Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Preview for PC

It’s great to see Obsidian is still going strong when it comes to making immersive RPGs. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire continues the story of the Watcher, but now it seems that even more strange and supernatural forces are afoot.

We have a small taste of the story, but it’s just enough to leave you wanting more. This time around, our adventures take us far from Caed Nua in the Dyrwood to the Deadfire Archipelago. The not-so-courteous Vailian Republic is looking to profit in an expedition through the islands. We emerge from our ship, the Dhow, and walk along a small port of a settlement called Tikawara. The natives are wary of outsiders, but they are somewhat open to trade due to terrible circumstances like famine, beast attacks, and strange storms. The main storyline follows our investigation into a missing Vailian expedition, who we learn were last seen heading toward Engwithzn ruins not far from Tikawara. However, while you are in the area, you are free to explore the rest of this island before venturing off to the other, more inhospitable, island.

There are other side quests, like investigating why a local, unpopular, man is being punished for stealing food he claims he never touched. There is also the opportunity to broker a ceasefire between local nonhumanoid fish-like monsters and the islanders. It would not be an Obsidian game if these stories weren’t made complicated in some fashion, so we often get to choose how we want to resolve these issues. Be a sadist, a hero, a self-serving prick – whatever you’re feeling. Do you care about justice for the sake of one man compared to the survival of an entire people? Well, it’s not so easy, but you build your reputation from making these hard choices.

Compared to the first installment in this series, Deadfire has built on top of the pre-existing foundation and made it better. I would argue it plays a little more like its dark-humored cousin, Tyranny, but your class has a lot more direction/personalization than before. While there aren’t any awesome wombo combos from Tyranny, you can still strategize with the character classes. And you will have to be considerate of your group composition now that we can only have 5 companions at a time. That one-character difference is nothing to cry about, but you respect it more when it’s taken away. Anyways, the skill trees behave more like skill trees, instead of picking active and passive skills from a list. You can visualize your character progression much better under the new system.

The graphical overhaul is impressive as well. I still get the feeling that I’m playing an isometric RPG with the same scenery I would expect from Pillars of Eternity, but the character designs and animations are a notable achievement. The characters look a little plastic, and you are limited to how much you can customize their features. That hardly matters when you are looking at your party from the sky, but you see it as you’re in the leveling menu. It is still a pretty good change. They even take into account what kinds of terrain the characters move through, like mud, which also affects combat. Even the moments where the Watcher views spirits’ interacting are more fluid. As we travel around the map, you may notice that we are no longer limited to intersecting points on a map. We can literally move around the map in real-time – on land and sea.

Another new feature is the ship you captain: the Dhow, and the name can be changed. I personally felt more attached to Caed Nua, but leading a crew on a vessel sailing the seas is pretty cool too. From what I’ve learned so far, you have individual crew members, provisions, equipment, and morale. Even the companions who traveled with me in this demo were mercenaries, and every day I would see wages removed from my treasury for their upkeep. Camping will also affect the overall provisions left on your ship. In a way that is way more interactive than how it worked with my hirelings at the old fortress.

The game is not without challenge, but like its predecessors you can change the difficulty. I believe that level scaling is a newer feature, and that’s perfect if you are looking for a consistent challenge or better loot. I think the best moment I had in the entire demo was strolling through the desert and climbing the stairs to the Engwithan ruins, only to find a living metal golem with glowing adra eyes having a bad day. It proceeded to kick me in the teeth and to wipe my party across the sandy dunes. I had fun with this fight. This boss picked up my tank and threw him all over the place and kicked my healer into next week. It felt like a real challenge.

The soundtrack is still what I remember from the first Pillars of Eternity, and I think I could point out a couple new tracks as I explored a couple islands. The same main theme with the violin vibrato still makes dramatic scenes even better. The battle theme is the same, and I still enjoyed hearing it as I paused and directed my party. I am very much open to more music to complement the newer artistic style. A dramatic theme would go a long way to convey the role of corrupted adra in the story. It definitely looked ominous to me.

I overall like what I see so far. My character has a new heroic pose, but I want to know more about where the story will take us. I think the new setting is going to be fun to explore and to find all kinds of side quests. I haven’t run into any real problems so far, and I was prepared for path-finding or clipping issues. Even though we don’t score previews, I still think a fair score for this beta should be a 9.5 out of 10. I’m looking forward to its eventual release.

You can pre-order Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam right now. The game releases April 3, 2018.

John Pruitt

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I like to think of myself as the average Joe who grew up alongside video games. I have fun playing strategy games, RPGs, shooters, sandboxes, the whole shebang! Every game provides an experience whether it strikes you as profound, mundane, or someplace in between. I'd like to weigh in my two cents before you spend a single penny.