Pathfinder: Kingmaker, developed by Owlcat Games which is now publisher under Deep Silver since the developer decided to go independent, is an isometric fantasy RPG which both a strategic and tactics layer that challenges the player to rise from the ranks of a mercenary into the realms of ruling a nation.
It is a difficult game to fully recommend, and it is not because it is bad, but it is a game that has a very specific vision on how it wishes the player to engage with it.
These systems force one to make progress in the story with progressively worse penalties until they are incapable of stopping the threat.
This style of play is not for everyone, but it is a nice change of pace to have a campaign that tries to create a "living" world where actions happen regardless of player input. It creates a sense of urgency and adds weight to the events that you will be forced to investigate and endure through until you can come up with a solution.
The game character creator is reminiscent of older Dungeon and Dragon game like Boulders Gate, with character portrait selection is a bit bare bones by default it does make it fairly easy to use an imported image instead. There are eight default races in the game, with an additonal ninth added with Wildcards DLC and they each have fantasy appropriate traits and talents to consider when you wish to create your character.
Appropriate for the genre there is a fair selection of primary classes and each of these classes also has the option to choose to specialise in one of its archetypes instead. Amongst the classes there those that have features specific to its playstyle so for example a sorcerer will have a bloodline that adds bonuses accordingly or a priest will have to select a domain and deity of worship and help to further define how the character is expected to play. Lastly your character sets their alignment - which can be an important aspect of the characters class set.
I cannot speaking much of the leveling system as I barely explored it but from my little understanding it gives the player the freedom to make whatever character they want regardless of its performance. It also has "advanced" classes that requires a certain level of specialisation to be met and provides the player the means to specialise in a unique flavour of character class that has its own style of play.
The story starts as you are just one of the many prospective mercenaries invited to partake in the elimination of someone know only as the Stag Lord who has claimed the area know as the Stolen Lands as his own.
He has made
this already lawless land even more so and in a bid to strengthen their
position the Restovic Swordlord, Jamandi Aldori, declares who ever is able to
kill the Stag Lord will receive the backing and blessing to be this lands new ruler.
The planned mobilisation of mercenary forces is cut short however as unknown forces attacks the castle housing them and through the chaos, interacting with other characters along the way, you finally prevail however there is doubt around how such an event could occur and you are thrown into suspicion.
The solution is ultimately decided that the two accused are to split the remaining mercenaries amongst them with the one that can complete the assignment deemed worthy for the reward and by completion deemed innocent by valorous conduct. This split is decided by your alignment choices and decisions before and during this segment.
With a party formed, you are given 90 days to solve the Stag Lord problem and head back to claim the reward. With this in mind, your party makes its way to Oleg's Trading Post and after solving the problems troubling it have it serve as your base of operations while working your way to your objective.
Although the Stag Lord is your primary goal, exploration is recommended with
the caveat that the game does not pull its punches and you can run into things
outside your capabilities. However the exploration elements do pay off if you
can gauge your own and party's abilities and with the help of the Trading
Post, the primary objective can be put on the back burner as you explore the
other happenings in the world with some it even having some use in your
primary goal and beyond.
With the deadline fast approaching, your main objective should be located and the approach in which you decide to defeat him has quite of lot of nuance. He is man that if approached without a plan, is well prepared and well equipped for potential attempts at his life. This opens up how you decided to complete this task where you can take him on in suicidal confidence or a more tactful approach of sabotaging and subverting his allies to weaken his strengths enough you can more easily take him on.
After a hard a battle and coming out from it victorious, if one still has time one can finish off any outstanding quests or explore and, one can head back and claim your well-deserved reward.
Before being inaugurated as the new Baron of the Stolen lands,
it is best to talk to the various guests and through that one
can take an important first step in starting your rulership.
This is because at this celebration one can encounter the first taste of barony politics at play with choices already starting to open up around what type of policy the player character wishes to run with.
Whatever the decision taken, the celebration ends with your character being recognised as the new ruler of the the Stolen Lands in payment of service of achieving the assigned task.
It is from this point does the game begin in earnest. Your capital is located where the Stag Lord Keep was called home and from here you can see the humble beginnings of your land.
From it, you delegate tasks to your advisors to complete, personally adjudicate and make decisions on what you feel is best for your land and, through a simplified city planner, can plan out and fund the construction of buildings that have a positive effect on your rule.
Something that I found that is a well done element is that your capital is a reflection of your morality. How it looks, the interactions that happen within, the buildings you build and the respective faction attention it draws is a reflected in a style that is befitting the alignment of your character.
Your advisors can also help shape your kingdom and one can roleplay the essence of being a ruler through your assignments, personal rulings and by what advisors you decide to oversee the daily running of your lands.
Advisors can either be specialised NPCs that the player adds to their retinue or can make use of their companions and leverage their more manageable character stats to build an appropriate character for the role it is able to advise in.
One can make use of the mercanary recruitment in game to create advisor as well, although that comes at a penalty and serving in a limited function. It is best to choose a named character specialist though as they bring which them a more valued experience in regards to interacting with the game's kingdom management systems.
This does come with the caveat that each character assigned to the role of advisor has their own views and opinions on how best to serve your interests but one should assign characters that best align with the main character's and the specific advisors ideals as it can lead to an advisor resigning from their post in protest of not adhering to their "wisdom" on issues of kingdom development.
The kingdom management as a greater whole does shape how some events play out and sees the player having to respond in kind to the decisions they have made throught the game, specifically and "Kingdom level milestones" and having to live with the decisions both good and bad.
These milestones can unlock buildings that can be unique to an alignment or locked behind a kingdom tier that requires the player to invest in training their specific advisor to take on the increased responsibility of improving in the aspect of their respective fields.
One of my biggest criticisms to the kingdom management is when an advisor is eligible for training to improve their ability in the aspect of improved governing, that the player must also take part in the training and can be sitting out from gameplay and decision making for 14 days - this can eventually be reduced by half with the right kingdom levels and research.
The need to sit out for two weeks in a game that puts a lot of time pressure on a player can encourage one to focus more on the main quest up front and leave the administration for the "peaceful" periods but does feel like it throws the pacing off - especially if one doesn't plan well enough ahead like I did initially.
Difficult decisions have to be made and it keeps the pressure on a player throughout the campaign. This effect feels even more so once one has to start considering the needs of your ever growing lands and the problems it brings that the push of the main quest opens up.
With each main quest completed it opens up the option to work on the development of a creating a settlement in the lands that is considered liberated, which allows one to exploit the resources of the areas adding it to your domain.
The player is given the choice to decided where to place it somewhere within the borders of a liberated area from designated locations and once built brings with it its own series of sub-quests, specialists and decisions on what type of settlement it will become.
There is a strategic element when it comes to founding settlements as a well placed one can do wonders to the gameplay experience with the right upgrades.
The expanding into other areas also plays a role in developing your capital as a number of villages are required for the player deems important enough areas to develop into a town which plays a role in developing your capital as it requires both a number of villages and towns to be able to upgrade it to a city.
Besides the the increased building space upgrading to a higher tier unlocks, it also opens up the option to new buildings and build upgrades which help in strengthening your growing lands which help push the player into having an easier time responding to kingdom threats, which do growing gradually stronger as the game progresses.
In regards to development, the player needs to be in the settlement to be able to oversee the approval of construction and expansion. This form of oversight does tend to encourage one to help their Mage Advisor tier up to a point where a Wizard Tower with Wizard Circles can be built is a godsend to save time when attempting to overseeing construction and having a developed transportation network to cut down on travels for quests and sundrie.
In parallel to your main quest, is a powerful curse that acts as a hard timer until the next calamity will strike and needs to be kept in check by the necessary force when it signals in the next chapter.
It is a playstyle that I can acknowledge is not for everyone because to more efficiently run the Barony and subsequently a Kingdom, the player must plan their journey around neutralising the main threats to their land as quickly as possible and while trying to fit in management events in between and once a threat is neutralised; a balance must then be made between dedicating time to management or sacrificing some efficiency to explore and do secondary quests and objectives before being forced to deal with the curse.
The system in place can feel oppressive when one does not fully understand and engage with it. I believe that it is the intended experience of leaving the player always on edge and unable to take a breath. It feels like the land itself is at war with you and trying to break you down in an attempt to overcome your authority. It can feel unfair and outright annoying and I for one can say did feel like it was being burdened by the weight of responsibility trying to keep things in check.
It tries to keep the player on the cusp of failure, but one stubbornly refuses
and drives it back to only be hounded again with another calamity that is more
troublesome. It feels like the game is trying to make you fail and through
this feels like it is taunting you to overcome it.
The commitment to challenge is commendable and it can help anchor a player into perspective of relevant power scaling in relation to the world but at the same time this can feel relentless and overbearing and can exhaust one of drive to push through to the end.
This feeling of trying to break you down is exsaparated in the last dungeon set piece as it plagued with moments that will break you if your are not prepared for it and one should be prepared for a miserable time and even if you are up to the task, it will still feel like a battle of mental fortitude to push through to get to the conclusion.
A bit late to mention by also something that has been done to good effect is how your base companions and those that you can pick up along the way can have some weight in the narrative at various times throughout the game, providing their own brand of banter and remarks during dialogues and story quests.
It isn't mandatory to have specific members, but having the right ones at the right place can definitely have an effect on the outcome of encounters and the player will be dealing with it playing a role in the narrative.
In addition, each companion has their own personal quest line and it plays out over the course of the game with your player's input having a say in the outcome of how it will play out with it either changing a character's alignment, physical features or in some cases leading to the party member no longer being part of the party.
It is placed well enough that it feels "natural" to experience the journey along the way as the player learns more about the characters they travel with, although the conditions to push a stage of development can be a bit opaque.
Although not a deal breaker as it is more in service of allowing the player to reap the benefits from characters they interact with the most as one would need to rely on the system of taking resting stops in between travels and hope for it to trigger the specific conversation options to advance some character stories.
The characters are written well enough though even when most tend to lean heavily
into their primary characteristic a bit too much but with the help of the
player can crack them out of that mold and have moments where they show good
emotion and growth. It is not perfect, but I still enjoyed my experience with
the characters and did not throw me out of my roleplaying experience.
My view point is from a new to the pathfinder universe and can be chalked up to being not fully knowledgable of the systems while also playing in a way that was not too concerned with min-maxing theory crafting statistical perfection so the experienc can of course be different and I can only assume that it would feel a lot more forgiving if one is more knowledgeable or follows a guide to give your character a leg up on their enemies and events.
The graphics of a game are surprisingly good for this genre, especially in the environment department with ambiance graphics done quite well although a bit lacking in interactivity.
The book type events that pop up at moments through the story either from exploring or related to quests require one to play it out via the player choice are, in my opinion, are treat to interact with when one runs into one.
It is complemented with good music that is fitting in setting, although the music is more tuned towards a real time with pause than turn-based. It has the strength to elevate moments appropriately although can suffer at times in relation to longer battle encounters where it feels like it wasn't intended.
Pathfinder Kingmaker, is a game for a very specific time of gamer and I found it easy for me to get into roleplay for as it did enough to hook me into its setting.
I was able to live through the character and the objectives became personal quests that I felt I had personal stakes in. I felt responsible for my people and felt that I needed to what I can to try and reduce their suffering as quickly as possible.
An example with my experience with a Lawful Good Paladin felt like an avenging messenger of Iomedae against the forces of evil plaguing the Stolen Lands with his insistence on using a longsword in service to his goddess's name. I took pride supplying and establishing a Mendev Crusader Chapter in my Capital while supporting the common man while still keeping there aspirations in line with cheap booze and free trade.
Even though I did not follow my alignment to the letter as it had moments
of neutral good decisions, I was still able to stay within his assigned
alignment to feel like I was not betraying my tenants of faith either.
That was just my experience and one can play with varying styles blended with the nine levels of alignment and have a completely different experience to mine.
Image Source:
IGDB Pathfinder Kingmaker Enhanced Plus Edition
Videos Source:
Pathfinder Kingmaker Tavern Party Trailer
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Release Trailer
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