PILLARS OF ETERNITY II: DEADFIRE

A nautical RPG of epic proportions

- Andy Kelly

The Deadfire Archipelago is a chain of tropical islands, home to weird creatures, crumbling ruins, dark dungeons, feuding factions, and ancient cultures – and it’s all yours to explore. Pillars Of Eternity II is a classic fantasy RPG, but with a piratical twist. Commanding your own galleon, you can hop between the islands, and the sense of freedom this gives you is exhilarating.

You don’t need to have played all 80-plus hours of the first Pillars Of Eternity to understand what’s going on. Obsidian’s seafaring sequel does a great job of filling you in on past events. All you need to know is that you’re a Watcher, a person who can relive the past via the souls of the dead, and you’re chasing a god who destroyed your castle and almost killed you.

This is a deeply old-school RPG, with monster battles, dungeon crawling, and thick paragraphs of descriptive text to sift through. But what makes it special is the sheer density of the Deadfire Archipelago. There are towns, cities, temples, and jungles strewn across the massive map, all stuffed with interesting characters, twisting quests, and tough moral choices. You’ll meet all sorts here, from pirates to royalty.

BAND OF BOOTY

Travelling in RPGs is often uneventful, but when you’re in charge of a ship there’s a lot to do. Your crew, who can be hired from taverns or met while adventuring, will drain your food and water resources. And how you deal with this will affect their morale. Feed them bread and water and they’ll quietly resent you, but lavish fruit and rum – which is more expensive – upon them and you’ll be the greatest captain who ever lived. A happy crew will level up faster; an unhappy crew will refuse to work, or even mutiny.