Pathfinder: Kingmaker Review

Pathfinder Kingmaker is a challenging old school RPG experience I've been waiting for, it is one of the most rewarding games to this day after you master it's systems after so many mistakes you made early on. This game will bring back some old school RPG memories you had back in the days of Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights games, those were some of the best RPGs ever made, and needless to say games like that are sorely needed today.

In order to excel in this game you will need to learn it, which means there will be plenty of deaths early on, the game uses Dungeons&Dragons pen and paper rules where every move you make is a dice roll, depending on how good or weak your stats are, you will get good or bad outcome of those actions.

The game takes place in a fantasy world where our adventurer starts as a mercenary, and slowly becomes a baron of the land making all sorts of governing rules, as well as doing larger and more dangerous quests along the way. Of course, the core of every game like this a character creator, and this is one of the largest ones ever created, there are literally 50 classes you can pick and chose from. Every class has 4-5 subclasses and there are some prestige classes. The system closely resembles to one from Neverwinter Nights. Leveling in this game matter, every new level will increase power of your characters considerably, and you will be able to take revenge upon all those monsters that were killing your party before with ease.

Skill checks, party rest checks, everything is connected and sometimes the game does not explain everything quite right, sometimes you will be wondering what to do and where to go. Unlike many modern games, this one will not grab you by the hand and tell you how to play it. It is literally a skill you will need to master in order to play it with any success, therefore this game is not for everyone, but for any old school gamer this is a great game in every way, shape or form.

Kingdom builder is also something you will have to pay attention to, because if you make some wrong governing rules your kingdom can crumble from all sorts of dangers. There is definitely a large level of complexity to this game, specially if you combine both elements into one coherent gaming whole. Everything in this game works and you will want to explore every location for that extra +2 equipment for your party members, it will definitely be needed.

Graphically the game is not that spectacular, recently released Pillars of Eternity 2 objectively looks way better, Kingmaker is decent enough and you will have some great looking vistas and locations to visit. The soundtrack for this types of games is very relaxing and here it is no different. The game runs pretty good, there is only a small issue with long loading times, you will definitely be looking those tips from loading screens a lot.

Overall, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is one of those games that will immerse you in it's new world filled with interesting things to do, it will make you frustrated at times, this is a hard game that will punish your mistakes. There lies the most fun element this game has to offer, once you end up victorious from those hard encounters it feels amazing and you will keep coming back until you finish the game. For me this is a game of the year contender, most certainly worth your time. Score: 91/100.