Review: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – Ultimate Edition (PlayStation 4)

by Jim Smale · February 13, 2020

The god Eothas awakened from his sleep, erupting from beneath your castle, killing your people and stealing a piece of your soul. Now only you and your companions can uncover the rogue god’s machinations as he tramples over the Deadfire Archipelago.

Pros:

Decent graphics.
39.56gb download size.
Platinum trophy.
Detailed graphics options-Ambient wildlife, combat text, gamma, font scale, occlusion opacity.
Reactive music option.
Auto pause for events but this can be tweaked for certain scenarios or interactions.
Two game modes-Real-time with pause or turn-based.
Rewrite history- You can answer a few questions and transform your previous life. This is more in relation to players coming from the first game.
Every menu choice has a helpful description.
When creating a character you get a brief pop up on what stats get affected by your choices.
Tutorial/pop-ups happen as you encounter new things and can be re-read.
Five difficulties-Story/relaxed/classic/veteran/path of the damned.
Two optional mods- one save or expert mode.
Level scaling of enemies can be turned on or off.
Includes all previously released DLC and patches.
Amazing voice work and cast.
Character creation-use pre made or start from scratch.
10 classes- Rogue/ Paladin/ Priest/ Chanter/ Wizard/ Monk/ Druid/ Barbarian/ Ranger and Cipher.
Dungeons and Dragons vibe and presentation.
RPG gameplay.
Isometric view.
Jaw-dropping locations.
Controls are simple enough to pick up.
Can respec your character.
Full group management.
Well-paced story.
The menu has neat touches like when equipping items, The required slots will highlight.
Full crafting table.
Main mission as well as a huge variety of side missions.
You have a certain amount of freedom to play how you want.
It has a lot of replayability as every choice you make real changes to the outcome of events.
Storybook sections with branching story options and has a slight choose your own adventure feel.
World map-like a tabletop map where you plot a destination and random encounters and interactions can happen en route.
Fast mode for combat and movement.

Cons:

Only one control scheme.
A lot of loading screens with long and short waiting times.
Slow pace.
Menus look daunting.
It takes a while to get used to the controls and mechanics.
It creates a lot of autosaves.
Small text and Ui.
A lot to take in.
No HDR options or support.
Slow starter.

9/10
Graphics - 9/10
9/10
Sounds - 9/10
8/10
Accessibility - 8/10
10/10
L ength - 10/10
10/10
Fun Factor - 10/10

9.2/10

Summary

For me, this could be the definitive Dungeons and Dragons game without the Dungeons and Dragon name. I mean just creating your character has the vibes, The character sheet at the end and all the narration and interactions. I still prefer the combat in Divinity over the slightly easier approach here. It doesn’t have as much depth and variation that Divinity offers. But man the game is simply wonderful, It s a game you will lose hours in, The multiple-choice interactions will change the game in a way so unique that you will want to come back and try again going a different way. I mean yes the end game is not as great as the first half of the game but the story keeps you in it. In short, This is the definitive D&D experience in all but name. And even if you take away the D&D references, This is one of the most definitive RPG experiences period.