Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - A Crusade against the Demons, but at what cost?

Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Cover. It depicts a conflict between demons and a crusader army with the main character and their party in combat. The main character, who is an golden coloured angel with a flaming great sword is leaping towards a greater demon with large extended electric whip the runs the width of the image. The whip has caught an unfortunate crusader all the while lesser demons close in on the party. The remaining crusaders are fighting valiantly while the main character's party fight on. The main character's party consists of a female succubus archer who has hit one of the lesser demons with her arrow, a gnome warrior with a double sided gnome hammer and has just dealt a devestating blow through the skull of another lesser demon, a eleven priest is casting a spell towards the angelic main character while the other character is evading the lightning whip of the greater demon and lastly there is a paladin holding her ground with shield raised ready to strike the another lesser demon leaping towards her with a spear trying to thrust past her shield

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, created by Owlcat and is their second game in the Pathfinder universe, sees the player create their character and undertake a journey that shapes the outcome of the latest in a long standing series of Crusades and can extend to having an effect on Golarion as a whole.

Wrath of the Righteous makes a lot of improvements and it starts showcasing these improvements right away with its character creation. It has expanded the amount of available classes and has an improved upon the selection of sub-classes as well as a few new features. One of the more notable additions is the introduction of mounted warfare.

In comparison to Kingmaker, the overall pacing of the story is a lot more forgiving to allow one a slower, more thorough journey if they choose, but still has events and characters on a timer, especially in the beginning, to remind the player that there is a sense of urgency.

Although to its credit, Owlcat have made the game overall less oppressive in the way the player is expected to complete the story beats and has provided more room to allow the player to get into roleplay.

One of the ways it achieves this is in the way the player is exposed to the story flow with it narrowing the the scope of information that the player will be exposed to and introduces its content in a more structured and focussed manner.

After the introduction the game starts proper in a sewers and in this early stage you will get acquainted to not only some important characters but also companions as well with it starting to show the effect of player choice early in the game.

This then boils over into focusing on a city and its districts and this escalation in the level of control is par on course for what to expect for one's playthrough as exploration is handed out in a much more organised manner to not overwhelm a player's decision making in the early parts of the game and over the course of it opens up more areas for the player to explore.

It can feel like railroading but it more a means to provide a golden thread for a player to follow as one is still free to investigate points of interest outside of it and this is encouraged as it can lead to acquiring new allies, quests, snippets of lore or even access to a new Mythic Path from time to time.

In regards to Mythic Paths, it is one of the major new systems introduced in Wrath and it acts as a secondary leveling system along side your character and its power is locked in to relation to the narrative as it only levels up when defeating certain types of boss-level enemies.

The system consists of very powerful bonuses with each one of the 10 possible paths, which the player will have to earn most of the choices through quests and exploration, providing its own unique benefit.

In addition, your companions also share in some of your power and will have access to their own derived from your "divinity" although not as powerful as your character's, they do still have access to a selection of powerful enhancements and abilities from which to amplify their base builds.

The main character and party watches on from the top of the ramparts of a castle as a glowing flag beneath them releases an expanding wave of energy

With the exception of one path, these levels are capped at level 10 with the player having to pick and lock into one early on, but does have the option at a later stage to change it once more - but only once. What is really great about each path is in the way it provides its own story experience with its own specific dialogue options and the characters it introduces and beside the powerful abilities each one has access to.

A criticism though is with the level of power escalation the system creates, as a knowledgeable player can create truly powerful creations with the additional benefits it opens up and in response to that the game will respond in kind with enemies that are unreasonably powerful for someone not prepared especially in the higher difficulties.

One should not be surprised running into enemies that require the player to target it with specific types of attacks and/or spells to overcome and defeat it or face the hurdle of slowly wittling its health through misses and marginal spell damage.

However, the power escalation is somewhat gradual and only starts picking up once one gets to Act 3 and with it opening up the general loop of the game as the player can then properly establish a crusade against the demons and with that it introduces a more refined system to "kingdom" management from the first game.

The management aspect is handled via receiving members approved by Queen Galfrey and the Mendev council supplemented by your companions and they then participate in a staff council meeting addressing an aspect that requires your final approval once one meets a milestone.

The main character, with the queen to his left stands on and overlooks the warriors of the crusade as they are sworn in as the new Commander of the Crusaders

This area of management is streamlined and is generally more geared towards the forward advancement of the crusade and the way in which you the player feel it should be led. In contrast to Kingmaker, the areas one needs to improve have been reduced and require less micromanagment and deal with the aspects of:

Leadership

Earned by the victories your generals achieve in combat

Focuses on decrees and buffs that deal with unit moral, recruitment, experience and growth

Military

Measured by your recruitment of trainable units and purchased mercenaries
Works off reforming your trainable units into a specialised force according to advisor recommendations and utilising this force to project control against the demons

Diplomancy

Increases by the value and quantity of resources produced
Events revolving around resource manipulation, unit costs, tribute and mercenary contracts

Logistics

Is measured by the collective logistical profile provided by the buildings you construct
Upgrades providing by this investment handles unit recruitment benefits, new construction options and resource acquisitions

The crusades success is measure via three banners of

Victory

Represents your army morale and fervour for the crusade and increase with victories and reduces with defeats

Conquest

Is a measure of perceived success of pushing back the demons out of their strongholds

Defense

Reserved for when a demon army besieges an outpost or Dresden itself, indicates how soon a location will fall.

These values are important to keep in the green as it has an effect on soldier morale, resource gain and recruitment and acts as an encouragement for the player to be constantly pushing the narrative forward. It will not instantly lose you your the campaign if you cannot maintain the the value but it will make it near impossible to win if it drops too low though as armies will not be able to replenish and one will lose out on turns.

The Crusades army management and combat is servicable, although it is bland. It takes inspiration from Heroes of Might and Magic, however it feels like a very stripped down experience that works on a square grid battle field, with each side commanded by a general with abilities relevant to its class type.

Image depicts the games version of the crusader army engaging a demon army. The battle is decided by individual units that have a number to its bottom right. This is a simplification that there is a number of this specific unit in the group. The battle appears to not be in the player's favour as the demon army has not only more unit types but also more numbers. It doesn't mean that they have lost as there is still the possibility of turning the conflict around if the player can change the momentum

Certain generals - specifically magically inclined- can trivialise the experience and if you choose not to dabble with it then one can eventually create an army that can steamroll anything the demons have to offer.

The selection of what units one fields to the battlefield is overall quite varied as there is a baseline selection of soldiers one will have access to conscript with additional options to supplement the ranks with mercenaries.

Your basic crusader selection then undergoes an "upgrade" through military council decisions, with diplomatic decisions having an effect on your pool of available units that are willing to offer their services. Your armies can also be shaped by your Mythic Path and overall it attempts to overcome its shortcoming of a simplistic "Heroes Lite" experience with the player having the option to tailor and shape the Crusaders into an effective fighting force the one believes is the most effective.

Personally it feels more fun building and chosing your crusader army and having the decisions that you make have a visible effect on the type of units that you will be able to bring into crusade. There is a bit of pride watching your decisions take shape and be molded into an effective fighting force.

The army battle is that between two demon armies. The player is most likely aligned with the demons and as such has access to their units to bring to the field of combat. Again combat seems against the player, however the player does have a high level demon on their side so the outcome is not as clear cut as it appears

Compared to Kingmaker the management times are a lot more generous, most likely due to not having to deal with 14 days of inactivity it demanded and if one paces themselves well with being on the move and establishing well-placed outposts with a teleportation network - which is a lot easier to establish, then it should be something to keep track on but will only be a problem if the player chooses to sit around and do nothing for protracted periods of time to complete research.

In the event that one needs to offset the effects of moral one can focus on selecting the repeatable morale-based buff options during staff council events to buy you more time to prevent the worst effects of low morale and unless the player is attempting to achieve a specific outcome the reliance of these effects without a means to combat it naturally is a sure sign to try wrap up a chapter.

An aspect that will probably take the most time to complete is the research of the various artifacts that your crusaders will likely collect as they liberate outposts and demon positions. The reason being, that it must be researched and from there undergo a ritual to transform it into something that the player needs to decide what is most relevant to their party. These artifacts can usually be enhanced which can slow down the progress of the crusade down significantly if one is determined to develop these items.

One needs to weigh whether these pursuits are worth the investment, as one could have the spent that time enhancing your crusade in general instead of devoting resources to admittedly strong items that one always runs the risk of replacing if they find some piece of loot that better serves a specific role.

Eventually, one reaches a point where one needs to push forward with the story and from the perspective of Act 3, one should have a solid foundation on how to play the game and interact with its systems.

A scene depicting the living environment of the demons that the player visits in Act 4. It is an environment with stone flat top eastern designed houses with lava on the rooftops. One can see the flow of it running down the side of the buildings. One also sees claw like stalagmites emerge from the ground in places, some more dominant than others. Walking the streets is a wide selection of demons and the odd human here and there

Surprisingly this gets given a rug pull when one is instructed towards your objective leading into Act 4.

It changes things up yet again and one can consider it "all gamplay, no timers" as it removes worrying about the crusades and instead has the player fight with the camera controls instead as they are directed to fight the demons at their source.

I mention fighting the camera, but it is not too bad although a bit clusmy in implementation as in this new realm has its buildings and terrain shape and form based off your perspective. There are a few puzzles here and there that require utilizing this and if one wants to get through the various districts one needs to consider working with the camera controls, which is no doubt considered since it is introduced in the game.

The act is a different change of pace as you need to work your way up the proverbial ladder to be recognised as someone of great import and through that earn the right to progress further into the campaign.

It does a great job of providing insight and a look at the side one has been fighting against throughout the game. Through journeying and interacting with the locals on "the other side" does one get a better idea what is really going on and gets a glimpse at the politics from the side that has been only seen as depraved and manipulative monsters.

The journey here doesn't really change that outlook much, but it does help provide context to the conflict that has been raging on Golarian for the last hundred years through the crusades.

The Main character looks over the mountain side and sees through the clouds floating buildings rising through it. One can barely see the main city of Act 4 through the clouds but it is there as well with its tell-tale reddish hues provide an ominous glow between the light purple/blue clouds

As the act's focus is more of the combat builds, it will be tested over course of the expedition and one can find more than one strong opponent nestled in between the cracks and crevices if one is not careful.

Additionally, character builds also come into play and certain companions will have their major arcs reach a point of critical decision making.

It is a nice pay off if one is invested in these certain characters as it does it in a way that can be both disturbing but in a way that is logically consistent with the environment that is portrayed.

The act although having its flaws, does help move the story along once one gets over the initial hurdle and thankfully there are activatable quick travel points that cut out a lot of the backtracking one will inevitably be making and it is, to me, something that I think was useful means to bring more focus on the story as a whole without the external pressure of worrying about the crusades or missing any content because of time pressure.

One can consider it almost like a messed up holiday of sorts as one can take their time exploring and interacting with the act at their leasure.

By the act's end, you should be at a point where your power has come into its stride and eventually you and your party will make their way back to Golarian.

Act 5 is where the Owlcat takes the kids gloves off as it expects you to have figured out its systems by now. This is the final act and one can run into some scary encounters, although if one has made it to this point then the hurdle should not be insurmountable, it will test the player to see if they have developed counter-strategies to target some really specific weaknesses that make the encounters feel less intimidating.

The player will eventually be back in the reigns of the crusade and will have access to all the logistical and army options available to be unlocked and it is required considering the state the player returns back to as one will have full access to the map at this point and one needs it to push the demons back to the final goal.

How the game ends, it has quite a few options and variations depending on your Mythic Path and decisions up to that point. In comparison to Kingmaker, Owlcat have done a good job in improving the end-game experience, although it still has some secrets that can be a bit of a pain if one is determined to get to it but overall it is an improvement.

There is an image with a demon horned woman with red eyes standing amongst a purple backdrop of shattered pieces of glass flying past her. A reflection of companions one meets is shown in the reflection of the broken glass. At the left corner there is a pink/purple crystal formation that appears to be at the center of the shattering that is on display

Into combat, which one spends a lot of time with, and thankfully it has been touched up with both real-time and turn base in mind as each has a useful function in battle.

Both have a place as the introduction of the mythic system introduces combat scenarios that are much harder if one cannot slow down the action to try and make use of your initiative to prevent a potential party wipe, especially so if one has a weaker party that will have to rely on the advantage of action economy to come out on top.

The real-time is useful when wanting to mop up but if one wants to limit damage especially in set pieces and bosses - it is strongly recommended to make use of turn-based combat if it ever feels overwhelming.

As mentioned before, the mounts, which where added, provides the player with a powerful tool to their arsenal as mounts will add their attack values on top of your own and this synergistic with the associated teamwork perks can lead to some incredible feats of attacks per turn.

Another benefit of mounts is allowing the player to use their mounts actions for positioning which then provides a character with a full action bar to perfom their abilities.

There are some negatives such as having to deal with the potential of your mount being disabled by effects or having your character be forced off their mount, however if one keeps that in mind, a character's mount is a great force multiplier.

One thinks that will all the powerful additions to the player that the game will be easier, but here lies my biggest niggle with the game. It isn't a dealbreaker for me, but as mentioned before as it tries to provide a challenge to match the perceived power-level of the player.

On one hand I can appreciate the attempt to provide consistent challenge to the player throughout the experience and in certain parts of the story it does feel good overcoming the challenge, but it can wear a person down having to fight enemies at this level constantly especially so if one attempts to figure out a way around one's build that is lacking in a specific encounter.

It requires the player to gear up and build with certain skills, spells and abilities in mind and ,of course, certain Mythic paths have the means to make things easier especially if the Mythic synergerises with the character build however there exists the possibility that one can run into a situation where if a character is not built correctly which can lead to the player running into situations that are far more difficult than they should be.

It is something to keep in mind while playing as it can creep up on a player if they are not paying attention to the enemies they face and it forces one to have a good look at their enemies and characters in one's party to be able to either counter enemies in areas that they are at their weakest or be built in a way that can adapt to the strength of the stronger enemies in the game.

Otherwise the other options included is during resting is the in-the-field ability to scribe scrolls and conduct alchemy as skills, so long as the player has the necessary tools to complete the work and if a character has invested in the relevant skills.

It is something more towards a playstyle preference, however can come into its own with the relevant character or class type.

The image depicts the world map as the player is traveling towards a selected destination. There are many locations on the map with the paths laid out towards each destination. Also in the image it can be shown that the morale of the crusades is high across all the values as each one is coloured green and the player is shown the time, date, day and year of the game as they travel. The bottom middle shows the player character and their selected party that will be traveling towards their selected destination

Another change to resting is that it no longer requires supplies but is replaced by a corruption gauge that adds additional debuffs the more one decides to rest in areas outside sanctified zones, but the effect can be reduced by assigning religious characters to perform rites during resting.

The corruption can be completely removed once one rests in a sanctified zone mentioned earlier though, so it is a system that attempts to push the player to try and find a balance between exploration, resting to "rearm" abilities and returning back to safe zones to deposit loot and resupply, maybe talk to the locals or party members to see if there is anything new to discover.

Moving into the realm of companions and, I feel, they are a generally well-written and the character arcs do good job of showing both the good and bad parts of your companions, everyone has flaws and it is just a question of which flaws you find tolerable enough to keep them around.

In the worse case, if you haven't convinced them to your side or have irredeemable philosophical differences you will come to blows with them and there are moments where your motives do not align and they will part ways or worse.

This approach makes your companions feel more grounded and in some ways you have to make a choice between your beliefs and what a character stands from within your own trusted circle as these are written characters that attempt to stand on their own merits, it is not perfect and some moments do feel somewhat overboard, but it, to me, does enough to make them feel more relatable and by extension it gives your decisions more weight

On the music front, Owlcat stepped up their game as it carries some impactful themes and it helps to get a person into a role as it carries the weight of what your character embodies well with grandiose themes of a crusade in motion to secure a long overdue victory to the more solemn dreary tones carry the weight of dread and despair - one can find Owlcat's soundtrack on Youtube - here. It is a good improvement and I will add the voice work does show improvement as well with characters expressing emotion and inflection in a more natural way.

Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous is not a perfect game, but I cannot but commend Owlcat for taking steps in the right direction to improve a lot of the aspects from Kingmaker, however it does lose a bit of its growing "zero-to-hero" scale by narrowing its scope to focus on single long narrative that plays out over the course of the game with having moments where the story structure feels a bit hamstrung along the way, especially in act 4, but I do feel that they achieved a clearer overarching story while still having a world around that linking into other smaller narratives without muddying itself too much.

The game as a complete package is grander in scope and power and shows that Owlcat as game creators are getting better at their craft. The unfortunate side effect of the the grander scope and magnitude of the conflict does feel it treads water into power fantasy cliches and there are areas that feel somewhat out of place in the story, even though narratively in-universe it makes sense.

It attempts to be bigger, better and more impressive and it mostly achieves that with a lot of improvements across the board but I feel that it needs to be wary of going to overboard with the improvements that they do not powerscale themselves into a corner.

However Owlcat have shown that they do have what it takes to be among those developers that can say they make good cRPG (Classic Role Playing Games) and if one liked Kingmaker, then Wrath of the Righteous is a overall better experience that attempts to address and improve upon what came before.