After over a decade, developer Obsidian Entertainment has added a highly-requested feature to the original Pillars of Eternity, and it changes the CRPG in more ways than one.
A new turn-based mode is now available in Pillars of Eternity, giving players the option to play the game like a traditional CRPG. Instead of the non-stop, real-time action that takes place in the vanilla version of the game, you can slow things down and play with more strategy and at a tactical pace. Players were previously able to play a beta version of the turn-based mode through Steam, but Obsidian has now made it available for everyone.
In addition to adding turn-based combat, there’s a new update with a long list of patch notes to accommodate the mode. Fortunately, the update doesn’t mess with any of your existing save files. You can even hop into an old playthrough and simply toggle on turn-based combat, allowing you to pick up where you left off in Pillars of Eternity. Or, you could start an entirely new playthrough with turn-based combat, letting you experience the whole game with the mode.
In any case, Pillars of Eternity’s turn-based mode works a little differently than you might expect. If you’re an avid Pillars fan, then you might have already experienced turn-based combat in the franchise, as it’s been available in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire for several years. While some of the same turn-based mechanics are in place from Deadfire’s mode, there are a lot of changes this time around.
For starters, Pillars of Eternity’s turn-based mode limits you to a single action per turn. Unlike Baldur’s Gate or Solasta, you can’t perform multiple actions every turn using available Action Points, which both limits and expands the strategy for certain combat situations. However, Pillars does allow you to move your characters quite a lot, and some of your characters can take multiple turns in a single round. This is largely based on a character’s “recovery” stat, which is determined by the armor they have equipped.
Overall, if you’re expecting the turn-based mode to act exactly like any other CRPG you’ve played in the past, you’re in for a surprise. After playing for a few hours, Pillars of Eternity with turn-based enabled feels like a completely different game to me. Your moves have to be deeply rooted in strategy, and you can’t brute force your way through an irritating enemy anymore.
Also, Obsidian has made a number of noticeable changes to the core game. You’ll see UI alterations, bug fixes, and changes to the control scheme to make it feel smoother during turn-based combat.
As far as updates to decade-old games go, this one in Pillars of Eternity feels as substantial as a DLC expansion.
