. Unfortunately, it isn’t as good looking as other versions of the game of course, and loading screens felt longer than I would have liked. However, considering the size of the game, I am blown away with how well it ran on the Switch’s hardware.

At the end of the day this is far from the best way to play Pillars of Eternity, but it is still such a damn amazing game.

If you don’t have access to a PC then it is well worth grabbing this package on Switch, but it is rare that I will say this, if you can play on PC then definitely choose that first if you can.

The post Pillars of Eternity (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Independent games publisher Versus Evil and developer Obsidian Entertainment today announced that Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire has been nominated for Best Adventure game and Best Writing categories in the 23rd Annual Webby Awards.

Hailed as the “Internet’s Highest Honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet. IADAS, which nominates and selects The Webby Award Winners, is comprised of Internet industry experts including Internet inventor Vint Cerf, Instagram’s Head of Fashion Partnerships Eva Chen, Director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society Susan P. Crawford, actor and activist Jesse Williams, GE CMO Linda Boff, Pod Save the People host and activist DeRay McKesson, Google’s Head of Conversation Design Cathy Pearl, Fortnite Designer Eric Williamson, HBO Digital Chief Diane Tryneski, Los Angeles Laker Isaiah Thomas, and DDB Worldwide CEO Wendy Clark.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is the sequel to the critically acclaimed, award-winning RPG Pillars of Eternity and launched on PC, Mac and Linux in May 2018. The game will be launching on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch later this year.

“Nominees like Obsidian are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said Claire Graves, Executive Director of The Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 13,000 entries we received this year.”

“Having Deadfire nominated in both Best Game and Best Writing for the Webby Awards is a great honor. For over fifteen years we have committed ourselves to creating memorable role-playing experiences and the continued praise for Pillars II keeps us focused on this mission,” said Obsidian Entertainment Studio Head, Feargus Urquhart.

“Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire continues to be recognized for the passion and commitment that the Obsidian team has put into creating the ultimate RPG adventure and we couldn’t be more proud of their Webby Award nomination,” added Steve Escalante, General Manager for publisher Versus Evil.

As a nominee, Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is also eligible to win a Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted online by fans across the globe. From now until April 18th, 2019, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire fans can cast their votes HERE .

Winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, and honored at a star-studded ceremony on Monday, May 13th, 2019, at Cipriani on Wall Street in New York City.

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What a year it has been for Xbox gamers.

Getting lost in the open ocean with Sea of Thieves, burning rubber in Forza Motorsport 7 and the added subscription based service of Games Pass which allows exclusive Triple AAA titles to be downloaded and played for free. Xbox also did a honourable nod to gamers with special needs with their Adaptive Controller.

With the next year just around the corner, let’s see what’s in store for the world’s most powerful games console as it leads us in to 2019.

Anthem is a shared-world action-RPG, where Freelancers challenge the wilds past the wall, exploring a vast world filled with savage beasts and ruthless marauders, but also teeming with amazing technology and forgotten treasures. Players will be able to join with their friends to unravel the world’s mysteries and defeat the forces plotting to conquer humanity. Throughout their journeys, players can outfit their Freelancers with powerful Javelin exosuits, each of which are equipped with unique weapons and abilities.

Freelancers can customize their Javelin with gear they earn and craft throughout the adventure, and leave a lasting mark on the world. Anthem is due for release from EA Games in 2019.

From the creators of ARK: Survival Evolved comes ATLAS – a massively multiplayer first-and-third-person fantasy pirate adventure. “ATLAS” will host up to 40,000 players exploring the same Globe simultaneously, with an unprecedented scale of cooperation and conflict. Join an endless adventure of piracy & sailing, exploration & combat, roleplaying & progression, settlement & civilization-building, in one of the largest game worlds ever! Explore, Build, Conquer!

This coming February experience the next gen of Crackdown. It’s time to step up your boom and stop crime as a super-powered Agent in Crackdown 3’s sandbox of cooperative mayhem and destruction, plus an all-new multiplayer mode where destruction is your ultimate weapon. “Crackdown 3” is available at launch on February 15^th with Xbox Game Pass and globally on Xbox One and Windows 10.

One of the hotly anticipated games on my list for 2019 is Devil May Cry 5 from Capcom.  brand-new entry in the legendary over-the-top action series comes to Xbox One in spring 2019, complete with its signature blend of high-octane stylized action and otherworldly and original characters the series is known for. Years have passed since the legions of hell have set foot in this world, but now a new demonic invasion has begun, and humanity’s last hope will rest in the hands of three lone demon hunters, each offering a radically different play style. United by fate and a thirst for vengeance, these demon hunters will have to face their demons if they hope to survive.

Also, Ubisoft will have you diving into a transformed vibrant post apocalyptic Hope County, Montana, 17 years after a global nuclear catastrophe in Far Cry New Dawn. Join fellow survivors from Hope County and lead the fight against the dangerous new threat known as the Highwaymen, and their ruthless leaders The Twins, as they seek to destroy and take over the last remaining resources by any means necessary.

Perhaps one of the more intriguing is the expected 2019 release of Gears of War 5, with Gears of War 4 still one of my go to games, having completed it several times over.

As Kait, journey across the biggest, most beautiful Gears world ever created. Play solo or with a friend in local split-screen co-op, or online co-op and experience every mode in 4K Ultra HD resolution with stunning HDR at a smooth 60 frames per second. Called Gears 5 it will be coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 in 2019 and will be available day and date to Xbox Game Pass members.

Keeping in tune with Gears 5 – perhaps the lighter and weirder announcement from Microsoft Studios is their upcoming Gears Pop, a new Arena Brawler mobile game that brings together iconic Gears characters in the distinctive Funko Pop! style. The game is being developed in partnership with Funko and inspired by the Gears of War vinyl collectible figures. It’s the perfect slice of mobile mayhem, available on iOS and Android in 2019.

Jump Force, which we have covered in a news piece before is slated, also for a 2019 release. This BandaiNamco title sees the greatest heroes and villains from the 50-year history of Shueisha’s influential Japanese Weekly Jump manga will battle against each other across iconic locations across Earth in this anime fan’s dream come true! Featuring the world’s most popular and classic manga and anime franchises including DRAGON BALL Z, ONE PIECE, NARUTO, and many others, players will be able to compete in hyper-stylish arena brawls set against familiar backdrops of famous landmarks around the world, including New York City’s Times Square and the Matterhorn.

Then – we have the juggernaut of fantasy cross-over titles; Kingdom Hearts III. Set in a vast array of Disney worlds, Kingdom Hearts follows the journey of Sora, a young boy and unknowing heir to a spectacular power. Sora is joined by Donald and Goofy to stop an evil force known as the Heartless from invading and overtaking the universe. Through the power of positivity and friendship, Sora, Donald and Goofy unite with iconic Disney-Pixar characters old and new to overcome tremendous challenges and persevere against the darkness threatening their worlds.

Next year is also going to see a reprise of the Metro series. Metro Exodus is an epic, story-driven first person shooter from 4A Games that blends deadly combat and stealth with exploration and survival horror in one of the most immersive game worlds ever created. Explore the Russian wilderness across vast, nonlinear Levels and follow a thrilling storyline that spans an entire year through spring, summer and autumn to the depths of nuclear winter. Inspired by the novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro Exodus continues Artyom’s story in the greatest Metro adventure yet.

If all of the above is not to your liking, there’s always Minecraft.

Minecraft: Dungeons is an action adventure game in the classic dungeon crawler style, where up to four players can fight together to defeat a relentless swarm of new mobs in a quest to save the villagers and take down the evil Arch-Illager. As an all new passion project for PC from a small, dedicated team at Mojang, Minecraft: Dungeons will be the first new title in the Minecraft universe when it releases in 2019.

Another one I am excited for, having loved the first Ori, is Ori and the Will of the Wisps. From the creators of Ori and the Blind Forest, winner of over 50 awards and nominations, comes the highly anticipated sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Embark on an adventure with all-new combat and customization options while exploring a vast and exotic world, encountering larger-than-life enemies and challenging puzzles on your path to unravel Ori’s true destiny. “Ori and the Will of the Wisps” will be launching exclusively on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs in 2019 and will be available day and date to Xbox Game Pass members.

The oceans of Sea of Thieves will continue to wash over the Xbox gaming landscape in 2019. Sea of Thieves is changing in a big way with its fifth free content update since launch, ‘The Arena.’ Releasing in early 2019, ‘The Arena’ is an all-new competitive game mode that allows players to test their pirating skills in fast-paced matches against rival crews. Each match is a fun, frenetic and action-packed race to find treasure that brings together all the most exciting elements of “Sea of Thieves” – on demand. “Sea of Thieves” is available with Xbox Game Pass and globally on Xbox One and Windows 10 as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti is a video game about great expectations, famous folk singers, lingering shadows, space Gods, hallucinogens, individuality, reptile shops, and wild imaginations. It’s an action, adventure, exploration, narrative driven, musical-laser-light-battle kind of game and is the debut release from BEETHOVEN & DINOSAUR.

Kick in some sci-fi action, The Outer Worlds is a new single-player first-person RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter various factions, all vying for power, the character you decide to become will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.

Tom Clancy’s: The Division 2 will explode in to 2019. Developed by Ubisoft Massive and the same teams that brought you Tom Clancy’s The Division, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is an online open-world, action-shooter RPG experience set in a collapsing and fractured Washington, D.C. This rich new setting combines a wide variety of beautiful, iconic and realistic environments where the player will experience the series’ trademark for authenticity in world- building, rich RPG systems, and fast-paced action like never before. Play solo or co-op with a team of up to four players to complete a wide range of activities, from the main campaign and adversarial PvP matches to the Dark Zone — where anything can happen.

Throwing a bit of indie goodness in, Tunic from devs Finji is an isometric action adventure about a tiny fox in a big world. Embark on an adventuresome quest-about set in that place just beyond the farthest you’ve ever been! Explore ancient ruins, fight monsters and uncover mysterious secrets. The world is big and scary — so be brave, little one!

And finally in this 2019 Xbox round up is from the creators of Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera comes Wasteland 3! Following the critically acclaimed releases of 2014’s Wasteland 2 and 2015’s Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut, fans have been clamoring for a direct sequel.

Wasteland 3 will feature a deep and engaging story utilizing a newly-revamped dialog tree system from the celebrated writers of Torment: Tides of Numenera, along with a renewed focus on our trademark complex story reactivity and strategic combat that evolves on Wasteland 2’s deep tactical turn-based combat and unique encounter design. Play by yourself or with a friend in story-driven synchronous or asynchronous multiplayer to face difficult moral choices and make sacrifices that will change the game world.

So there we have it Xbox One gamers – here’s what’s in store for the next 12 months from Xbox. A couple of first party surprises and alot of third party goodness to welcome in another year.

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Independent developer Obsidian Entertainment, in partnership with indie powerhouse publisher Versus Evil today announced the launch of their next major paid DLC release, titled “Seeker, Slayer, Survivor” for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.

“Seeker, Slayer, Survivor” is a combat-focused expansion pack taking place on a previously undiscovered island that will challenge the martial prowess of players as well as their tactical skills as a commander. Adventurers will embark on a mission to rediscover ancient relics and pit their party against Eora’s most skilled and savage opponents. Adversaries will be plenty and players will be challenged to survive the trials and whims of the spirits and their worshipers to prove they can stand above even the greatest the Deadfire has to offer.

Seeker, Slayer, Survivor is the second of three major expansions to Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and will challenge players three major aspects: endurance, puzzle-solving, and pitting destruction against destruction. Seeker combat tasks players with looking for a tactical solution to take down their foes, while Slayer combat will see Deadfire players go up against a variety of fearsome creatures hell-bent on the party’s annihilation. Last but not least, Survivor combat will test the party’s endurance and fighting skills against waves of enemies. Players can unlock these battles through the discovery of different artifacts and sacrificing them to the guardian spirits of the Crucible.

“The Crucible will be the ultimate test for Deadfire players as they face off against some of the most deadly adversaries in a fight to the death. Our latest DLC is something that will test any seasoned Deadfire player. A sense of discovery and exploration of new environments and challenges will reveal new artifacts all set within the fabric of a deep story rich in adventure,” said Brandon Adler, DLC Game Director for Obsidian.

Alongside Seeker, Slayer, Survivor comes the 3.0 update patch for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, which brings along a host of bug fixes, balance improvements, and the first of the game’s mega bosses to challenge end game players.

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If it wasn’t clear already, cRPGs are back.

Driven partly by crowdfunding, nostalgia for classics such as Baldur’s Gate II and a market that for many years left cRPG fans wanting, there has been a drive to resurrect the genre. The first Pillars of Eternity was a key part of this revival, and still stands, along with its significant expansions, as one of the best. But there’s competition, with Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Wasteland 2, let alone developer Obsidian’s own Tyranny. So Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire has the difficult task in standing out from the now busy crowd, and making its own mark on this venerable genre, while still maintaining everything that made it great in the first place.

Like all games in this genre, Pillars of Eternity II is a massive game. In almost every direction this game is expansive, from its thousands of lines of voice over dialogue, to combat options, to HUD tweaks, to fantastically deep lore, Pillars of Eternity II is a lot of game.

Pillars of Eternity II is a true sequel, taking place soon after the end of the first game. The god Eothas has awoken below your castle, destroying it and almost killing you. But a mysterious power has offered you your life back, in return for a covenant that you hunt down the god as he walks among the Deadfire Archipelago, leaving only destruction in his wake and in search of only what he know what. You are given a ship to pursue Eothas and there your journey starts, with you waking from your near death experience.

Good writing is essential to games like this. Good writing not in just terms of technical accomplishment but also in the game’s ability to build a realistic, believable, and perhaps most important a consistent lore that makes the world you find yourself in like a place that’s existed for thousands of years. And Pillars of Eternity II delivers in a hugely deep world where every consequence of every conversation has been carefully thought through. This is world-building in the best sense, and feels like it has its own backstory and history much larger than the two games in this universe so far.

It can at times get in its own way, with sentences full of places, people and events meaningless without remembering every small interaction in both the previous and this game. Fortunately most things you need to know about are helpfully highlighted in the text box, letting you click through for an explanation on what that battle might have been or why the person you’re talking to is important.

This is a game for hardcore fantasy fans, and the excellent writing will do much to endear itself to this audience. Beyond the (in my opinion) mediocre combat I found it was the writing that kept me interested in this game. There are a range of difficulty options to cater to how you want to play, that allow you to dial down the role that combat plays in the experience of your many tens of hours in this world. The real time with pause combat can be extensively tweaked through a huge myriad of customisation options, which is great for those who know exactly what they like.

There’s also customisation at every single turn in this game. Want to customise your avatar? No problem. Want to choose your specific playing style that caters to exactly how you want to shape your character? (before you’ve played any of the game and know how this may affect your playthrough? Want to choose from half a dozen dramatically different HUD options, all yours. For players new to the genre it can feel like the tyranny of choice, but I know that its catnip to the core audience for these cRPG revivals.

There have been a number of other key enhancements to Pillars of Eternity II. The whole game looks great, even in 4K, though it is surprisingly taxing on the GPU hardware. There’s full voice acting, faster loading times, more AI customisation and an improved camera. It all means that mechanically it’s a polished, thorough game that really sets itself up as a platform to be explored through multiple playthrough with different characters, personality and combat styles. Pillars of Eternity II could be your game for a long time.

While this will only affect a microscopically small portion of the game’s audience, there is cloud save to pick up across multiple installs, however this is limited to the same platform. So, for example, my Mac can’t pick up a save started on my Windows PC. It’s not a huge deal but for those with perhaps a Mac laptop and a Windows Gaming PC at home you’re going to have to play different campaigns, or run a separate Windows boot drive for on the go gaming.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is an achievement. From its hugely detailed world, interesting characters and fantastic story and even if it’s your thing the combat, developers Obsidian Entertainment have poured a huge amount of heart, soul and talent into flaming the fan of a modern cRPG genre. And while it often feels like there has been little movement in terms of improvements, taken as a whole the range of improvements in Pillars of Eternity II do modernise the genre and help it keep pace with contemporary expectations.

If you love high fantasy, political intrigue and lore as deep as anything Tolkien put out, then Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire will be just the ticket for you.

The post Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is another kickstarter success that obviously sequels the first, which has been made by none other than Obsidian. This isometric top down RPG continues to reminisce the old classic style RPGs that the developer is known for with Pillars II: Deadfire.

I was given a preview section of content that showcased some interesting new aspects to the series.

The combat follows that of the first in that it’s a live action strategy style combat that allows for a pause option. This can take some adjusting to but if you are fresh from the first you will pick it up fine. After some adjustment, figuring out the given party members abilities and how best to utilise them it did take the combats to a more strategic level that I found quite enjoyable with the party on hand.

I did find the rogue a bit harder to compliment the part in battle but definitely had uses outside of combat.

The combat has also been modified from that of the first game. Now there is the option to retarget certain actions if an enemy has moved away from when you originally cast it, allowing for an optimal use of actions and lessening the chance of wasting a vital command that could tip battle, especially in a tight spot. Another improvement is the AI, the party does a much better job of continuing combat if you are lacking in commands or things are moving too fast.

The storytelling and plot interactions are affected by character attributes and knowledge which I found to be greatly enjoyable and personal to my chosen character. Dialogue options felt personalised and relevant to the skills my character had. I enjoyed being able to persuade and characterize certain things due to my knowledge of a certain topic though I was lacking in general persuasion skill.

A new aspect is the ship management.

You are given a ship that can be modified and requires a full bodied able crew to manage. There does seem to be some micromanagement here but nothing too tedious, though while finding supplies is simple enough, finding the cash to purchase the supplies is the harder task. While sailing around the map ocean you are even able to fight other ships for loot. The more you battle the better you get. I did initially find the combat slightly confusing but after one or two battles I figured out the best course of action. Ships can be improved, but even if a better ship is faced in combat, apparently, an optimal strategy can still win out the day.

I am interested to experience this in more depth.

Visually the game looks pretty and is well presented. There have been improvements made, with a seemingly large focus on character models including a larger variety of modification options.

Pillars II includes an interesting array of races and classes with most being of your generic assortment RPG’s are known for with a few extras. This sequel does not seem to really expand on these, not to say it was necessary.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire while sticking to its core mechanics and game style does attempt to not just rehash the first but actually provide players with new and interesting experience. I feel this is achieved and made the game enjoyable all the more and provided a mix of things that helped break up similar experiences.

If you enjoyed the first or just isometric RPGs then by all means this sequel is looking to be a well-balanced and enjoyable game.

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